Boy, 11, Weighed Just 46 Lbs. When Found Living in Squalor by Police — His Mother Has Now Been Charged with Child Abuse

A 41-year-old Texas woman has been charged with felony child abuse after police officers were called to her house, where they discovered her 11-year-old son allegedly covered in feces and weighing only 46 lbs.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Harris County, police in Baytown — located about 26 miles outside Houston — responded to a mobile home, where Rachel Nicole Blaylock lived with her son, after they received an “urgent” request for a welfare check in May.

The court document, filed on Oct. 3 and obtained by PEOPLE, states that Blaylock’s son is nonverbal, has never been to school and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

The police officer said that the moment she stepped into the house, she saw flies all around and dried fecal matter on the floors. The smell was “bad enough she nearly threw up,” per the complaint.

Blaylock allegedly told police that she replaced her son’s bedroom door with a screen door and would lock it to prevent him from leaving the house, as he had done before. The officer at the scene described the bedroom as “dirty” and the mattress as “filthy,” as fecal matter was spread around.

The 11-year-old also had dried feces on his face, arms and hands, and underneath his fingernails, per the complaint.

After the officer suggested that she take her son to the hospital, Blaylock replied, “I just can’t drop everything I’m f—— doing and take him to the hospital so a quack-a– doctor can say, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him,’ so we can see another one.”

Per the complaint, the child’s grandmother told police that the boy was often locked in his bedroom all day, and that only Blaylock and her boyfriend could unlock the door, leaving the grandmother unable to bring the 11-year-old food or water.

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“She is not a good mom,” the grandmother said, per the complaint, also claiming that Blaylock often told the child to “shut up” and that she “don’t do much of anything with him.”

The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he was formally diagnosed with autism. Medical personnel wrote that he was suffering from severe malnutrition, had significant language and developmental delays, had dental issues and had “concern for possible sexual abuse.”

His teeth were decaying, and he weighed about 46 lbs., per the court document. The average weight for an 11-year-old boy is over 80 lbs.

Blaylock was charged with felony injury to a child with serious bodily injury, court records show. On Oct. 8, she was also charged with possession of methamphetamine in an unrelated case. Her bond was set at $250,000.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.