A Freezer Full of Meat. A Locked Closet. A Five-Year-Old Dead: The Zona Byrd Case in Baltimore

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Imagine this.
You are five years old and

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hunger has stopped being a
feeling that comes and goes.

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It has become the background
noise of your life.

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You wake up with it.
You fall asleep with it.

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It lives in your throat, in your
stomach, in the way your body

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feels too tired to play the way
you used to.

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You learn way too early that
there are different kinds of

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quiet.
There is the quiet of bedtime,

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and then there is the quiet of
an empty kitchen.

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Picture how a child starts
measuring time not by clocks but

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by routines.
School days and weekends,

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mornings and afternoons, Lunch
trays you see other kids carry,

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snacks you smell on someone
else's breath.

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The sound of wrappers, the sound
of a refrigerator door opening

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somewhere in another house.
The sound of someone else's

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mother saying EAT.
Now hold on to the image of a

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different kind of door, one that
stays shut, one that does not

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open for you.
A door that holds what you need

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but not what you are allowed to
have.

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A door that teaches you, without
words, that some bodies get to

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be fed and some bodies are
expected to endure.

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This is not a story told for
shock.

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This is not a story told for
entertainment.

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This is a story told because
child abuse can hide inside

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ordinary neighborhoods, behind
ordinary walls, and because when

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the victim is small, the world
too often looks away.

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On this show, we call it what it
is.

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We tell black women stories.
We tell the stories of black

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girls.
We tell black true crime, not

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because we are fascinated by
pain, but because we are tired

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of silence.
This is no tears for black

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girls.
The cases they ignored.

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I am Samantha Paul, before we go
any further, I need to say this

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plainly.
This episode contains discussion

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of child neglect, starvation,
and the death of a child.

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If you need to pause, do that.
If you need to come back later,

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come back later.
Your nervous system matters more

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than finishing an episode.
This case happened in Baltimore,

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MD.
According to a press release

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from the Office of the State's
Attorney for Baltimore City, on

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October 14th, 2024, Baltimore
Police responded to a residence

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on the 2200 block of Aiken St.
for a report of a 5 year old

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child who was unresponsive.
The caller found the child, Zona

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Bird, lying in a bed on the
second floor of the home.

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Investigators said she was
unresponsive and cold to the

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touch.
Medics pronounced her deceased

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at 12:50 in the afternoon.
Five years old.

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The kind of age where a child
should be losing baby teeth.

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The kind of age where a child's
biggest problems should be

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spilled juice, a missing toy, A
scraped knee that gets kissed

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and bandaged.
Not the kind of age where the

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end of your life is described in
official language in the flat

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clinical phrases of a death
investigation.

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That same press release states
that three other children were

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in the home at the time and were
transported to Johns Hopkins

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Medical Center for evaluation.
One of them was Zona's six year

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old brother.
Investigators said he appeared

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emaciated and could barely stand
or walk when he was discovered.

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A six year old who could barely
stand.

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Try to hold that image without
turning away from it.

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Not because you want to suffer,
but because the truth demands

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witnesses.
A child's body is designed to

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grow.
It is designed to run, to fall,

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to get back up, to burn energy,
to demand food like it is a

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birthright.
When a six year old can barely

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stand, that is not a sudden
event.

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That is time.
That is a pattern.

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That is a failure that repeats
itself day after day until the

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body cannot pretend anymore.
The Office of the Chief Medical

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Examiner performed an autopsy on
Zona Bird.

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The state's Attorney's office
said the autopsy confirmed she

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weighed only 17 1/2 lbs.
The press release also stated

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that no evidence was found of
physical trauma that could have

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resulted in her death. 17 1/2
lbs.

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If you are not used to thinking
in weights, let me translate it

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into something your mind can
hold.

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That is the weight of a small
bag of dog food.

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That is the weight of a toddler
in some families.

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That is not the weight of a 5
year old child who should have

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been beginning kindergarten.
Learning letters, learning how

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to write her name, learning
songs, learning which crayons

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make the prettiest purple.
That number is not just a

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statistic.
It is a measurement of

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deprivation.
The state's attorney's office

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described what detectives saw
when they found Zona.

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They said her body appeared
severely emaciated and extremely

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malnourished.
They said the clothes she was

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wearing were much too large for
her and that detectives later

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reported she had no muscle tone.
When you hear that, you might

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want to push the details away to
protect your own heart.

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But the details are what child
abuse depends on.

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Child abuse survives in
vagueness.

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It survives in the way a
community says.

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I do not want to judge.
It survives in the way adults

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convince themselves it must not
be that bad.

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But it was that bad, and it was
not hidden by poverty alone, not

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according to the evidence
investigators described.

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In that same press release,
prosecutors described what

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detectives found in the home.
They said the kitchen cupboards

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were completely bare of any
food.

