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The obese Wisconsin father accused of starving his teen daughter until she nearly died at 35 pounds will go to trial for the shocking abuse allegations, according to reports.
Walter Goodman, 47, was ordered to stand trial after waiving his right to preliminary hearings Monday.
One other who allegedly partook in the abuse — Goodman’s step-daughter’s girlfriend, 28-year-old Kayla Stemler — will also go to trial, and two others — Goodman’s 51-year-old wife Melissa, her daughter Savana LeFever, 29 — are expected to plead guilty to child abuse and emotional damage charges.
Goodman and his corpulent kin were arrested after he called 911 in August to claim his 14-year-old daughter had become “comatose” after refusing to eat for days.
When first responders arrived they thought the severely emaciated girl was a 6-year-old and she was rushed to a hospital suffering from organ failure — prosecutors later described her as a “skeleton” who was “literally skin and bones.”
Extended family were also horrified — saying it looked time had stopped for the girl when she was dropped off at her father’s rancid trailer five years ago.
“It was almost like she was in a time capsule from the time that she was given to when we saw her in the hospital,” the girl’s cousin and new caretaker, Leslie Doxtaker, told Fox 11 after the rescue. “She was isolated since 2020.”
Goodman and his large loved ones called the girl “autistic” and insisted she was the one who wouldn’t let them feed her — but investigators soon unearthed text messages where they allegedly bragged about using punishing her with starvation, locking her in rooms under video surveillance and beating her.
“If I could leave her somewhere in the woods, I’d leave her,” Goodman allegedly once told a friend, while her stepmother once coldly texted “Wish she’d just go away.”
“I just want to karate kick her dumb head,” LaFever wrote back.
Once the girl was in the hospital and finally released she showed no aversion to food — scarfing down numerous meals a day and telling hospital staff how her father would get mad at her for eating.
“She’s up to 78 pounds now, so she’s over doubled her body weight,” her cousin said. “She’s three inches taller.”
“She wants to go and play. She wants to go and run, and we have to keep reminding her, like, ‘Just wait for your body to catch up.’ But she is getting there,” said Doxtaker, who has set up a GoFundMe to help support the girl’s recovery.
But the teen is still struggling to understand the abuse she suffered — as is the family, who say they never would have expected her father to treat her that way.
“I’ve literally known him for 25 years, so none of us thought that this would be the outcome,” Doxtaker said, explaining the girl herself is at a loss to comprehend what happened.
“She feels like she’s guilty for this happening,” she said. “For them going to jail.”
“We’re trying to continuously tell her ‘This isn’t your fault. They were the adults. They were the ones responsible for you, not the other way around, baby.'”
English (US)