Starved for Years, Boy’s Shocking Rescue from Caregiver’s Abuse Unfolds in Oregon Courtroom
A 40-year-old woman from The Dalles was found guilty on two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment after a boy under her care was found to have been starved for several years.
She Will Appeal her Convictions for First-Degree Criminal Mistreatment
Jamie Strahm will appeal the convictions when she appears in the Multnomah County Circuit Court for sentencing on 28 March, says her attorney, Ted Occhialino.
Strahm began caring for her boyfriend’s child in 2014 when the boy was under the age of four. On Friday a jury found that she had withheld food and medical attention from the child for several years.
He Suffered an Unexplained Brain Injury and Weighed 40 Pounds
In 2015, the boy suffered an ‘unexplained’ brain injury and was hospitalized for several weeks. When he was discharged, he weighed only 45 pounds and needed to eat with a feeding tube.
By 2018, when he was not yet eight, his weight had plummeted to 40 pounds, placing him in the 13th percentile of weight for his age. The district attorney’s office says Strahm fed the boy with a feeding tube for years, claiming that he was unable to eat without it.
According to court records, the Oregon Department of Human Services suspected mistreatment and in 2016 began investigating Strahm after receiving a tip that she was keeping the child in a bedroom all day and continuing to use a feeding tube instead of teaching him how to eat.
By April 2018, Strahm stopped taking the boy to many of his medical appointments but in October 2019 she did take the boy for an appointment with a dietician. The dietician was alarmed by the child’s frailty and weight and arranged to have him admitted to the hospital the following day.
He was Suffering from Refeeding Syndrome
Doctors found that the child was suffering from refeeding syndrome, a condition that occurs when someone who is malnourished begins to eat food again.
Doctors made another discovery. The boy could eat without a tube, contradicting Strahm’s claims for using a feeding tube for several years.
Strahm was banned from the hospital and when the child was well enough to be discharged, he was taken into custody by the Department of Human Services. The boy now lives with his biological mother.
It was only in 2020, six years after the start of his ‘abuse and torture,’ that the child revealed the suffering he had ensured.
The following year, the Portland Police Bureau referred the case to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and a year later Strahm was indicted on five counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment.