A 35-pound Wisconsin teenager was rescued from what authorities are calling a “house of horrors,” where she was allegedly kept prisoner and starved by her obese family.
Police discovered the girl in a trailer in Oneida, where she lived with her biological father, 47-year-old Walter Goodman, his wife Melissa Goodman, 51, and other relatives. The teen was so emaciated that she was initially mistaken for a 6-year-old.
According to court documents obtained by Fox 11 News, Walter Goodman called 911 on August 21 after his daughter became violently ill and “comatose” following several days without food. He told responders the girl was “autistic” and had refused to eat. Paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with multiple organ dysfunction, cardiac issues, pancreatitis, severe hepatitis, and extreme malnutrition.
“She looked like a skeleton,” said Outagamie County Assistant District Attorney Julie DuQuaine. “She was just literally skin and bones at 35 pounds.”
Despite Goodman’s claims that his daughter was responsible for her own condition, evidence gathered by authorities pointed to severe abuse and neglect by him and his family.
Court documents reveal that Walter allegedly told a friend, “If she misbehaves, I’m not going to feed her today… I keep her locked up in her bedroom with a camera on her, and that’s where she stays.” Text messages between family members also detailed punishments, verbal abuse, and extreme disdain for the girl, who had moved in with them in 2020 after her biological mother was imprisoned.
In one message, Melissa Goodman wrote, “Wish she’d just go away,” while her daughter Savanna Lefever, 29, texted, “I just want to karate kick her dumb head.” Walter reportedly expressed similar anger to a friend, saying things like, “I wish I could kill you,” and “If I could leave her somewhere in the woods, I’d leave her.”
Prosecutors allege the family repeatedly locked the girl in a bedroom without a mattress, denied her food and water, and physically abused her. Nurses confirmed that the girl did not refuse food, contradicting her father’s claims, and said she feared eating too much because it would anger him.
“This is the most egregious case of child neglect I think I have ever seen in my nearly 25-year career,” DuQuaine said.
The teen has reportedly made a remarkable recovery and is now in the care of a separate family.
Walter Goodman, Melissa Goodman, LeFever, and another relative, Kayla Stemler, 28, have all been charged with chronic child neglect. They remain in custody with bail set at $100,000 or higher.