'Shocking' child abuse leads to arrest of 2

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — When investigators found the 6-year-old boy, he was curled in the fetal position on the bathroom floor, nearly naked, with bruises all over his body.

He looked so abused and malnourished that the first deputy on scene thought he was dead, said Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Brower.

"The little boy was severely malnourished," Brower said. "It's lucky they found and removed him (when they did) or we may be talking about something else."

Investigators are reviewing one of the most "shocking" cases of child abuse in Utah County, Brower said. It came to light about 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday when a neighbor called 911 to report there was a young girl wandering around her backyard in nothing but her underwear.

When officers arrived at the home on Raptor Road in Eagle Mountain, they found the young girl behind the house, holding newspaper around herself to keep warm.

The child told officers she had climbed out of the bathroom window and fallen nearly 12 feet to the ground, after being locked in there for several hours, according to a police affidavit filed in 4th District Court.

The girl, who had obvious bruising and injuries and looked malnourished, also told officers she had a brother inside, the affidavit states.

Officers from the Utah Valley Special Victim's Unit and the sheriff's office knocked on the front door, trying to get the little boy's attention but heard no answer and physically entered the home, Brower said. Once inside, they found the girl's brother inside the locked master bedroom bathroom.

"There was no food in the bathroom," Brower said. "It looks like they hadn't eaten regularly."

After the children were taken to the hospital, police also learned that there was another 4-year-old sibling who was unaccounted for, Brower said.

Nearly five hours later, and with cooperation from Salt Lake County and West Valley police agencies, officers tracked down the children's legal guardian, Mary Matilda Heath, and her boyfriend, Sekoa Sosene Aiono.

Heath, the children's aunt, told officials that she had gained legal custody of the children a year before and left the older two in separate bathrooms without clothing or blankets while she went to Salt Lake City, according to the affidavit.

Officers say Heath told them she went to get her car registered, went out to dinner then attended a football game, leaving the 4-year-old at a home in West Valley City, according to the affidavit.