Four individuals have pleaded not guilty in relation to the death of a 7-year-old girl in Midwest City, Oklahoma, who weighed approximately 29 pounds at the time of her death and was wearing a diaper for a 3-year-old when brought to the hospital on August 2.
Included among the suspects is Violet Mitchell’s parents, Anthony Yonko (bottom left) and Lisa Mitchell (bottom right). Also facing charges of second-degree murder in Violet’s death are her uncle and aunt, David Yonko (top left) and Tiffany Mitchell (top right).
Autopsy Details
Now, a new autopsy report offers more details into the tragic death of the child, which was met with variable and changing stories by her father, who even claimed at one point that she weighed 50 pounds just four or five days before her death.
According to the legal documents seen by Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate KOCO, Violet died after she swallowed the “rubber top of a baby bottle nipple.”
That top wedged itself into the first part of her small intestine, blocking it completely. The Chief Medical Examiner for the city stated in the report that “it is unclear” if the blockage was “accidental or intentional.”
The examiner further described the victim as weighing 29 pounds and 40 inches in length. The document details her condition as “essentially skin on bone,” additionally noting that she had “sunken eyes.”
Authorities first encountered Violet on August 2, 2024, when she was brought into Saint Anthony’s Midwest Hospital. She arrived in a personal vehicle at approximately 11:28 a.m. and was still alive at that time, though she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The Midwest City Police Department’s Investigations Unit was contacted just after 1 p.m. They reported medical personnel describing Violet as already having “signs of rigor mortis and possible injuries internal and external.”
According to an arrest affidavit, a doctor who worked on Violet reported that when her stomach area was pushed on, “numerous amounts of black and dark red secretions came from the child’s mouth.”
“The child was extremely malnourished weighing only about 25 pounds and approximately 37 inches tall,” the affidavit stated at that time. The Centers for Disease Control says the average weight of a female child of seven is 50 pounds.
Violet’s official cause of death was “failure to thrive,” with the medical examiner’s report also noting she had a bacterial infection and injuries to her cheek, shoulder, and left leg at the time of her death.
Father’s Shifting Story
When police began to question the suspects, Violet’s father’s story kept changing. His initial story was that he woke up the day of Violet’s death to her mother telling him she was sick, wasn’t moving, and needed to go to the hospital. He told authorities a “friend” took them to the hospital, though he could not provide a name or contact information.
According to Anthony, he and Tiffany had been feeding Violet “crackers and soup because she possibly had the flu,” but also admitted they’d not taken their daughter to a doctor for years, so did not have an official diagnosis.
After his arrest, police said that Anthony’s story continued to change, writing in their affidavit that what started as just him, Lisa, and Violet in the apartment changed to include “Lisa’s sister, boyfriend, and two or three other kids” also in the apartment when he was told his daughter wasn’t moving. He also then identified his brother David, who was staying at the apartment at the time, as the individual who drove them to the hospital.
When asked about his daughter’s malnourished and emaciated state, per the documents, Anthony told police she’d weighed 50 pounds just four or five days ago and was “completely healthy” then. He told them he feeds her “all the time” and couldn’t explain her dramatic health change at the time of her death.
Other Family Speaks Out
According to David, per police, he was awoken to Anthony “freaking out” over Violet’s state. He said that he drove them all to the hospital but left them there because he was “afraid and needed to get to work.”
One of Violet’s cousins told authorities of additional alleged abuses suffered by the child. According to her, Lisa regularly “tied her [daughter] up with strings/zip ties,” per the affidavit, and would sometimes repeatedly “hit her with a broom.”
She further alleged that Violet’s parents would glue her mouth shut, telling police that when her cousin’s “mouth was glued shut,” she’d try to “dig glue out of her mouth.” She also said she would unbind Violet when she could.
According to documents, family members said the girl was starving and beaten frequently, and unable to walk or feed herself.
“This child’s death is a profound tragedy, and we are grateful to our law enforcement and medical partners whose efforts will help us and the community better understand the circumstances surrounding her death,” said the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in a statement received by KOCO.
Authorities are currently holding Anthony and Lisa without bond. Tiffany is being held on a $5 million bond, while David’s is set at $1 million. Anthony and Lisa’s other children are currently under the care of DHS.
