Inside grim ‘house of horrors’ where obese family feasted as they filmed girl, 14, nearly starve to death

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly kept locked in her bedroom with surveillance cameras and starved for at least two years by her morbidly obese family who ordered ‘multiple daily grocery deliveries.’

The youngster weighed just 35lbs and was on the brink of death when police found her at home in Wisconsin after a 911 call from her father.

She was taken to hospital where she told staff she believed the last time she had gone outside the home was when she was either ten or 12 years old, according to a criminal complaint viewed by the Daily Mail.

Police arrested four people, including the teenager’s father, Walter Goodman, 47, on multiple counts of chronic neglect of a child.

His wife, Melissa, 50, and daughter, Savanna LeFever, 29, as well as LeFever’s partner Kayla Stemler, 27, were all living at the Green Earth Trailer Court in Oneida with the victim and are facing the same charges.

Officers discovered the teenage girl in critical condition on August 21 after Walter called 911 to report that his daughter, whom he claimed was autistic, was almost comatose and had not eaten in days, according to the criminal complaint.

The girl was allegedly given limited bathroom access and forced to sleep on the floor. She was not allowed to speak, and if she did, it was to a camera that was set up in her locked bedroom, according to the filing. The cameras would allegedly monitor the girl like Big Brother.

Text messages revealed in the document showed the suspects told each other to ‘only give her water at specific times,’ and that ‘she is not to be out of her room at all.’ As well as other messages between each other that said to take the girl’s mattress from her.

A photo of a pair of seemingly loving parents before Walter, left, and Melissa Goodman, right, faced multiple counts of chronic neglect of a child

The girl told police that she had not been outside the home at the Green Earth Trailer Court in Oneida for at least two years

Walter, 47, has been charged with multiple counts of chronic neglect of a child

The cops who first arrived at the scene noted that the girl’s bones were very prominent and that she looked as if she were six or eight years old.

Walter claimed to the responding officers that the victim didn’t like to eat and she had not been seen by a doctor in a year and a half because the last time they went, the medic acted ‘weird’, according to the document.

Her father told one of the cops that he put a bucket in his daughter’s room because she was throwing up and mentioned he had a camera watching her because she had a history of self-abuse.

When officers asked where her mother was, Walter responded: ‘She’s a wh*re.’ Melissa is not the mother of the victim.

The Goodmans’s young son, who had lymphoma, posted several times online praising the duo for their love and support.

He noted on Facebook that his parents stood by his side and supported him during his battle with cancer.

In a November 2023 post he wrote: ‘Here’s a happy happy birthday to my mother Melissa Goodman, because without you, I wouldn’t be here.

‘You’ve helped me through so much in my life and I cannot thank you enough for that. Through ups and downs and highs and lows you have been by my side and I’ve been by yours.

‘Together we are unstoppable! So let’s celebrate today like there’s no tomorrow. Love you mom.’

And in an August 2024 post, he said: ‘Happy birthday dad. From everything that’s happened, u have stuck with us. That I can’t thank you enough for.

‘We all love you (even tho sometimes u are a little annoying lol). But I love you so much, and I hope you have many more to come.’

Melissa, 50, Walter’s wife, was placed into custody on the same charges as her husband

Savanna LeFever, 29, is Melissa’s daughter and has also been charged

Pam Medina, a neighbor from across the street, told NBC 26 about the girl’s condition when authorities arrived: ‘I remember they carried her out… she looked very small… her head just kind of fell to the side. I didn’t even know a child lived there.’

Medina noted that she would watch multiple grocery deliveries go to the house daily.

‘If I’d known that, I would have been beating them girls up. I’d go all the way in there just to pull her out,’ she added.

The girl was taken to St Vincent Hospital in Green Bay, where nurses said she was suffering from pressure sores, a massive bruise on the right side of her forehead, weighed 35lbs, and was also hypothermic.

Medical staff diagnosed the teenager with severe malnutrition. She also had signs of multiorgan dysfunction, including acute respiratory failure, cardiac dysfunction, severe acute hepatitis, pancreatitis, coagulopathy, hypothermia, hypoglycemia and electrolyte derangements, according to the complaint.

Feeding tubes had to be administered to the girl until she was able to eat on her own.

On August 25, her condition improved, and she began to communicate with medical staff by writing on a piece of paper. Nurses said she wrote: ‘I’m hungry,’ ‘I need a snack,’ ‘Can I watch TV?’ ‘I need to poop’ and ‘I can’t breathe.’

She wrote three different times asking when she could eat.

Kayla Stemler, 27, LeFever’s partner, was also with the victim and faces the same charges

During police interviews, the victim said that she still had love for her family members. LeFever is pictured in police custody

According to the complaint, about a week later, the victim tried chocolate pudding and asked for another. While eating the second, the girl said: ‘My dad will be so mad.’

When asked what he would be mad about, she is said to have replied: ‘He doesn’t like when I eat this much.’

And when staff told her she would be having three meals a day, her eyes lit up, and she asked for food like pancakes, M&Ms, tacos and also stated she was looking forward to having vegetables.

When she was first taken to the hospital, her father said that she ate three meals per day and snacks, would sometimes vomit due to eating too fast, needed to be monitored while eating, and would sometimes refuse meals due to her ‘autism’ diagnosis, according to the document.

As an occupational therapist was evaluating the victim, they asked her how often she would bathe, to which she replied: ‘Whenever they would let me,’ she added, ‘maybe weekly or monthly, I don’t really know.’

The girl also lacked a lot of basic skills and knowledge. She needed help pressing the sink buttons because of her limited strength. When the staff offered her deodorant, she said she didn’t know what it was.

She also noted that she didn’t remember how long it had been since she’d been able to lift her arms all the way up.

The girl also added that sometime before being hospitalized, she was no longer able to get to the bathroom on her own, and that she needed to push herself up on furniture and hold onto objects and was no longer able to get up and walk, as noted in the complaint.

Stemler during a court appearance. A neighbor said she would see regular grocery deliveries to the home

Walter is expected to return to court in the coming weeks

Julie DuQuaine, Outagamie County assistant district attorney, said to Fox 11 News: ‘She has now since been released from the hospital and is gaining weight and doing better.

‘I was able to observe photographs of her, and she looked like a skeleton. She was just literally skin and bones at 35 pounds.’

DuQuaine added that the victim was neglected for several years and has not been in school since COVID.

The outlet spoke to the victim’s grandparents, who said they saw their granddaughter recently and she has gained weight, grown, and was ‘doing well.’

Despite the years of alleged abuse, the girl reportedly still said during a police interview that she had love for her family, but also no longer wanted to be locked in her room or be monitored with a camera.

The arrests came on November 10. Walter, LeFever, and Stemler are expected to return to court in the coming weeks.

Melissa’s initial appearance was held on November 13.