A 52-year-old woman in Wisconsin pleaded no contest to charges of severely abusing and starving her 14-year-old stepdaughter, who weighed just 35 pounds when found last year. Melissa Goodman faces up to 46 years in prison at her sentencing in July. She is the first of four adults charged in the case to be convicted.
Melissa Goodman entered the pleas on Wednesday to chronic neglect of a child resulting in great bodily harm, chronic neglect resulting in emotional damage, and false imprisonment. Authorities discovered the victim last August in critical condition after a 911 call from her father reported she had not eaten in days and appeared comatose. First responders described her as severely malnourished, with prominent bones and the size of a much younger child, and she was airlifted to a Milwaukee hospital where doctors feared organ failure within days.