JARROD TUTKO JR - 8 yo (8/2014)/ Charged: Parents; Kimberly Jarrod Tutko Sr. - Harrisburg, PA

Body of boy who had been dead for days found in home

AP 5:39 p.m. EDT August 2, 2014


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The mother of an 8-year-old Pennsylvania boy whose decomposing body was found on the third floor of their home said Saturday she didn't know he had died until noticing the smell.

Kimberly Tutko said her husband was the primary caretaker of their mentally disabled son, and he waited several days to tell her the boy had died, Pennlive.com (http://bit.ly/1rXiJbV ) reported. Police were called to the home Friday and found the boy's body.

Police charged Jarrod Tutko, 38, on Saturday with child endangerment, concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
Harrisburg police said in a statement that Tutko informed his wife about the death of their son, Jarrod Tutko Jr., "when the odor of decomposition became too strong."
It's not clear how the boy died. An autopsy is scheduled for next week.

The couple's five other children were placed in protective custody.

Kimberly Tutko told Pennlive she understands people will find it difficult to believe she did not know her son was dead.
She said her son was severely mentally disabled and often difficult to control. He would rip up the flooring and carpeting of his bedroom, smear his feces on the floor and walls, and refuse to wear a diaper, she said.

He lived on the third floor and was primarily cared for by his father, while she looked after another disabled child who requires round-the-clock care and stays on the second floor, she said.
"My daughter relies on me," Kimberly Tutko said. "I take care of her and my husband takes care of Jarrod Jr."
Kimberly Tutko said her husband told her their son died Tuesday.
"I said to him 'Why didn't you say anything?'" she said. "He said he was too afraid to say anything because of other kids in the house."


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/02/mom-i-didnt-know-boy-was-dead-until-smell-set-in/13515685/

Jarrod Tutko Jr., 8, found dead in home on Green Street in Harrisburg

Saturday, August 02, 2014 2:34 PM




The door to the room that Jarrod Tutko Jr. was kept in at his home in the 2100 block of Green Street. Criminal charges have been filed against a man regarding the death of Jarrod Tutko Jr. 8 found at a Harrisburg home late Friday night on Green Street. Jarrod Nicholas Tutko, 38, was charged with endangering the welfare of children, concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse early Saturday morning, according to court records. Sean Simmers, PennLive.com. August 02, 2014

http://photos.pennlive.com/patriot-news/2014/08/4th_annual_walk_to_end_hydroce_17.html

Inside the squalid room where an eight-year-old disabled boy's death was hidden by his father and unnoticed by his mother for DAYS until the smell was unbearable

• The child was dead for four days until father Jarrod Tutko told his wife Kimberly Tutko what happened
  
• The eight-year-old suffered from multiple disabilities including autism and failure to thrive - he did not even attend school
  
• Kimberly Tutko claims she only found out her son had died after asking her husband about the stench in the home
  
• His room is covered in filth with feces even smeared on the walls in at  judging by photographs taken by a local newspaper
  
  
• It is not known exactly how the young boy died
  

Published: 16:16 EST, 2 August 2014  |  Updated: 21:27 EST, 3 August 2014
The mother of an 8-year-old disabled boy whose decomposing body was found in his squalid bedroom insists she did not know the child died until noticing the smell - despite him going missing for days.
Kimberly Tutko, 38, claims husband Jarrod Tutko cared for their mentally disabled son, and that he waited several days to tell her the boy had died, according to reports. Police were called to the home Friday and found the body.
Pictures of the family's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania home published by PennLive show the inside of the Tutkos home and the room the young boy lived in.

I agree with the neighbor.  The mother knew, the whole family knew.  A rotting body cannot be disguised.

Parents Of Child That Died From Starvation Collected Food Stamps, Welfare Court Records Show

Monday, September 29 2014, 08:22 PM EDT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) -- There was no bed, no light and no air conditioning when the body of Jarrod Tutko Jr., was found.

He was locked away in a bedroom with feces covered floor and walls.

Kimberly Tutko and her husband, Jarrod Tutko Sr., were charged Monday with criminal homicide in the death of their 9-year-old son, WHP-News reports.

According to the criminal complaint, the couple has a long history of child neglect.

Little Jarrod weighed 16.9 pounds at the time of his death. The coroner determined little Jarrod died of starvation and dehydration.

He had been dead for a few days, according to investigators. Authorities first went into the home, another child with disabilities was near death.

That child was taken to the hospital.

