Adoptive parents of Ethiopian girl who died of hypothermia and starvation in their backyard found GUILTY of manslaughter



Larry and Carri Williams of Sedro-Woolley, Washington were found guilty of neglecting, abusing, and ultimately killing 13-year-old Hana Williams

The couple left Hana to die from hypothermia and starvation in their backyard in May 2011

Step-brother Immanuel testified he and Hana were beaten with sticks, hosed down, forced to eat frozen food and locked in closets as punishment

A Washington state couple were convicted of manslaughter Monday in the gruesome starvation and hypothermia death of a teenage girl they adopted from Ethiopia.



A jury found Larry Williams, of Sedro-Woolley, guilty of first-degree manslaughter, while his wife, Carri Williams, was found guilty of homicide by abuse as well as manslaughter. The jury also convicted them both of assault and each faces a possible life sentence.



Hana Williams died in May 2011 in the backyard of the couple's home, where she was forced to stay as part of a strict system of child-rearing outlined in a Christian parenting book .

Manslaughter: Larry (left) and Carri Williams react in a Washington court Monday as a jury read their guilty verdict. The couple were guilty of manslaughter in the death of their 13-year-old Ethiopian adopted daughter



Dragged away: Carri Williams is taken into custody last month after a jury deemed her guilty of the 2011 death of her daughter. She was also found guilty of homicide by abuse

The ban came about amid outrage after Ethiopian girl Hana Williams was starved to death by a US couple. She was found in the yard of her adoptive parents' Washington home in 2011. They were given maximum sentences for causing her death

An autopsy showed that Hana died of hypothermia that was aggravated by chronic gastritis and malnutrition.

Her bone-thin body was covered in bruises, including a lump on her shaved head, and red bloody markings on her hips, elbows and face.

Defense lawyers argued that questionable parenting practices don't necessarily amount to a crime.

Hana is believed to have been 13, but no documentation of her birth in Ethiopia was available. The trial was postponed several times and her body was exhumed in January.



The jury began deliberating last week. On Monday, they announced their decision to convict both the Williams' of first degree manslaughter.

The class A felonies can mean life in prison and/or $50,000 fines, according to the Skagit Valley Herald .



The jury was unable to decide if Larry Williams was guilty of homicide by abuse. In the end, only Carri Williams was convicted on that charge.

Both Larry and Carri were also convicted of first degree assault on Hana's adopted brother Immanuel.



Tests on Hana's teeth and bones gave varying estimates and experts were unable to agree on her age.

Her age was significant because the homicide by abuse charge applies only if the victim was younger than 16, though experts were unable to say for sure if she was or was not.



She was adopted in 2008.

Guilty: Larry Williams listens in Skagit County court days before a jury found him and wife Carri guilty of neglecting and ultimately killing their adopted Ethiopian daughter Hana

Wicked: Carri Williams cries during her trial. She was convicted of homicide by abuse in addition to manslaughter

A foster mother testified during the trial that the couple's other adopted son Immanuel was rail-thin and covered in scratches when she took him in.

The testimony from Sheila Jackson came on day 18 of the Williams murder trial.

The couple left their 13-year-old Hana, to starve and die in the cold after brutally punishing her and her step-brother, Immanuel.

Jackson, who is deaf, told the jury in a Mount Vernon courtroom that when the Williamses’ son Immanuel, who was also adopted from Ethiopia, came to live with her, she could barely keep up with his demands for food.

Remorseful? Williams is pictured here testifying for his defense in August. The Washington man and his wife were both found guilty of first degree manslaughter and both face a possible life sentence

Extreme: The deeply religious couple are believed to have been following an extreme form of Christian parenting outlined in the book To Train a Child



'He ate fast. He ate a lot. He ate more than I expected,' she told on the stand, the station KIRO-TV reported

Following the couple's arrest, Child Protective Services removed Immanuel and seven other children from their home.

Sheila Jackson said the boy was terrified to talk about his adoptive parents.

