Couple convicted of denying food to 4-year-old

EVERETT — It was a typical holiday photo: a little boy holding a gingerbread house.

But to veteran Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe it was haunting. The boy in the picture, Shayne Abegg, then 4 years old, was wasting away from intentional starvation. And it would be months before he would be rescued.

"What a wonderful holiday scene that must be," Roe said of the picture from last year.Wednesday, Shayne's father, Danny Abegg, and his father's girlfriend, Marilea Mitchell, of South Everett, were convicted of criminal mistreatment after a three-day bench trial. Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne found they had intentionally starved Shayne over a period of months.

"Children in the United States of America do not look like Shayne looked," Wynne said, referring to the boy's emaciated body.

Last March, authorities rushed Shayne to the hospital, after Mitchell's sister called Child Protective Services. He weighed just 22 pounds, about half the size of most kids his age. He couldn't walk. His temperature was just 87 degrees. His body was essentially eating up muscle tissue just to survive, Wynne said.

Both defense lawyers argued at trial that their clients didn't harm Shayne intentionally: They thought he was simply a bony kid.

"I've heard the term 'skinny' mentioned many times at this trial," Wynne said. "Shayne was beyond skinny. He was emaciated."

Roe said he believes if it weren't for Mitchell's sister, Shayne would be dead and the prosecution would have been putting on a first-degree murder case.

"They made a decision every day," Roe said of the two defendants. "At lunchtime, at dinner time, at snack time, at breakfast: We're all eating and he isn't."

The standard sentence for criminal mistreatment is 2-½ to 3-½ years. However, Wynne found that Shayne was particularly vulnerable, which will allow him to consider lengthier terms when he sentences the pair Feb. 1. Roe said he plans to seek 10-year sentences for each defendant, the maximum allowed under the statute.

Mitchell, who reached repeatedly for tissues during Wednesday's hearing, let her long hair fall in front of her round face as she was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. Abegg stood tall, his black suit hanging loose around his slight frame.

Shayne, now 5, weighs a healthy 48 pounds, according to Roe, and is doing well in foster care. The boy, once ashamed of his tiny body, now loves to lift his arms over his head and show off his muscles.

"Now he's got some," Roe said.

The case was the subject of an investigation within the state Department of Social and Health Services. State child-welfare workers had received complaints as far back as spring 2006 that Shayne was malnourished and abused, but they closed the case in January after deciding the boy was well cared for.

A report issued last month found the department had missed a pattern of abuse and neglect.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com