A four-year-old girl who weighed just 18lbs when authorities found her starved, beaten and drugged body tied to a bed was so emaciated that every rib was visible, a jury has heard. Marchella Brett Pierce was tied to her SpongeBob SquarePants bed with a skipping rope when she died in September 2010, prosecutors in the case against her mother and grandmother said.

A woman remained in jail Wednesday after she said there were snakes and lizards on her 3-month-old baby and then stood on a sea wall holding the boy, authorities said. On Tuesday, the manager of a Clearwater building called authorities after she found 39-year-old Lydia M. Chako in a flooded apartment. Chako was inside, throwing items around and saying she thought there were lizards and snakes on the baby, Clearwater authorities said.

Creek County, OK – Tommy Braden, a 24-year-old Oklahoma man has been jailed after he allegedly raped his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter. According to the Creek County Sheriff’s Office, Braden called 911 Friday morning telling police that someone broke into his mobile home and raped his “little girl.” When deputies arrived on the scene, they found the girl covered in blood from the waist down. They also found the family dog dead of apparent stab wounds.

Port Richey, FL – Chekayla Ariel Dampier, an 18-year-old Florida woman was arrested Tuesday after she allegedly scorched off her baby son’s nipple because he wouldn’t stop crying. According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, Dampier became frustrated when her 7-week-old son wouldn’t stop crying. In retaliation, Dampier placed the infant into a wash tub and ran scorching hot water over his head and body for several minutes. Forensics experts estimated the water temperature to be approximately 142 degrees.

A Canadian man has been arrested, accused of coercing a 12-year-old girl to perform sex acts online by pretending to be pop star Justin Bieber. Toronto resident Lee Moir, 34, was arrested after police posed as a young girl and arranged to meet him. The 12-year-old girl and her family live in New Jersey, where Essex County Assistant Prosecutor John Laurino said the girl believed Moir was Bieber and started a relationship with him, e-mailing back and forth.

NEW YORK — It was one of biggest stories to ever captivate New York City and beyond, and on Thursday the NYPD and FBI resumed the search for Etan Patz, a 6-year-old child who went missing in 1979. Federal and local authorities were searching the basement of a building on Prince Street in SoHo, just feet from where Patz was last believed to have been seen.

These questions lie at the heart of the memory of childhood abuse issue. Experts in the field of memory and trauma can provide some answers, but clearly more study and research are needed. What we do know is that both memory researchers and clinicians who work with trauma victims agree that both phenomena occur. However, experienced clinical psychologists state that the phenomenon of a recovered memory is rare (e.g., one experienced practitioner reported having a recovered memory arise only once in 20 years of practice). Also, although laboratory studies have shown that memory is often inaccurate and can be influenced by outside factors, memory research usually takes place either in a laboratory or some everyday setting. For ethical and humanitarian reasons, memory researchers do not subject people to a traumatic event in order to test their memory of it. Because the issue has not been directly studied, we can not know whether a memory of a traumatic event is encoded and stored differently from a memory of a non-traumatic event.

A nationwide search is under way for a father who is accused of sexually assaulting three of his nine children while they spent their time living between motels and a store at a shopping mall. James Julius Beaudrie, 36, from Minnesota, is charged with eight counts of third-degree sexual abuse and is believed to have fled Iowa – where the family had been living. His wife Kijua Lynn Beaudrie, 35, has been arrested on three counts of child neglect. She is being held at the Polk County Jail on a $10,000 bond.

UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio – A Union Township woman is facing several charges for allegedly raping a teenage boy at knife point.
Police said Jamie Nichole Phillips, 20, held a knife to the throat of the 14-year-old victim and brought him into her apartment where she forced him to perform sex acts. The crime allegedly happened in the evening of Saturday April 7 at an apartment located on Eastwood Drive.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Police have arrested three people suspected of killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their remains to make stuffed meat pies sold in the northeastern town of Garanhuns. The three suspects — 51-year-old Jorge Beltrao Negroponte, his wife, Cristina da Silveira, and his mistress, Bruna da Silva– were arrested Wednesday and have confessed to the crimes, the police said on local television.

ROCKFORD — A man who ironed a shirt while it was on the back of an 18-month-old girl pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated battery to a child and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Elliott Moore, 43, of Rockford was sentenced by Judge Rosemary Collins, Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato announced today. On Feb. 5, 2010, Rockford police officers were sent to Rockford Memorial Hospital to take a report of aggravated battery to a child. Officers learned that the child had a large, open burn mark in the middle of the back.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado Springs father is thankful to have his son in his arms after his car was stolen with the toddler inside on Sunday. Police say at around 2 a.m. Anthony Pettiford stepped out of his running vehicle to greet some friends in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven on South Hancock Avenue.

BREAKING NEWS: A 3-day-old baby boy snatched from his mother outside the pediatrician’s office. The mother shot dead — the newborn infant missing & in extreme danger. Police say an unknown woman reportedly shot multiple times at the mom & fled in a light-blue or green Lexus car. Do you have any info? Please help us find 3-day-old Keegan.

TAMPA, Fla. — He is accused of raping two children, said to be armed and dangerous, and FBI agents believe he might be living among us. “We need to find this man,” said Special Agent Dave Couvertier. John Joseph Hartin has been on the run for nearly 18 years. Now a tip that he may have been spotted in Orlando has FBI agents searching for him in Florida. Digital billboards now flash his face across roadways. It’s thought he may be hiding out in Tampa, where he has family.