ATLANTA,None — Atlanta police have arrested a set of parents after they say the couple starved their 5-month-old son to death.
Channel 2's Ryan Young was at police headquarters as Tina Hanna and Lefty Hodge were taken away in handcuffs.
“They say they were feeding the child and taking care of the child, but our evidence says they were not,” Detective Summer Benton of the Atlanta Police Department said.
Investigators said they were called to an apartment on Martin Luther King Drive Sept. 3 where the couple lived with their three children.
Sources told Young the apartment was filled with trash when police arrived at the apartment.
Neighbors said they were crushed by the news of the baby's death.
“God has ‘em in a better place. Don’t take away from the fact of the pain,” neighbor Jerome Pittman said.
Neighbor Greg Prather said he was “noticing the child wasn’t getting any bigger.”
Benton told Young the infant was very dehydrated and weighed about 6 pounds.
“Since this is a baby death we have to wait for autopsy results. We have to see if the baby was injured in anyway or died naturally,” Benton said.
Police took Hanna, 26, and Hodge, 42, to the Fulton County Jail.
Investigators said their other children have been placed in state custody.
Benton describes the situation as “extremely difficult, hardest emotionally on a detective. Babies are always one of the hardest. This has been very hard.”
“God can heal all pains but this right here, it cut too close, man. Cut too close,” Prather said.
Hanna and Hodge have been charged with murder. They're scheduled to face a judge Friday morning.
WSBTV
