Parents of toddler who starved to death plead guilty

The parents of a disabled 3-year-old girl who starved to death in their West Oak Lane home pleaded guilty to third-degree murder Thursday.

Carlos Rivera and Carmen Ramirez each pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy in the Sept. 9, 2013, death of daughter Nathalyz, and charges including conspiracy and child endangerment involving the care of the girl's four siblings, ages 3 to 9.

Common Pleas Court Judge Sandy L.V. Byrd set sentencing for Sept. 4. Both Rivera, 32, and Ramirez, 28, entered open guilty pleas, meaning there was no agreement with the District Attorney's Office about the sentence they will receive.

Assistant District Attorney Gwenn Cujdik said Rivera and Ramirez could end up spending the rest of their lives in prison. Cujdik said the four surviving children, including Nathalyz's twin brother, are now in foster care.

The condition of Nathalyz's 11-pound body at death caused the judge at the couple's preliminary hearing last year to liken her to "an Auschwitz child" - eyes sunken; body covered in bedsores; bones visible through her skin; and only patches of hair on her head.

She was born with a genetic disorder that left her partly blind and unable to talk, walk, or roll over. Photos of the home where Nathalyz and her siblings lived with their father showed trash, broken furniture, and garbage strewed about.

The refrigerator was broken, and the only food or drink in the house was a half-empty milk carton and a dirty baby bottle with no nipple. Nathalyz and her brothers and sisters slept together on a bedbug-infested mattress.

Police said Rivera and the children lived there two months after Ramirez left to live with a boyfriend.

Nathalyz's siblings later told a city social worker they rarely got more than one meal a day, and medical records showed they had not seen a doctor in 21/2 years.

Cujdik said Ramirez also pleaded guilty to theft charges involving the children's monthly disability checks, totaling $2,130, used for partying and casino gambling.