Siblings of 5-year-old boy starved and locked in ‘Harry Potter’ room sneaked bread to keep him alive

Doctors compared the boy's malnourished state to a Holocaust survivor

The siblings of a five-year-old boy, who nearly starved to death and was severely physically abused by his stepmother, have revealed how they were able to keep him alive before calling the police near Houston, Texas.

Earlier this month, Tammi Bleimeyer, 37, was sentenced to nearly three decades in prison after she starved her 5-year-old stepson, identified as Jordan, forced him to wear a diaper, and locked him in a tiny ‘Harry Potter’ closet.

Bleimeyer, who is the mother of seven children, was found guilty of injury to a child by omission. Bradley Bleimeyer, the boy’s biological father, pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The incidents first came to light in March 2014 when one of Ms Bleimeyer’s sons reported her to the authorities. Now, nearly four years later, the victim’s siblings recounted how they were able to keep their brother – who is now nine-years-old – alive before calling the police.

The boy’s siblings, Cody and Allison, who were 16 and 14 at the time, were able to keep their brother sustained by sneaking him bread when their mother was not looking. One day, when Cody opened the door to his brother’s room, he was shocked to see the condition Jordan was in.

“His face was all caved in, bruises all over, marks on him,” Cody told the Sun Online. “His mouth was foaming. I have never in my life seen anything as bad as that. If we hadn’t got him out that day I don’t think he would have survived.”

At that moment, Cody called the police and handed Jordan to Allison for comfort. “It was like I wasn’t holding anything – he was so light – it wasn’t like holding a kid at all,” Allison said. “He was so, so white and his cheeks were sunken and he smelled terrible – it was just awful.”

Prosecutors for Bleimeyer’s case said Jordan was not allowed to eat at the dinner table with the family. He was allowed to eat only one slice of bread a day, and if he didn’t eat it quick enough, his parents would take it away. He was forced to wear a diaper and live in a tiny closet exposed with nails and wirings. The young boy was also allegedly drugged whenever guests came over to the home. His siblings told the authorities they believed someone slammed Jordan’s head against the wall and tasered him.

When Jordan was rescued, he suffered from severe malnourishment, and weighed only 29 pounds. He had bumps and bruises all over his body. The doctors compared his state to to a Holocaust survivor, and said that he would have died within days if he had not been rescued.

Cody said Ms Bleimeyer, who was six months pregnant at the time, was outraged that he opened the locked door without her permission. She took Jordan and fled to a nearby motel but the police were able to locate her and save the boy by tracking her cell phone records.

Child Protective Service (CPS) officials said Jordan’s health rapidly deteriorated after they visited the Bleimeyer home in February 2014. The agency was investigating the Bleimeyer family and were called several times to their home that year.

Bleimeyer was arrested and charged the following year. Following ten days of testimony, in which her biological children testified against her, the 37-year-old woman was found guilty and sentenced to 28 years in prison on December 10.

Bleimeyer broke down in tears when the guilty verdict was read, and when she heard the testimony against her.

“It’s no mystery why we’re all here,” one son said in a statement. “You made a big mistake, and ultimately have to face the consequences.”

“I’m up here to ask a rhetorical question of how, how could you put your children through all that? The people who should be your pride and joy”, he added.

Jordan has been able to recover from his severe state and has been reunited with his biological mother. Bleimeyer’s newborn child was handed over to foster care and CPS took custody over Jordan’s step-siblings.