The remaining child remain in state custody.

Court documents also reveal the family received $3,191 a month in welfare. That figure also included $351 a month in food stamps -- all the while the autopsy revealed Jarrod Jr., died of starvation.

"His parents intentionally did not provide him with the food and care that you'd expect anyone would provide their own child or any child. I've been to a lot of crime scenes over 25 years and this one ranks as among the most horrific," said District Attorney Ed Marsico.

http://www.cbs12.com/news/top-stories/stories/parents-child-died-starvation-collected-food-stamps-welfare-court-records-show-19438.shtml

What a cruel way to torture a child to death.  These monsters are evil to the bone.

Court records detail changing stories provided by Jarrod Tutko Jr.'s mother

By Christine Vendel | cvendel@pennlive.com
on October 01, 2014 at 8:00 AM
updated October 01, 2014 at 9:55 AM

HARRISBURG - When Kimberly Tutko first talked to Harrisburg police in August about the death of her 9-year-old son, she said she wasn't involved in the boy's care at all.

She told police, and many news reporters who came to her door later, that she was solely in charge of taking care of her bedridden daughter. She said her husband, Jarrod Tutko Sr., was solely in charge of taking care of Jarrod Jr., who had Fragile X Syndrome. The boy starved to death alone in his feces-covered bedroom.

But court records released this week this week revealed that Kimberly Tutko provided a different story to Dauphin County children's services workers late last year. She provided county workers a household schedule that divided chores between her and her husband.

"There was never any indication at that time that Kimberly Tutko was not responsible for Jarrod Tutko Jr.'s care and welfare," court records said.

The contradiction was one of several contained in the court documents, which were filed Monday to support criminal homicide charges against Kimberly Tutko and her husband.

Kimberly Tutko initially told police, and news reporters, that she had not seen her son in "many years" prior to his death.

But upon further questioning by police, who used information gleaned from her husband, she admitted to investigators that she had been on the third-floor of her home, where Jarrod Jr. lived, between July 1 and 8—the same month he died.

She told police she visited his room to refill his sippy cup with iced tea.

"She knew his room had no bed, the lights did not work, the lock was reversed to lock him in the room and that the room had some feces smeared about the room," according to court documents.


Kimberly Tutko mugshot.

Kimberly Tutko also told police that she saw her son in the bathroom three weeks before he died, crying on the bathroom floor. She said he "didn't like the noise of the running water."

She told police she went into the bathroom and hugged her son. She also saw him a day or two prior to his death, she told police.

The court documents also noted that Jarrod was first taken away from the couple as a 9-month-old baby in New Jersey after a home health nurse reported that he was losing weight.

He spent one week in a hospital and gained one pound. He was eventually returned to his parents, who had since relocated to Harrisburg.

Child advocates can't help but wonder if the experience factored into the family's decision to avoid in-home medical help in Harrisburg. PennLive readers have wondered if the family avoided extra medical help because it would dig into the more than $38,000 annually the family collected in disability payments and food stamps.

Kimberly Tutko told PennLive in August that her children were not paychecks and that she turned down medical help for her multiple severely disabled children because the quality of the workers was low and that the hours they were available weren't convenient.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/10/jarrod_tutko_court_records.html#incart_m-rpt-1

Tutkos ordered to Dauphin County Court on murder charges over son's death


on October 30, 2014 at 1:36 PM, updated October 30, 2014 at 1:54 PM


The parents of Jarred Tutko Jr. are heading to Dauphin County Court to answer to charges that they murdered their 9-year-old son.

District Judge Barbara Pianka sent the case against Jarrod Tutko Sr., 38, and Kimberly Tutko, 39, both of Harrisburg, to the county court after a 90-minute preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon. Pianka's ruling pushes the case closer to a possible trial.

Both parents are charged with murder and child endangerment. Jarrod Sr., who is accused of concealing the boy's death, also is charged with abuse of a corpse. Jarrod Sr. was arrested soon after the boy's death was discovered in August. The charges were filed against his wife last month.

Authorities claim Jarrod Jr., who was medically fragile and weighed just 16.9 pounds, died from deliberate neglect. He was kept in a dark, airless and feces-covered room at the Tutko home in the 2100 block of Green Street, according to investigators.

The Tutko's five other children were taken into the care of the county's Children & Youth Services agency.


http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/10/tutkos_ordered_to_dauphin_coun.html

I can't figure out why a family of this size would be given $3200 a month in welfare.  My gawd, that's disgusting.