Inset, top to bottom: Anthony Yonko and Lisa Mitchell (Oklahoma County Detention Center). Background: The apartment complex where they were staying when their daughter died (KOCO).
The parents of a 7-year-old girl in Oklahoma have been arrested after they allegedly brought the already-dead body of their severely emaciated and physically abused child to a local hospital.
Anthony Yonko and Lisa Mitchell were taken into custody on Friday and charged with one count each of first-degree murder in the little girl’s horrific death, court records obtained by Law&Crime show.
Yonko is also charged with one count each of torturing, maiming, and death of a child by injuring.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Midwest City Police Department’s Investigations Unit at about 1:08 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, responded to a call from the county medical examiner’s office regarding a child brought to the emergency room of Saint Anthony’s Midwest Hospital. The victim was transported to the hospital in a personal vehicle at about 11:28 a.m. and pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
Medical personnel who treated the child told police she “had signs of rigor mortis and possible injuries internal and external.”
“[A doctor] stated when working on the child numerous amounts of black and dark red secretions came from the child’s mouth when pushing on her stomach area,” the affidavit states. “The child was extremely malnourished weighing only 25 pounds and approximately 37 inches tail.” The average weight for a female child that age is about 50 pounds, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Yonko told police that he, Mitchell, and their children had been staying at the Vista Green apartments in the 7000 block of E. Reno Avenue, about seven miles east of Oklahoma City. From there, police say the father’s story continued to change.
Yonko initially claimed he went to sleep at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 1, while Mitchell and the victim slept on a small couch in the same room, per the affidavit. He said he woke up around 9 a.m. the following day and Mitchell told him the victim was “not moving and was sick and needed to go to the hospital.”
Yonko claimed his “friend” took him, Mitchell, and the victim to the hospital but he was unable to provide a name or phone number for the friend. He also said that they had been feeding the victim “crackers and soup because she possibly had the flu,” though they had not been to a doctor since the girl was “much younger.”
Police placed Yonko under arrest and transported him to Midwest City Jail where he was read his Miranda rights and allegedly agreed to speak with detectives a second time.
“During the interview Anthony changed his story numerous times stating the only people in the apartment were him, Lisa and (the victim),” police wrote in the affidavit. “He later stated Lisa’s sister, boyfriend, and two or three other kids were in the apartment when he woke up this morning to Lisa saying that (the victim) was not moving. Anthony said that Lisa was playing with (the victim) this morning but then stated that she was not moving,”
Asked about his daughter’s emaciated state, Yonko allegedly claimed that the victim weighed 50 pounds only four or five days prior and was “completely healthy,” further stating that he “feeds the child all of the time.” He had no explanation as to why she weighed only 25 pounds and was “very unhealthy” at the time of her death.
Yonko further clarified that his brother was the person who took him and his family to the hospital, adding that the brother had been staying in their residence as well.
The brother allegedly told police that on the morning of Aug. 2, Yonko was “freaking out” and said they needed to get the victim to the hospital. The brother said he dropped the parents and child at the hospital and drove away because “he was afraid and needed to get to work.”
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