Police on malnourished teen: 'She was a skeleton'

INDIANAPOLIS — The 15-year-old girl hospitalized earlier this week for severe malnutrition remains in critical condition, an Anderson police spokesman said.

The teenager weighed less than 40 pounds Monday when she was transported to a hospital for treatment.

"She was a skeleton," Anderson police Detective Joel Sandefur said. "I don't think people understand. She was starved."

The girl's grandfather, Steve Sells, and his wife, Joetta, are accused of keeping the teen locked in a room with little more than a mattress, a space heater, a bucket and a bowl of oatmeal, according to records from the Anderson Police Department. Investigators described a room covered in feces, with blood on the floor.

Family members told police that Steve Sells, 58, kept his granddaughter locked in the room all day and night. One person said he also picked the girl up by her hair and dragged her.

Steve Sells and Joetta Sells, 54, were arrested earlier this week but have not been formally charged.

They have had custody of the teen since 2009, Madison Circuit Court records show. They also were legal guardians of a 4-year-old, who was removed from the home Monday by the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Terry Thompson, superintendent of the Anderson Community School Corp., said the Sellses withdrew the teenager from public school "after Oct. 12, 2010," to be home-schooled.

Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said the girl had not attended school for several years.

He said DCS officials filed an "action" in court against the Sellses in 2011 but later asked the judge to dismiss it. Cummings could not say whether that action was a Child In Need of Services petition, which asks a judge to order services for children who are victims of abuse or neglect.

DCS spokesman James Wide said he could not confirm what, if any, involvement the agency had with the girl or the Sellses.

Steve Sells initially claimed his granddaughter had fallen, as an explanation for her condition. He later told police he locked the girl in her room to protect himself. Sells, who weighs at least 200 pounds, said his granddaughter was "very strong." He said he had to squeeze her arm when she approached him with a knife.

Sandefur, the police spokesman, said the girl's condition is "day-to-day." She remains in an Indianapolis hospital. The teen is so malnourished that she cannot walk, Sandefur said.