Mother Charged in Death of 15-Pound Teenage Girl

JANESVILLE, Wis. —  A woman was charged with child neglect Saturday in the death of her 15-year-old daughter, who weighed only 15 pounds when taken to a hospital.

Karen Kuffer, 50, was released on a recognizance bond of $10,000 after a brief hearing in the Rock County Jail.

Looking frightened and distraught, Kuffer answered Judge Edwin Dahlberg in a quiet, shaky voice.

Guy Taylor, Karen Kuffer’s attorney, said the woman was very poor and had spent the last 15 years of her life caring for her daughter, Kay, and her mother, Eunice.

He said the family tried to care for Kay, who had cerebral palsy, as best they could.

“There are no happy solutions to this case,” Taylor said.

On Wednesday, Kuffer brought her daughter to Mercy Hospital, where the girl was pronounced dead on arrival, Janesville Police Chief George Brunner said.

Brunner said the girl--who weighed 15 pounds, 1 ounce--apparently had not received medical care for some time.

Police said Karen Kuffer told them the girl never weighed more than 23 pounds.

Eunice Kuffer, Kay’s 74-year-old grandmother, said nurses visited the girl in the 1980s but stopped when Karen Kuffer decided to stop taking her to doctors.

The grandmother said Saturday she thought Karen Kuffer took good care of the girl. But Eunice Kuffer said that about a month ago her granddaughter began to lose weight and have trouble breathing.

Eunice Kuffer said her daughter didn’t take Kay to a doctor, thinking the girl would “hang on.”