Arizona, Bollywood Fever: A tragic incident has surfaced from Arizona, where a 9-year-old boy was found dead in his home during a welfare check on July 14, according to a media release from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, shared with E! News.
“The investigation revealed,” the department’s statement continued, “that the child had been deceased on a couch inside of the residence for an extended period of time.”
Joseph Antonsen, the boy’s father, has been arrested on two felony counts of child abuse and one felony count of negligent homicide, authorities confirmed, noting that the investigation is ongoing.
According to a local outlet, KVOA, which cited an interim complaint, Antonsen told police that his son became ill on July 12, eventually “shuttering and going limp.” Antonsen then reportedly went to turn on his car to take his son for medical attention, but upon returning inside, he found his son not breathing and without a pulse.
The 38-year-old father admitted to police that he “should have called somebody,” but instead left the house for an unspecified location, returning two days later.
When law enforcement entered the house, they found piles of garbage near where the boy was located, in addition to “empty beer cans, large piles of soiled diapers, rotten foods, large amounts of one-gallon bottles full of what appears to be urine, lots of insect activity, spiders like black widows, and brown recluse were observed inside the home along with spiderwebs everywhere throughout all the walls of the home,” per the interim complaint obtained by KVOA.
Deputies noted that the home had no running water or working toilets and that the boy was found in a sitting position, with his body “in the process of decomposition.”
Antonsen is being held on a $500,000 bond, according to online jail records viewed by People.
A neighbor of the father and son told local outlet KOLD that her daughter was a friend of the 9-year-old but had seen them less frequently in recent months.
“She would always be so excited to run across and go hang out with them,” the woman said of her daughter. “It would take me like hours to be like, ‘You guys need to come inside now.’”
Reflecting on the deceased, she added, “He was a really friendly kid. He was very polite.”
Also Read Other Articles, Two Oil Tankers Catch Fire Near Singapore, Prompting Search and Rescue Efforts
Aspiring Rapper Allegedly Defrauds Surrogacy Clients of Millions
Bangladesh Shuts Down TV Channels and Telecommunications Amid Violent Protests