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The freezer was packed with
frozen meat.

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The only item in the
refrigerator was a salad.

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Then detectives checked the 2nd
floor and found that the parents

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had locked their bedroom door
and their bedroom closet.

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When detectives gained access,
they found several non

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perishable food items locked in
the closet out of the children's

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reach.
Let that land slowly.

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There was food, There was meat
in the freezer.

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There were non perishable items
in the home, but it was kept

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behind a locked door, behind a
locked closet, away from the

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children who were starving.
This is not a story about empty

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shelves in a household that had
nothing.

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This is about access being
denied.

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This is about food being treated
like power.

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This is about a home that,
according to investigators,

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contained nourishment that the
children could not reach.

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The state's attorney's office
said detectives questioned both

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parents about the last time Zona
was provided food and

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nourishment.
The press release states that

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neither parent would take
responsibility for feeding the

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child, and neither could account
for when they last fed her.

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What does it mean when two
adults cannot account for when

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they last fed a 5 year old?
Even in messy households, even

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in overwhelmed households, even
in homes where depression and

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stress swallow the days, parents
can usually tell you something.

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This morning, last night at
dinner, a snack after school,

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something.
But according to prosecutors in

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this case, neither parent could
say.

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And then another detail
surfaced, one that should haunt

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anyone who has ever worked in a
school building, anyone who has

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ever stood near a cafeteria
line, anyone who has ever

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watched a child linger where
food is.

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The state's attorney's office
said detectives later discovered

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that one of the surviving
children was seen going through

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garbage at school in an attempt
to find food.

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That is not subtle.
That is a child doing what

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bodies do when they are being
starved.

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A child improvising survival, a
child trying to solve hunger the

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only way a child can, with
whatever is within reach.

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And it raises the question that
hangs over this entire case like

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smoke.
How long did this go on?

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Because starvation is not a
moment.

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It is not an impulse.
It is not a single decision that

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lasts for 5 minutes.
Starvation is a process.

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The Baltimore Banner, citing
court records and interviews,

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reported that it takes months
for a child to starve to death

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and quoted a pediatric expert
who said it would be exceedingly

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rare for a child's neglect to
reach a point where they appear

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gaunt without it taking time.
Time that should have offered

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opportunities for someone to
notice, someone to report,

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someone to intervene.
Time that did not save Zona.

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That same reporting described
neighbors who said they barely

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saw the children and had no idea
what was happening inside.

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A neighbor told reporters that
if he had known the children

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were in danger, he would have
fed and protected them.

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Another neighbor wondered if
something was wrong and only

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understood in hindsight that the
signs he dismissed might have

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meant something.
That is how these stories work

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in real life.
People replay ordinary moments

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after the fact and discover that
normal was a costume.

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They discover that what they
assumed was privacy was actually

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concealment.
In the days after Zona's death,

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reporting from CBS News
Baltimore described how the

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emergency call came to be.
According to that reporting and

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the police report it referenced,
Zona's mother, Bernice Bird,

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contacted her sister because she
was concerned about Zona.

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The aunt arrived and found Zona
in bed, not moving and cold to

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the touch.
That detail matters because it

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places a family member at the
center of discovery.

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It is not a passerby, not a
stranger.

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It is someone connected to the
household, someone close enough

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to be called in a moment of
crisis.

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And the police report, as
summarized by CBS News

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Baltimore, said that when
questioned, neither parent took

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responsibility for feeding Zona
and they could not recall the

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last time she ate.
That same reporting described

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the other children being removed
from the home, including the six

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year old boy who was severely
malnourished.

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The State's Attorney's office
press release described what

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happened next at the hospital.
It said all of the surviving

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children were provided food and
that doctors and detectives

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noted they ate quickly and
intently.

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If you have ever watched a child
eat after hunger, you know there

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is a difference between appetite
and urgency.

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Urgency does not look like picky
eating.

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Urgency looks like a body trying
to make up for what it has been

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denied.
And it is not only physical, it

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is psychological.
It is a child learning that food

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is not guaranteed, so when food
appears, you do not trust it to

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stay.
The State's Attorney's office

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said the six year old boy
weighed only 35 lbs and remained

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at Johns Hopkins Hospital until
October 26th, 2024.

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That detail matters too.
It tells you this was not a

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quick check and a quick
discharge.

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It tells you his condition
required days of care.

