The parents of a blind and autistic 17-year-old from Longmont are being accused of child abuse and neglect after their 88-pound son was hospitalized last week in such poor health that a doctor likened him to a concentration camp survivor.

According to court records, the teen — who apparently subsisted on a diet of soda and cracker snacks, and used a bedside jug for his bathroom — was suffering from severe malnutrition and kidney failure when he was taken to Longmont United Hospital on Aug. 30.

The boy’s parents, David and Vanessa Hall, both 52, were arrested by Longmont police late Tuesday on suspicion of felony child abuse and negligent serious bodily injury to an at-risk person.

On Wednesday, neighbors in the 15th Avenue trailer park where the Halls live said the teen appeared to rarely leave the family’s home.

“He’s always inside,” said Alma Rubio, who lives two doors down from the Halls. “They never have him outside. Sometimes he’s in the fence outside.”

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said the boy, who is not being identified because of his age, is doing better than when he was found, but he could not discuss specifics due to medical privacy.

“Colorado law not only makes the protection of children a top priority, but it imposes heightened duties on persons in a position of trust with regard to caring for a child — and that includes parents,” Garnett said.

‘Concentration camp’

According to an arrest-warrant affidavit, David Hall brought his son to Longmont United Hospital last week, saying he believed the teen lost consciousness in the shower as a result of having the flu.

David Hall told police he thought his son lost about 15 pounds over two days and was much thinner than normal. He said he noticed his son being progressively less active over the past few weeks.

Doctors determined the teenage boy was suffering from severe malnutrition, hypovolemic shock, a stage 3 sacral pressure sore and kidney failure, according to the affidavit. He lacked seven basic vitamins and minerals, a condition which the team of doctors said they had never before observed.

The boy’s condition was described by a doctor “as being consistent with someone who would have been in a concentration camp for several years,” according to the arrest affidavit, and he would need at least four weeks of intensive medical intervention followed by six months of closely monitored nutritional care before he would be at an appropriate weight.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 17-year-old boys, depending on their height, should weigh between 110 pounds and 200 pounds.

A Longmont detective who visited the boy in the hospital said he looked younger than his actual age, was pale with dark, sunken eyes and had little to no muscle tone.

According to information provided by the boy’s parents included in the arrest affidavit, the 17-year-old had not been seen by a physician in the past eight years, nor had he received dental care, in-home assistance or any formal schooling aside from special education class when he was 5.

‘Picky eater’

The Halls told police they first became aware of their son’s autism and blindness when he was 5 years old.

The parents told police their son was a “picky eater” who has subsisted on seven to eight sodas a day and up to 500 calories worth of cheesy cracker-type snacks, as well as yogurt, according to the arrest affidavit.

For his bathroom needs, the teen had been using a jug next to his bed in the Halls’ house in the 500 block of 15th Avenue in Longmont, according to police.

David Hall told a Longmont detective he did not believe his son’s food choices were the best, but he and his wife did not know what else to do.

When asked why they had not reached out for assistance, neither parent could supply an answer, according to the affidavit.

A Boulder County Housing and Human Services intake case worker told police that David Hall did not seem to understand the grave condition of his son’s health and was more concerned with how hospitalization would affect his Social Security payments.

A search of the house on Aug. 31 revealed old medical records documenting the boy weighing 90 pounds when he was 8 years old — two pounds more than he weighed when he was found last week.

About eight years ago, the family moved from Georgia to Longmont to be closer to Vanessa Hall’s family.

Public defender Nicole Collins said David Hall has no criminal record, once worked at IBM and has been a shuttle driver for about two years. Vanessa Hall was her son’s primary caretaker, according to the arrest affidavit.

At his first court appearance at the Boulder County Jail on Wednesday, David Hall’s bond was reduced from $100,000 to $50,000 by county Judge David Archuleta, who said the charges were very concerning, but that David Hall would not be a risk to the community.

David Hall is restricted from seeing his son if he bonds out except as provided in court orders through a pending Colorado Dependency and Neglect case that runs parallel to the Boulder County case.

Hall is scheduled to be formally charged Friday.

Vanessa Hall posted $100,000 bond shortly after her arrest, but appeared at the jail for her husband’s hearing on Wednesday.

As she left the hearing, Vanessa Hall declined to comment.

She is expected to appear in court on Sept. 20, according to the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office.

‘He stayed inside’

In the pod of mobile homes off 15th Avenue where the Halls live, two neighbors commented Wednesday on the teenage boy they rarely saw.

Rubio said she did not know the Halls well because they kept to themselves.

She said she believes one of their family members lives next to her.

“I was about to go ask her what’s going on because I see the little boy,” Rubio said. “I know he’s not normal because of the way they talk to him. I don’t get too much involved with them.”

Rubio said from the few times she had seen the Halls’ son, she thought he was about 8 or 10. She said she has lived in the community for about a year, and thought the Halls recently had been trying to sell their home.

Bud Burrows, who has lived in the house next to the Halls for more than four years, said he was shocked when they told him last week they were being investigated.

“They just told us he had been sick because when he fell down or whatever … they went to the hospital,” Burrows said. “They had the ambulance and fire truck out here. It was like 1 o’clock in the morning last week. We didn’t really say anything to them because we didn’t really know it was them at first.”

Burrows said he believed the Halls took care of their son, who he thought looked about 14 years old. He said he thought the boy was home-schooled.

Burrows said he had been inside the Halls’ home before to fix their swamp cooler, but otherwise didn’t know them very well.

“I haven’t seen (their son) in a little bit,” Burrows said. “He generally stays inside most of the time. He would come out into the yard, messing around back there and you could hear him back there.

“But for the most part, he stayed inside.”

Amelia Arvesen: 303-684-5212, arvesena@times-call.com or twitter.com/ameliaarvesen