Judge places starved children in state custody

Judge places starved children in state custody

(Lyman-AP) July 17, 2006 - Trudy Blackwell says something was "very odd" during a visit to the home of a couple charged with starving three of their children.

Blackwell visited Scott and Molly McCurry in Lyman last month. She says the couple's 10-year-old daughter seemed normal and engaging, but the couple's three adopted sons never came out of a back bedroom.

Neighbor Leon Kelley says he did not even know the couple had other children besides the girl.

When police went into the home based on a telephone tip, they found the three boys were malnourished.

Authorities say the three boys, ages 8, 7 and 5, each weighed less than 40 pounds and had scratches and burns on their bodies. The five-year-old weighed less than 20 pounds.

The couple, accused of starving and physically abusing their three adopted sons, stared at photos of the children in court Monday before a judge ruled the malnourished children would remain in state custody.

The parents are in the Spartanburg County jail facing three felony counts of child neglect.

According to the sheriff's department and the Department of Social Services, the boys told investigators their parents bound their hands with zip ties and tied them to bed posts to prevent them from eating.

The girl was not malnourished.