Wasting away: Hana, pictured left sometime after her arrival in the U.S., lost nearly 30lbs between 2009 and 2011, and had her head shaven when she was found dead in the backyard

Angelic: Hana, pictured second left, seen as a young girl with her family back in Ethiopia

According to the foster mother, the child was so emaciated that his ribs were showing through his skin covered in markings from past beatings.

Immanuel, now 12 years old, testified during the trial that the Williamses beat him and Hana with belts and switches.

Lingering fear: Foster mother Sheila Jackson, who took in Immanuel after the Williamses' arrest, said the boy was very thin, always hungry and terrified to talk about his adoptive parents

The parents kept the family isolated from non-relatives, home-schooled the children and followed strict religious principles described in the Christian parenting book titled ‘To Train Up a Child,’ investigators said.

As punishment for bad behaviour, the teen told the court that he and his step-sister were fed frozen meals, hosed down and forced to sleep in closets, where they would listen to recordings of the Bible on tape and Christian music.

The defense has attempted to paint Immanuel as a disobedient boy with an attitude problem.

The lawyers for the couple said Immanuel hit and bit Jackson’s daughter so badly that her teacher ended up calling CPS after the child came to school with bruises.

Sheila Jackson said that Immanuel has been getting counselling and his behaviour has been improving.

In 2008, Immanuel was 7 years old when the American couple, both devout Christians, adopted him and Hana from Ethiopia. Larry worked at Boeing while his wife was a stay-at-home mom home-schooling the two adopted kids and their seven biological children.

In his testimony, the 12-year-old told the court that his adopted parents would beat him with a stick until blood was running down his face.

Other disciplinary measures included having Immanuel hosed down in the yard for bed-wetting and keeping him and Hana outside in the cold.

Tough disciplinarians: Hana and her adoptive brother were allegedly spanked, hit with sticks, hosed down and forced to eat frozen food

Cruel death: Hana's emaciated body covered in bruises was found face down in the mud in the backyard of the family's home in Sedro-Woolley, Washington

Cause of death: An autopsy showed that the 13-year-old died from hypothermia exacerbated by malnutrition and gastritis

'I would suffer with the pain until it eventually went away,' he said in sign language July 29.

Larry’s attorney, Rachel Forde, characterized the Ethiopian boy as a troublemaker who lied to his adoptive parents and refused to do lessons assigned by his mother.

While the couple's biological children, five of whom had testified during the trial, were generally treated better, the strict rules in the Williams household applied to them as well.

According to Joseph Williams, however, he and his siblings were given the authority to punish and even spank their adopted brother and sister, KIRO-TV reported.

Joseph was called to the stand to describe the night of May 12, 2011, when his 13-year-old adopted sister died.

Joseph Williams told the court that after Hana died while sitting in the yard in 40-degree weather, his mother instructed him to bring the girl's body inside, where she performed CPR and called 911.

The mother of nine said on the call that her daughter Hana 'has killed herself.'



Blaming the victim: On a 911 call after Hana's death, Carri Williams (left) told the dispatcher that her 'rebellious' adopted daughter had killed herself by throwing herself down to the ground and refusing to come indoors



When asked by the 911 dispatcher why she believed her daughter had taken her own life, Williams said that the girl was not breathing and lying face down in the mud after refusing to come indoors, according to the Seattle Times.

Calling Hana 'rebellious,' the mother said that she had seen the 13-year-old throwing herself to the ground and staggering about the yard after taking her clothes off.

A local weather station reported that the temperature that night was 42 degrees.

First responders arrived just after midnight and rushed Hana to Skagit Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later.

An autopsy report concluded that the girl died from hypothermia, with malnutrition and chronic gastritis as contributing factors. According to the girl’s medical records, between 2009 and 2011, she had lost nearly 30lbs and was short for her age.

Larry and Carri Williams were arrested September 29, 2011, on charges of homicide by abuse in connection with their daughter's death, and first-degree assault of a child stemming from mistreatment of Immanuel.