Police: Jerseyville couple starved six-year-old son to death

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JERSEYVILLE — A man and a woman have been charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of a local six-year-old child.

According to a press release from the Jerseyville Police Department, officers were called to Jersey Community Hospital Friday on a report of a deceased child.

According to the indictment, the child’s father, Michael Roberts, and step-mother, Georgena Roberts, both 42 of Jerseyville, “knowingly and intentionally caused (the child) to become extremely malnourished.”

The six-year-old weighed only 17 pounds.

“(They left) their son to starve to death,” the indictment reads. “Such knowing actions and inactions constituted severe abuse and neglect.”

A second child in the home, a seven-year-old, was also found to be malnourished. The remaining children were taken into protective custody by DCFS.

According to the press release, the reason the children were starved were as a “form of punishment.”

Bond for the two parents was set at $500,000.

Reach Alex Heeb at 618-208-6451 or on Twitter @alexheebs