WARNING: This article contains graphic images that some readers may find distressing.

A woman in the United States who starved her five-year-old stepson and kept him locked inside a closet under a staircase has been sentenced to spend 28 years in jail.

Tammi Bleimeyer, 37, was first arrested by police in the Texas town of Spring, north of Houston, in 2015 after officers located the boy inside a home.

Texas woman Tammi Bleimeyer, 37, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for starving her five-year-old stepson and keeping him locked in a a closet underneath a staircase. (Supplied)

At the time, the boy – Jordan Bleimeyer - weighed just 13 kilograms and showed signs of extreme starvation, bruising and scratches.

“In February 2015, our office worked one of the most horrific child abuse cases,” Mark Herman, a Harris County constable, said in a post to social media.

“The five-year-old was starved and kept locked inside a closet for most of every day.

Jordan Bleimeyer was found by police weighing just 13 kilograms in 2015. (Supplied)

“The child was rescued by Constables and placed in the care of Children Protective Services.”

Police had also been alerted to the shocking case of child abuse a year before, when Jordan’s 16-year-old stepbrother called authorities in 2014, according to local media.

Detectives were told Jordan was forced to wear a diaper, was locked in the closet and not given food, however when police arrived at the Bleimeyer’s home they were unable to locate him.

Deputies later tracked mobile phone records to a nearby motel, where it was believed the woman had transported Jordan in an attempt to evade police, according to ABC13 .

It is believed the boy was forced to wear a diaper and went without food for days while locked in the closet. (Supplied)

"He was nearly starved to death... Doctors compared his state of malnourishment to that of a Holocaust survivor," assistance district attorney Stephen Driver told the court, a Houston Chronicle report said .

After being found guilty on December 8 for causing injury to a child by omission, Bleimeyer was sentenced to 28 years in prison this week.

Jordan's biological father, Bradley Bleimeyer, also pleaded guilty to the crime in 2016 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.