California Mom Allegedly Starved & Abused Her Children

Courtney Lynn Stewart
(Murrietta, California) A 24-year-old local woman, Courtney Lynn Stewart, has been arrested for child abuse after one of her twin 3-year-old boys was hospitalized for severe malnutrition and a broken jaw.

Stewart faces charges of willfully harming a child and inflicting injury on a child.

Police began investigating the case Nov. 7 after Stewart -- at the urging of her mother -- took one of the twins to the emergency room at Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta. The child could no longer walk, was suffering from malnutrition and had bruises, Detective Sgt. Phil Gomez said. He weighed less than 15 pounds.

The child was transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, police said. He was released this week.

The same day the boy arrived in the emergency room, detectives went to the home Stewart shares with several family members, including her mother. They found the boy’s twin brother, who also was in poor health, police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of nutritional and medical neglect and later released, officials said.

Police said the boys hadn’t been to a doctor since 2012.

Stewart was booked into custody with bail set at $130,000.