Priyanka Tiwari appears in court on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, and the house where she allegedly starved her son to death (WNCN | YouTube screenshots)
A 33-year-old mother in North Carolina was arrested this week for allegedly killing her 10-year-old son, starving the boy to death and leaving him in the house for so long that his body was decomposing when found by police.
Priyanka Tiwari was taken into custody on Thursday morning and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a report from Raleigh, North Carolina, NBC affiliate WRAL, officers with the Morrisville Police Department responded at about 5:35 p.m. on Wednesday to a 911 call regarding an unresponsive boy at a home on Craigmeade Drive. Authorities say Tiwari herself placed the 911 call from the home.
The boy was declared dead at the scene.
“It was determined that significant time had passed since the child’s death due to the state of the body,” police said in a statement.
The body was reportedly in a state of rigor mortis and was visibly decomposed.
Following a search of the home, police reportedly found almost no food. Authorities alleged that she “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did of malice aforethought kill and murder (her son).”
According to a report from Goldsboro, North Carolina, CBS affiliate WNCN, police had been called to the house eight times in the past year. Most of those calls were reportedly from family members in India requesting welfare checks after they had not been able to reach Tiwari for several days.
Police said the boy’s tragic death will continue to affect the community and his surviving family.
“You have other family members who, you know, have not only lost a child in their family, but they maybe lost a daughter that has been arrested,” Morrisville Chief of Police Pete Acosta told WRAL.
The chief told the station the boy had lost “significant weight” in the months leading to his death, particularly in the final month. Authorities say they believe Tiwari intentionally starved the boy to death, with neglect and abuse being contributing factors, but are holding off on declaring an official manner and cause of death until more evidence can be gathered.
“Without the autopsy, we don’t know how the child passed away,” Acosta said.
WNCN reported that Tiwari’s husband in March of this year contacted police and asked them to follow him to the home so he could retrieve some personal items.
“He was leaving, leaving the home, and so we followed him over there,” Acosta told WNCN. “He went and got several bags and left there was no issues.”
Acosta also told the station that Tiwari’s husband has since had a domestic violence protective order put in place against his wife. He said there were no indications that officers responding to the house had seen the child since the March visit, at which time the boy “appeared to be of a very healthy weight, especially compared to the way he was found.”
Tiwari is being held without bond and is set to appear in court again on Jan. 11.
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