Jarrod Tutko, Jr., age 9. Autistic. Starved to death.

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Link: Memorial: Jarrod Tutko, Jr.


This is the only photo we have of Jarrod Tutko Jr., and it was taken when he was an infant.

Jarrod was autistic and had Fragile X syndrome. For at least half of his life, he was kept in an attic room, without anything to do, without education or therapy. The room was filthy. His mother said she had not seen him in years.

After leaving him locked in the room for two days, Jarrod's father found him dead, but waited four days before telling anyone. Jarrod's father was arrested and his siblings are in foster care. Yesterday the coroner's report came out.

Jarrod died of starvation and dehydration, July 29, 2014, at the age of 9.

That's bloody deplorable.

rest in peace jarrod,disgusting neglect of a vulnerable person let alone a child.
pity his dad hadnt the balls to put jarrods needs first and get social services to take him if they coudnt cope,mine did that and did much better without them in specialist care.

It's worse than that; they seem to have had access to help, but repeatedly rejected it. They didn't even sent Jarrod to school, where he could have had therapy and education. They just... locked him away.

So tragic. That poor little boy. What a waste of a precious life.

Difficult to know whether the parents are outright evil or just severely mentally ill and couldn't function. It's hard to imagine how they got to the point where they somehow felt unable to get help with their son. I have personally had many days when I felt I could not cope with my special needs son, but even on the worst days I wouldn't have left him locked up. There are always helplines you can ring, places you can bring the child for respite, etc.

They have another child, a daughter who has a severe brain injury. She was well cared for despite her extreme medical needs--she eats through a feeding tube and was either minimally conscious or in a PVS as far as I can tell, so she was bed-bound. She got everything she needed--a photo of her bedroom shows a neat little space with decorations and a clean hospital bed. Usually, people with a severe disability like that need nursing care, but her (non-nurse) mother successfully provided it for her, implying that she was perfectly capable of doing so. Arianna got what she needed. For Jarrod it was very different; he was neglected to the point that he died.

If they can take care of a child with such a severe disability as that, getting the medical equipment and supplies to care for her at home, as well as receiving disability payments for their children and maintaining them when they moved, then they had the ability to find help caring for Jarrod. They just chose not to. To save their son's life, they literally just had to go to the school district, say, "My son is disabled; I'm enrolling him in school." But they didn't.

And, yes, Jarrod's siblings are in foster care now. There are hints that some of his other siblings were also neglected or abused, but they're all safe now.

Life in prison should be the least these people should face in my opinion.

Rest in Peace Jarrod.
The initial descriptions are indeed tragic; they remind me of the Pelzer story. It is disturbing that he was noticed so many days after his death, both by his main caregivers and the social services involved.

I cannot imagine a punitive sentence severe enough to somehow balance what these people did. There is no way to hurt them into a restoration of fairness or a healing of the human compassion they so completely failed to extend to their son.

The most fitting thing I can imagine would be to make them fully aware of their culpability in the choices they made.

I wish there was some way to prevent the inevitable editorializing that will blame the victim and demand that they not be judged.

This is one of the most upsetting stories I have read in a while. I am filled with directionless, incoherent and useless rage.

Thank you Callista for helping to ensure that Jarrod is not forgotten and what was done to him is known.

It?s always sickening to hear a killer say: he?s in a better place now.