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Stepmom Kept 5-Year-Old In 'Harry Potter Room,' Starving Him So Much He Looked Like 'Holocaust Survivor'
Tammi Bleimeyer's stepson "was often given only a slice of bread to eat – and that was snatched away from him if he took too long to eat it,” authorities said.
A Texas woman has been sentenced to nearly 30 years behind bars for starving her 5-year-old stepson and locking him in a crawlspace dubbed the “Harry Potter Room.”
“He was nearly starved to death,” Harris County Assistant District Attorney Stephen Driver said of the victim in a statement. “Doctors compared his state of malnourishment to that of a Holocaust survivor.”
Tammi Bleimeyer, 38, of Spring was sentenced last week to 28 years for serious bodily injury to a child after being convicted earlier this month.
The victim, who is now in the care of his biological mother, was forced to “sleep beneath the stairs in an unfinished crawl space with exposed nails and wiring,” according to the district attorney’s office. “He wore only a diaper and was often given only a slice of bread to eat – and that was snatched away from him if he took too long to eat it.”
When the boy was rescued in 2014, prosecutors said he weighed only 29 pounds. In addition to being starved, his head was slammed into a wall, and he was possibly tased, according to the district attorney’s office. One of his older siblings told a family friend about the boy’s abuse, which led to the rescue. In addition to his shocking weight, police said he had bumps and bruises all over his body, according to KTRK in Houston.
The boy’s biological father, Bradley Bleimeyer, 28, had previously pleaded guilty to abusing the boy and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016, according to court records.
Bleimeyer appeared on the “Dr. Phil Show“ shortly after her arrest in 2015.
“JUSTICE HAS ARRIVED !!” local police wrote in a Tweet following Bleimeyer’s conviction. “MOTHER WHO STARVED HER 5 YEAR OLD STEP SON AND KEPT HIM LOCKED IN A CLOSET UNDER STAIRS WAS FOUND GUILTY TODAY IN COURT!!”
[Photo: Harris County Jail]
