Abused child recovering

The 5-year-old girl who withered away to just 12 pounds while authorities say she was under the care of her mother's boyfriend may be allowed to go home from the hospital this weekend if all goes well.

"She's doing really good," said Anahi Ferrando, mother of young Jade Ferrando. "She's been steadily gaining weight. She's smiling and laughing. That's a plus. She's starting to get range of motion now in her arms. It's a slow process, but she's slowly getting there."

Ferrando's former boyfriend, 25-year-old Michael John Bowden, attended one court hearing Tuesday but refused to show up for another.

Bowden showed up in 3rd District Court for a hearing regarding custody of Jade. He refused, however, to show up for his initial hearing on a charge of second-degree felony child abuse — the second time he's shunned court.

At the custody hearing, Ferrando saw Bowden for the first time since his arrest. "He wouldn't look at me," she said.

Ferrando left Utah for Army duty in November. She was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. She said she is a driver for the Army.

Before she left, she gave legal power of authority to Bowden over Jade, who has a mild form of cerebral palsy. In April, Ferrando returned to Utah to visit before she was to be sent to Iraq.

At that time she said Jade was fine and there were no red flags that something wasn't right.

Between April and August, Jade withered away from between 30 and 35 pounds to just 12. Jade's grandfather, Rafael Ferrando, obtained an ex parte order after seeing his granddaughter for the first time in months and took her to the hospital on Aug. 22.

He then e-mailed pictures of Jade to Anahi in Iraq.

"I think it was shock," she said of her initial reaction. "It's one thing you don't expect to see your kid looking like. I kind of freaked out. I didn't even know how to react to it beside the instant crying. I had to notify my command. I couldn't explain to them what had happened. The only thing that came out was 'you gotta look at this."'

When Ferrando got back to Utah, she discovered not only was her daughter in desperate need of help, but her bank account had also been drained, apparently by Bowden.

"I kind of have an idea of what he's been doing," she said.

Ferrando believes from talking to friends and people who know Bowden, and based on evidence she's seen in the house, that Bowden was heavily into drugs while she was gone.

"I believe that's where all my money was going," she said.

Ferrando was with Bowden for two years prior to his arrest.