Two parents charged with murdering their 12-year-old daughter who was allegedly savaged by a head lice infestation so severe it caused a heart attack have been released on bail.
The parents of Kaitlyn Yozviak, aged 12, from Macon in Georgia, USA, have both been charged with murder and were yesterday granted bailed.
Mary Katherine “Katie” Horton and John Joseph Joey Yozviak were each granted the $100,000 (£73,000) bail, The Sun reports.
Yozviak and Horton are both charged with child cruelty and second-degree murder.
Investigators claimed in September that the child may have died as an indirect result of a severe lice infestation that could have lasted for years.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Ryan Hilton claimed that medical records show Kaitlyn died from cardiac arrest with a secondary cause being severe anaemia.
Mr Hilton testified that, at the time of her death, Kaitlyn had the most severe lice infestation the office had ever seen, and it may have lasted for at least three years.
He said he believed repeated lice bites lowered her blood iron levels, causing anaemia and triggering the cardiac attack.
The girl had not bathed for a week before she died and was forced to live in a filthy room with rats swarming over her mattress, stuffed animals and furniture.
Experts said her condition was so horrific she would have been left living in constant agony.
Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFSC) documents show that Kaitlyn’s two brothers were removed from the family home because of unsanitary conditions.
Neighbours told agents they hadn’t seen Kaitlyn playing near the house for two months before her death in August.
In 2008, DFCS opened another case around the time Kaitlyn was born, after the parents decided not to give her up for adoption.
The agency did not receive any reports on the family until 2018 where files show a call indicating the home was bug-infested with excessive cats and hazardous conditions.
Assistant District Attorney Brent Cochran told WMAZ-TV that prosecutors are still awaiting autopsy results and medical tests on Kaitlyn.
Cochran could not say when he expects autopsy results or when the case could go before a grand jury.