Sheriff: Mississippi Child Starved To Death

Grandmother, Aunt Charged With Murder

JACKSON, Miss. -- An autopsy revealed that a 4-year-old child died of starvation in Scott County, authorities said.

The Scott County Sheriff’s Department was called to a home at 3726 Riverbend Road in Lena on Sunday where they found Austin James Watkins dead. The child appeared to have been sick and appeared much younger than 4 years old, Sheriff Mike Lee said.

The child’s body was taken to the Mississippi Crime Lab for an autopsy, which revealed that Watkins’ death was due to starvation, Lee said. The child weighed 19 pounds when he died, Lee said.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the child’s paternal grandmother, Janice Mowdy, 43, and the child's aunt, Stephanie Bell, 23. Both women were charged with murder and felony child abuse, Lee said.

Lee said the child had not eaten for about two weeks. He said that investigators believe the women tortured the child by not letting him have anything to eat and his organs shut down as a result.

Three other children, ages 9, 6 and 2, were taken from the home on Sunday by the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Lee said. It appeared that those children had been fed, but were probably not given food on a regular basis, Lee said.

Lee said that all four children were taken from their mother by MDHS and given to Mowdy about a year ago. Calls to MDHS were not immediately returned.

Watkins’ funeral was held Thursday morning in Morton.

Mowdy and Bell were being held Wednesday without bond at the Scott County Detention Center, Lee said. It was not known Thursday whether Mowdy and Bell have hired attorneys to respond on their behalf.