Sheriff: Women Charged In Boy's Death Show No Remorse

Starved Boy's Autopsy Results Expected To Take 3 Weeks

SCOTT COUNTY, Miss. -- The women charged in connection with the starvation death of a 4-year-old boy do not appear to be showing any remorse, the Scott County Sheriff said on Tuesday.

Austin James Watkins weighed 19 pounds when he starved to death on Nov. 9, police said. Investigators believe he had not eaten for about two weeks. The sheriff said investigators are looking into claims that Watkins may have been locked in a room and given only water, kept in a cage or tied up.

According to investigators, his aunt, Stephanie Bell, 22, and his grandmother, Janice Mowdy, 43, may have actually forced the child to eat whatever was left or crawling around on the floor of their trailer just to survive. Both are charged with murder and felony child abuse.

Investigators have been interviewing Mowdy and Bell daily, Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee said.

Lee said Investigators have also questioned the three children ages 2, 6 and 9 who were living with Mowdy at the time of Watkins’ death. All three of the children seem to be suffering from severe mental trauma, Lee said. The children, two of whom are Watkins’ brother and sister, are all in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

Lee said the sheriff’s department is in the process of subpoenaing Watkins’ medical records from more than a year ago when he was treated at a hospital in Forest and also at University Medical Center in Jackson. Investigators hope to learn who took him to the hospitals and what prompted the visits.

Investigators were still awaiting Watkins’ autopsy results on Tuesday. Lee said the results aren’t expected to be released for another two to three weeks.

The case is expected to go before a Scott County grand jury in early January, officials said.

Both women have denied any wrongdoing in the case, Lee said.