Overview
- An Outagamie County court postponed preliminary hearings for Walter Goodman and Kayla Stemler to allow time for legal representation and case preparation.
- Walter Goodman, Melissa Goodman, Savanna Lefever and Kayla Stemler are charged with multiple felony counts of chronic child neglect tied to severe harm and emotional damage.
- First responders in August found the 14-year-old at about 35 pounds, and hospital records detail severe malnutrition with organ dysfunction, hepatitis and pancreatitis.
- Charging documents describe food withheld as punishment, a locked bedroom monitored by a camera, and messages referencing beatings, with a witness quoting the father about not feeding her.
- The teen has been released to other family and is gaining weight, the Oneida trailer has been declared unsafe for habitation, and the defendants remain jailed on cash bail between $100,000 and $150,000.