Couple accused of starving toddler for years, killing by locking in freezing bathroom
An Abilene couple accused of starving a toddler for years before locking him in a freezing bathroom, causing him to die of hypothermia, has been arrested.
Syhtel Lee Limuel and Mark Anthony Nieves were both taken into custody in Taylor County Wednesday on several warrants, including multiple counts of Injuring a Child and Abandoning/Endangering a Child.
Limuel is also charged with Aggravated Kidnapping and Nieves is also charged with multiple counts of Assault of Pregnant Person and Evading Arrest.
All charges are related to an incident that occurred in San Angelo in January 2024.
Court documents state a 3-year-old boy named Josiah was brought to the hospital with a body temperature that was so low, he was unresponsive and died.
Investigators then learned, through interviews and crime scene photographs, that Josiah was likely locked in a freezing bathroom with no blankets and heat while the outside temperature was lower than 40 degrees.
Doctors who performed Josiah’s autopsy believed the temperature of the tile floor where Josiah was found lying, coupled with the child’s malnourishment (documents state he was in the 55th percentile at 1 month of age, 17th percentile at 1 year of age, 1 percentile at 3 years of age, and 0 percent at the time of the incident) led to his death.
The doctors also found Josiah’s body showed signs of chronic stress and abuse, including multiple bruises, abrasions, and scars all over his face, neck, and body that were in various stages of healing.
