A father and stepmother have been both charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter after an eight-year-old girl was found unresponsive in a bathtub.
According to reports, Elk River police officers found Autumn Hallow not breathing and looking “extremely frail and thin,” with her skin and hair mostly dry – presuming that she was deceased for a while.
There was an attempt to revive the young girl. However, she was not able to be saved.
Brett Jason Hallow, 30 and Sarah Kay Hallow, 28, were both arrested the following day on August 14, said Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office.
Mrs. Hallow reportedly claimed that little Autumn had told her she was about to take a shower, but after 40 minutes passed, she found her face down in the water.
Autumn’s father claimed he was awakened by his wife’s screaming.
According to a criminal complaint, the married couple had Autumn in their Minnesota apartment after allegedly denying her biological mother access, partly due to the pandemic.
The girl’s younger brother, who is 6-years-old, reportedly told the police that the couple would tie his sister up in a sleeping bag using a belt when she wet herself or didn’t do what they told her to do.
The young boy also claimed to have heard a loud bang from the bathroom during the morning of her death. According to him, Autumn and both parents were in there.
Mrs. Hallow’s daughter, 10, saw blood in the bath and Autumn, not breathing.
The couple both deny their children’s accusations.
Mrs. Hallow said although Autumn weighed only around 45lbs and was losing her hair, that they didn’t take her to a doctor before her death.
Autumn’s death has been reportedly ruled a homicide with the cause was due to asphyxia injuries and blunt force trauma by The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office.
Tributes have been left outside of the family’s apartment complex, and a GoFundMe had been set up to help Autumn’s biological mother, who hadn’t reportedly seen her daughter since January, with funeral costs.
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