A couple have been sentenced to 20 years in prison after starving and torturing three children in their care in a case authorities described as deliberate and severe abuse.
Mary Hall and Jerome Norman were convicted of first-degree criminal child abuse along with additional counts of second-degree abuse, with all sentences to run concurrently.
The case first emerged in January 2025 after a child returned to school following winter break with visible injuries, including chipped teeth and a damaged nose.
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Need To Know reports that teachers had already raised concerns months earlier after noticing unexplained bruises and signs of hunger.
Staff reported the child would overeat at school, while investigators later found he was sometimes denied food at home as punishment.
Despite initial explanations that the injuries were caused by outdoor play, authorities in Kentucky, USA, launched an investigation that uncovered far more serious allegations.
When police searched the home, they found multiple children living in a room with boarded-up windows and a lock on the outside of the door.
Officials said the children had been subjected to prolonged abuse, including food deprivation and forced labour. One child was so desperate for water he resorted to sucking moisture from insulation in the walls.
The children had been placed in Hall’s care after their mother – Hall’s sister – died in a car crash in 2018. She later moved with them to Pike County in 2023 after beginning a relationship with Norman.
Prosecutors said the abuse was not the result of poverty or neglect, but intentional actions carried out over time.
Court proceedings revealed the extent of the children’s suffering, including repeated hospitalisations and long-term physical and psychological harm.
“If it weren’t for the folks at the school, we may have never known,” Amber Hunt said, who was appointed guardian ad litem.
Authorities said the children had also been conditioned not to reveal what was happening inside the home.
Hall and Norman were each sentenced to 20 years in prison and must serve the majority of their terms before becoming eligible for parole.
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