Mother, Stepfather Face Murder Charges After Severely Neglected 8-Year-Old Boy Dies, Authorities Say

A mother and stepfather are behind bars in Texas after they were accused of causing the death of their 8-year-old son.

Megan Lange, 29, and Rodolfo Reyes, 33, were arrested on Nov. 21 and each face charges of capital murder of a child under the age of 10 and injury of a child in connection with the death of the boy, KOSA reported.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the station, on Nov. 5, emergency responders were called to a home in Odessa for a report of an unresponsive child. Life-saving efforts failed and the child died at an area hospital.

Law enforcement opened an investigation into the boy’s death, and they found he appeared malnourished and had suffered, among other suspicious injuries, lacerations throughout his legs, back and head, court documents show.

The boy’s mother, Lange, claimed to detectives she bathed her son when he woke up after urinating and defecating on himself. When she brought him to a couch and laid him down, she said his rolled back and he no longer appeared to be breathing so she phoned 911.

An autopsy determined the boy had hemorrhaging on his neck and his cause of death was asphyxiation by manual strangulation with the underlying causes of neglect, KWES-TV reported.

The child was in Lange and Reyes’ care at the time of the incident, but Reyes denied he had anything to do with his stepson’s death, court documents state.