adminSURGIONSVILLE (Tennessee) — A US couple has been charged with murder in the death of the man’s five-year-old daughter after an autopsy revealed the girl died from being forced to drink more than two litres of soft drink as punishment. According to the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office and the autopsy report, Alexa Linboom was brought in to the emergency room on January 1, 2012, by her father, Randall Vaughn, and his wife, Mary Vaughn.
The girl was blue and unresponsive with “an abnormal body posture that indicates severe brain damage”, according to the autopsy, which was completed in July 2013.
The Vaughns were arrested on Wednesday and were being held at the Hawkins County Jail on a $500,000 bond each. Officials did not know whether the Vaughns had hired an attorney.
An investigation revealed the girl had been forced to drink approximately 2,4 litres of water and soda over one to two hours as punishment. The massive intake of fluid caused her brain to swell and herniate.
According to the autopsy, when she was forced to drink all that liquid, she began vomiting, urinated on herself and asked to take a bath.
“Outside of the bathtub, she tried to eat oatmeal with assistance then started clenching her hands.”
She arrived at the hospital about two to three hours later.
She was transported by air to a regional hospital where she was pronounced brain dead two days later.
The autopsy states that the girl had moved to Tennessee to live with her father about three months before her death. The move was prompted by allegations of neglect at her previous home. — AP
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