A Missouri mother charged with abusing and neglecting her two young children pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Alyssa Nicole Bowman, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse and neglect, and prosecutors agreed to drop four other counts of abuse and neglect and two counts of child endangerment, the Springfield Daily Citizen reported.
Bowman and her husband, Joshua Bowman, were arrested in March after a family member brought a “visibly malnourished and visibly injured toddler to Mercy Springfield hospiatal.
The two-year-old boy had bruises all over his body, including his forehead, and cuts and abrasions on other parts of his body. The boy weighted 20 pounds when he was admitted to the hospital, and investigators labeled him a “victim of torture.” An investigator said the boy reminded him “of photographs that depicted concentration camp victims.”
The toddler was taken to Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital in St. Louis for rehabilitation, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Fax said, where he remained for a “lengthy stay to get him back up to a normal weight.”
A second victim, an 8-year-old girl, weighed 47 pounds when she was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center on March 26. The told interviewers that her “parents would forget to feed her and then blame each other,” Fax told the judge. She said the parents “ate all the good stuff” and would sometimes not give the children food or water.
Alyssa Bowman will be eligible for parole after she serves five short years in prison. Her husband is being held without bond and is due in court before the same judge in December.