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It tells you the harm was severe
enough to need inpatient

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treatment.
Now Fast forward to February

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26th, 2026.
According to the Office of the

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State's Attorney for Baltimore
City, Bernice Byrd and Gerald

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Byrd pleaded guilty to 1st
Degree Child Abuse Resulting in

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Death and 1st degree Child Abuse
for their role in starving their

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five year old daughter, Zona
Byrd and her six year old

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brother.
The press release stated that

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sentencing is scheduled for June
10th, 2026 and that the

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defendants face a maximum
penalty of life suspending all

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but 70 years of incarceration.
The same press release quoted

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Baltimore City State's Attorney
Ivan Bates, who called the facts

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nauseating and said his heart
continued to ache for Zona, who

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was gone far too soon.
He also said the guilty plea

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ensures the safety of Zona's
siblings, who are also victims

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of their parents actions.
That part matters because people

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sometimes treat a guilty plea
like a technical ending, like a

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case has closure.
But what does closure mean when

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the victim is 5?
There is no closure for a child

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who was never given the chance
to become who she was supposed

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to be.
There is no closure for siblings

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who carry the memory of hunger
and loss.

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There is no closure for a family
line that now has to explain for

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decades why a little girl is
missing from every holiday photo

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that should have included her.
The legal system can decide on

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punishment.
It can decide on sentences, but

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the legal system cannot unmake
the months that led up to

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October 14th, 2024.
And as this case gained

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attention, another painful layer
surfaced, the idea that the

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system had touched this family
before.

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00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:18,880
CBS News Baltimore and WMAR 2
News both reported on prior

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allegations involving the
family.

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According to those reports and
the court documents they cited,

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in November 2019, one of the
Birds daughters came to school

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with a black eye.
She reported that her parents

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00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,000
hurt her because she did not
clean her room, and she alleged

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that her father forced his way
into her room and tried to stab

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00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,360
her with a knife, then punched
and kicked her.

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00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,520
The Baltimore Banner reported
that the Birds lost custody at

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00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,440
some point and later regained
it, and that social workers had

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00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:54,800
stopped visiting the family
earlier in the year of 2024,

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00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,280
according to a law enforcement
officer familiar with the case.

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00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:03,920
WMAR 2 News reported that state
lawmakers questioned what the

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00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,800
interactions with Child
Protective Services looked like

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00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,360
and called for greater
transparency, while also

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00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:14,080
explaining that confidentiality
laws can limit what agencies

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00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,080
release.
Those details matter because

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00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,400
they move the story beyond a
single household and into a

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00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:25,280
larger, harder question.
What happens when a family has

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00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,920
already been identified as high
risk and children still end up

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00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,880
dead?
That question does not have one

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00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,280
simple answer.
It is not always a single person

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00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,400
failing.
It is often a chain of failures.

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00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,200
It is a system that depends on
reports being made, On reports

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00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:45,400
being taken seriously.
On follow-ups happening.

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00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,080
On staffing being adequate.
On caseworkers not being

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00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,880
overloaded.
On schools not being afraid to

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00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,960
escalate concerns.
On neighbors being willing to

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00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,440
raise an alarm even if they are
not sure.

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00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,640
On relatives stepping in early.
On courts making decisions that

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00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:05,520
truly protect children instead
of prioritizing reunification by

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00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,720
default.
And it is also sometimes a

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00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,440
culture of looking away.
Because when abuse is happening

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00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,680
behind closed doors, the abusers
greatest ally is everyone else's

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00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,560
discomfort.
Our reluctance to get involved.

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00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,960
Our fear of being wrong.
Our fear of being seen as

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00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,680
judgmental.
Our fear of being the reason a

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00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,000
family gets investigated.
But children do not have the

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00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,640
luxury of waiting for adults to
feel comfortable.

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00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:34,760
A child's body will tell the
truth eventually.

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00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,320
And when it does, the truth is
irreversible.

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00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,960
One of the hardest parts of this
case is that the evidence

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00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,800
described by investigators
suggests there were visible

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00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,960
signs.
A child so malnourished that her

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00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,160
ribs were visible, her clothes
too large, her muscle tone gone.

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00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,280
A sibling so weak he could
barely stand.

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00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:59,360
A child searching through
garbage at school.

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00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,760
Those are not signs that only
trained professionals can

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00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,800
detect.
Those are signs a community can

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00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:08,520
see if a community is paying
attention.

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00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,440
And this is where I want to say
something carefully because it

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00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,560
sits at the heart of this show.
Public reporting has not

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00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:20,240
consistently stated Zona Bird's
race, but Baltimore is a

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00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,400
majority black city and the
weight of child welfare

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00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:27,360
failures, under resourced
systems and public indifference

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00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,240
so often lands hardest in black
communities.

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00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,640
Even when a child's identity is
not fully captured in headlines,

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00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,280
the pattern of who gets ignored
is not a mystery in America.

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00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:43,040
Some victims are treated like
national tragedies and some are

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00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,280
treated like local
inconveniences.

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00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,400
Some victims get wall to wall
coverage and candlelight vigils

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00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,320
on every channel.
Some victims get a short

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00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,320
headline, a mug shot and then
silence.

