Last Friday, a couple from Carnation was arrested by the King County Sheriff's Office under the suspicion of child abuse, after police officers had found their teenage daughter severely dehydrated and malnourished.

The case has already been sent to the prosecutor’s office, in order for charges to pressed against the parents, police officials have informed.

On August 13, an investigation into the matter was kicked off, after a neighbour of the family called Child Protective Services (CPS), stating that he had heard screaming coming from the couple’s house.

The girl weighed only 48 pounds (at a 4-foot-7 height) when the detectives found her, the latter establishing that she had not been given any food or water for days.

Her parents, Rebecca Long, 44, and Jon Pomeroy, 43, were taken into custody and their daughter was admitted to Seattle Children's Hospital, where she received treatment over a period of fourteen days.

Both the girl and her 12-year-old brother were forced to sleep on the floor of their parents’ room, their water intake being supervised by their mother and kept to a minimum, police officials revealed. Nevertheless, the girl suffered much more abuse from her parents, having her showers monitored by her work-at-home mom and being locked ip in her room during the day. Furthermore, she was fed only toast, doctors finding that she had not put on any weight in five years.

The two children are currently in foster care and they have also been enrolled in school.

Sergeant John Urquhart, the lead detective in the case, said that this was the worst one he had seen throughout his 16 years of service.