They ate steak while 6-year-old son starved to death. Now Jerseyville parents are headed to jail.
“The last actual meal Liam had was about one year prior to his death, when Michael and Georgena got married,” Woelfel said. “We talked to neighbors, friends, coworkers, family members, and they all said they were never allowed to see the children. Some of the neighbors said they didn’t even know (the youngest children) existed.”
The Robertses told police they ate steak the night before Liam died. Three of their children ate chicken patties. Liam and his older brother went hungry.
They ate steak while 6-year-old son starved to death. Now Jerseyville parents are headed to jail.
Michael Roberts and
Georgena Roberts, both of Jerseyville, have been charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment charges after police say his 6-year-old son, her step-son, died of starvation weighing only 17 pounds.
JERSEYVILLE • Six years old. 17 pounds. Protruding ribs and hip bones. Dressed in Halloween-themed pajamas meant for a 24-month-old.
That’s how Jerseyville Deputy Police Chief Scott Woelfel described the body of Liam Roberts when officers found him lying in a hospital bed at
the Jersey County Hospital in November 2017. Woelfel spoke Wednesday to a courtroom packed with about 50 people eager to learn how Judge Eric Pistorius would sentence Liam’s father and stepmother, who pleaded guilty to starving the boy to death.
Michael and Georgena Roberts faced 20 to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty of murder last year.
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Liam Roberts, then 3, in a family photo. Photo courtesy of Kimberly Roberts
Though Pistorius called
the death of Liam “beyond comprehension,” the sentences are at the low end of the range. He said the law required him to consider mitigating factors, including the couple’s mostly clear criminal records, Georgena Roberts’ own childhood trauma and their guilty pleas that spared their other children the trauma of a trial.
Many in the courtroom seemed to disagree with the sentences, shaking their heads after Pistorius announced his decision. Kim Roberts, the biological mother of Michael Roberts’ children, including Liam, had entered court praying for 60-year sentences.
“They deserve to lose their freedom and have a life sentence of sadness and sorrow,” she told Pistorius before the sentencing.
She told a reporter that she hadn’t seen Liam since he was 4. She said she had visitation rights, but Michael Roberts had not let her see him.
“For the rest of my life, I will feel the guilt that I wasn’t here when he needed me most,” she said in court. “He died terrified and alone. ... I am heartbroken and will always remain heartbroken for the rest of my life.”
The hour-long hearing was the first time she, the Robertses and other family members spoke publicly about Liam’s death, and the first time investigators have talked extensively about the case.
Woelfel said the Robertses told him they began withholding food to punish their two youngest children if they urinated or defecated on the floor.
Woelfel said school officials warned the couple about how Liam had a “food obsession” that “wasn’t normal.” Teachers said the child would go underneath the tables at school to eat scraps from the floor. They told the couple to see a doctor about his weight loss. A doctor’s referral for treatment in St. Louis was never followed up, Woelfel said.
Then, sometime between one and two years before Liam’s death, the couple began
homeschooling Liam and his 7-year-old brother, who was also starved and was admitted to an ICU on the same day his father brought his brother’s body to the hospital, Woelfel said.
“The last actual meal Liam had was about one year prior to his death, when Michael and Georgena got married,” Woelfel said. “We talked to neighbors, friends, coworkers, family members, and they all said they were never allowed to see the children. Some of the neighbors said they didn’t even know (the youngest children) existed.”
The Robertses told police they ate steak the night before Liam died. Three of their children ate chicken patties. Liam and his older brother went hungry