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00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,800
And too often, when the
suffering is happening in

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00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,920
neighborhoods the nation already
stereotypes is broken.

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00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,599
People hear the city name and
stop listening.

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00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:07,440
People hear poverty and stop
asking.

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00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,560
People hear child neglect and
imagine a sad but ordinary

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00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,720
failure, not the deliberate
withholding of food described in

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00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,359
this case.
That is why we keep telling

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00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,079
these stories, because ignoring
them does not prevent them, it

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00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:26,800
only guarantees the next one.
If you are listening to this and

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00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,560
you are asking yourself what you
could possibly do with

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00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,560
information like this, here is
the honest truth.

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00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,280
Most of the time, you are not
going to have access to the full

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00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:38,640
picture.
You will not have the police

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00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,320
report in your hands.
You will not have court

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00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,160
documents spread across your
table.

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00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,000
You will not know what is
happening inside a home.

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00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,480
But you might notice a child who
is always hungry.

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00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,080
You might notice a child
hoarding food.

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00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,600
You might notice a child who
looks smaller each month instead

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00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,440
of growing.
You might notice bruises that do

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00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:02,080
not have a clear explanation.
You might notice a child who

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00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,760
suddenly disappears from school.
You might notice a parent who

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00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:07,760
isolates their children from
everyone.

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00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,520
And when you notice, you do not
have to solve the case.

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00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,240
You do not have to investigate.
You do not have to confront the

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00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,440
person you suspect.
You just have to refuse to be

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00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,160
part of the silence.
Because Zona Bird was five years

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00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,400
old, she could not remove
herself.

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00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,120
She could not drive away.
She could not file paperwork.

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00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,960
She could not schedule a doctor.
She could not unlock the door

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00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:36,040
where the food was kept.
She could only endure, and she

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00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:41,920
did until she could not.
As we wait for June 10th, 2026,

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00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,240
when Bernice Bird and Gerald
Bird are scheduled to be

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00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,440
sentenced, I want you to hold
Zona's name in your mind the way

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00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,360
you would hold the name of
someone you knew.

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00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,560
Not as a headline, not as a
statistic.

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00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,360
Not as a story you heard on a
podcast as a child.

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00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,320
A little girl who deserved
breakfast, Who deserved a full

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00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,320
belly, Who deserve to grow
taller every year.

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00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,920
Who deserved a life that was
measured in birthdays, not in

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00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,200
pounds.
And before we end, I want to

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00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,120
name something else.
Zona's case is not isolated.

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00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,760
Across the country, there are
stories of children living in

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00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,000
deprivation so severe it becomes
hard to believe.

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00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,240
And yet it happens again and
again.

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00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,880
In some places, the story breaks
for a day and then disappears.

335
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,360
In other places, it never breaks
at all, because no one outside a

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00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:39,760
courtroom ever writes it down.
Sometimes the children are found

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00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:44,080
too late, sometimes they survive
and their bodies and minds spend

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00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,120
years repairing what adults did
to them.

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00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,080
And too often, the communities
hit hardest are the ones already

340
00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,080
carrying the weight of
underinvestment, overcrowded

341
00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,920
systems, and a national media
that pays attention only when

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00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:58,920
the story fits a familiar
narrative.

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00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,360
If you came to this episode
looking for a clean ending,

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00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,040
there is not one.
There is only the reality that a

345
00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,320
5 year old is gone.
There is only the reality that

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00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:12,640
siblings have to live with what
they saw and what they felt.

347
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,640
There is only the reality that a
freezer can be full while a

348
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:20,320
child starves and that the
difference between food existing

349
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,080
and food being available can be
a locked door.

350
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,720
And there is only the question
that refuses to leave.

351
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:29,800
The question every adult should
feel in their chest when they

352
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,360
hear this story.
Who else knew?

353
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,800
Who else saw?
And why did nobody get to Zona

354
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,240
in time?
This is no tears for Black

355
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,560
girls.
The cases they ignored.

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00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,600
I am Samantha Paul.
If you take nothing else from

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00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:47,320
this episode, take this with
you.

358
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:52,440
Child abuse survives in secrecy.
It survives behind closed doors,

359
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,280
behind polite silence, behind
the hesitation to get involved.

360
00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,880
Protection begins the moment
somebody refuses to look away,

361
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,280
the moment somebody speaks, the
moment somebody interrupts.

362
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,240
What harm is trying to keep
private?

363
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:11,880
Stay loved, stay blessed, stay
safe, and remember, whenever you

364
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,320
are trapped in a World of
Darkness, never allow fear to

365
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,880
overwhelm you.
Believe in your inner spirit and

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00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,120
remind yourself of God's first
words.

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00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:22,880
Let there be light.