Police say girl was tortured by parents in shocking child abuse case

Jaymeson Wahlstrom and Vivian Wahlstrom (Itasca County Jail).

A mother and father in Minnesota are in jail for what prosecutors are calling one of the worst cases of child abuse in the state. They are accused of torturing their young daughter, who is in elementary school.

Jaymeson Patrick Wahlstrom, 27, and Vivian Rose Wahlstrom, 24, are each facing child torture charges and are being held in the Itasca County Jail without bond. The allegations against them are nothing short of horrific and much of the brutal beatings are captured on the in-home camera in the girl’s room, according to authorities. Even the father told authorities they would be “surprised when watching the video footage and things that they will find,” a 17-page probable cause arrest affidavit said.

The Grand Rapids Police Department began investigating in early October after the girl showed up to school with a large black and yellow bruise on her upper right arm. Officers talked with the girl who told them her father had inflicted the bruise on her, police said. Investigators spoke to the father and he described the girl as having “significant needs” and he and his wife were trying to get her into therapy but there were long waiting lists, the affidavit said.

More from Law&Crime: ‘Lack of sleep, constant crying’ leads dad to inflict 14 fractures on 2-month-old daughter: Cops

Doctors found at least 20 bruises on her arms, mouth, ribs, back, thighs, shoulders, face and ears, cops wrote. Authorities then went to the home and saw that the girl’s room “had a bare, urine-stained mattress on the floor, one blanket, a pile of dirty dishes with moldy food on them, and a TV,” per the affidavit. In other rooms in the home, there was allegedly urine, dog feces, dirty clothing and garbage.

Cops arrested Jaymeson Wahlstrom and interviewed him at the jail on Oct. 5. Post-Miranda, he explained that the girl in question is his daughter from a previous relationship while he and his wife have two other biological children together. The father said his wife was not interested in caring for the girl and suggested to him that they send the girl to a boarding school or they would get a divorce, according to the affidavit. Jaymeson Wahlstrom also said he would punish the girl by taking food away and that she ate paint chips. She also played with an empty McDonald’s Happy Meal box because she didn’t have any other toys, the affidavit said.

Detectives reviewed videos from the girl’s room which showed her “in her room alone for long periods of time every day.” The parents allegedly would take the girl’s blanket away if she misbehaved and would constantly tell her to “lie right” by laying on her back with her hands at her side. If she moved, they would yell at her to return to that position. She was allegedly told to “go to bed” at all times of the day and only allowed to leave her room if she had to go to the bathroom. The parents also allegedly would berate her on a near-daily basis. In one instance, the girl walked out of her room and Vivian Wahlstrom yelled at her daughter “Get in your room before I f—ing kill you,” the affidavit said.