- Two
parents were arrested Friday inCalifornia after allegedly neglecting their three adopted kids. - One of the kids - 15-year-old Karreon Franks - was disabled and died from starvation, the Oregonian reported.
- Just hours after his death, his parents went to a casino.
Two parents from Vancouver,
The Oregonian reported that the parents - Jesse Franks and Felicia Adams-Franks - allegedly hit the casino just hours after Karreon died last November.
Police found Karreon and his two younger brothers, who were also adopted, were severely neglected and malnourished by the adoptive parents, the Oregonian reported.
Adams-Franks on November 27 brought Karreon to a Washington hospital, where he died 14 minutes after admission. At the time, the cause of death was identified as pneumonia, according to the Oregonian, but funeral home staff members later said they had "concerns with his appearance," prompting the police to investigate.
In April of this year, a medical examiner said Karreon, who was 15, died of starvation.
According to court records obtained by the Oregonian, the parents neglected their three kids for years. They restricted access to food and abused them, the outlet reported.
Karreon was autistic, blind, and nonverbal, and a social worker said he looked like a "walking skeleton" when she conducted a review of the family home a week ahead of his death, court records say, according to the Oregonian.
The teen's aunt - the kids' biological mother - allegedly tipped off Washington state child welfare agencies about the conditions that the kids were subjected to while living with her sister. She said her sister had deliberately withheld food from Karreon and his two brothers, the Oregonian reported.
Just hours after Karreon died in November, the parents went to a casino. According to police records obtained by the Oregonian, the two lost about $280,000 over the course of their lifetime gambling.