Wicked stepmother and husband convicted of torturing child who was starved so badly he resorted to eating toothpaste

DAILYMAIL.COM • 5h ago

By ELIOT FORCE, US NEWS REPORTER 21:59 07 Oct 2026, updated 22:10 07 Oct 2026

An evil stepmom and father have pleaded no contest to accusations that they viciously tortured and starved their 11-year-old son.

Jeremiah Perkins, 40, and Jennifer Perkins, 48, accepted a plea deal from prosecutors on Tuesday after they were arrested in Moab, Utah, in December 2025 and charged with first-degree felony child torture.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors reduced Jeremiah’s charge to attempted child torture, a second-degree felony. They reduced Jennifer’s charge to aggravated child abuse, also a second-degree felony.

The couple subjected their son, whose identity was not disclosed, to such terrible mistreatment and malnourishment that he lost 11 pounds, or 13 percent of his body weight, over a five-month period.

The boy was described as ‘very frail’ and ‘skeletal like’ by officers after police and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services removed him from the Perkinses’ custody on October 29, 2025.

The 11-year-old was only fed small portions of rice and vegetables, and he was so famished and food-deprived that he would resort to eating toothpaste and Tums and drinking DayQuil, according to court documents reviewed by The Salt Lake Tribune.

He was officially diagnosed with severe malnutrition by the Children’s Justice Center and had refeeding syndrome, a condition that occurs when malnourished individuals begin a nutritious diet.

The boy’s parents locked him in a dog kennel at least four times and restricted him with zip ties. He was sometimes hog tied and placed on a cold vent in his father’s room.

The parents would also place handcuffs on his hands and feet and tie the cuffs with a rope.

On at least one occasion, the Perkinses placed a ball-gag in the 11-year-old’s mouth after he allegedly attempted to bite Jennifer.

The parents are set to return to court for their sentencing hearings on November 17.

Both Jeremiah and Jennifer face up to 15 years in prison, though there is also a possibility that they will be released on parole.

The couple’s original charges of first-degree child torture would have carried a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison.

They have consented to have no contact with their victim until he turns 18, when he will be able to choose whether he wants to see them.

The Perkinses’ no contest plea is not technically an admission of guilt, but rather an admission that they might be found guilty if their case were to go to trial.

The plea functions exactly the same as a guilty plea when it comes to sentencing, however, and it is equivalent to a conviction.

Prosecutors said that one of the main reasons they offered a plea deal to the couple was so that their victim would not be forced to relive his trauma while testifying during a trial.

Grand County Attorney Stephen Stocks told the judge that the plea deal would stop the child from being ‘retraumatized and revictimized,’ per The Salt Lake Tribune.

The boy has been living with a foster family for almost a year and is thriving now that he is away from his evil parents, the Tribune reported.

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