People You’ll See In Hell

26-year-old Michael John Bowden, pictured to the left, is a veteran who served his time in Iraq.

Michael John Bowden met a 26-year-old woman named Anahi Ferrando in New York, and they hit it off. He moved to Utah to live with her and her 5-year-old daughter, Jade Ferrando.

After they lived together for a while, Anahi Ferrando decided to join the military, mostly so that she could ensure her daughter received appropriate medical care, care that would be too expensive if she was a private citizen. She envisioned getting married to Michael and the family living together on base housing.

Taking care of any 5-year-old can be a chore, but little Jade’s care was somewhat more problematic because she has severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. As you can imagine, the girl is pretty much helpless without someone around to care for her.

Because she was scheduled to ship out to Iraq, Anahi Ferrando left Jade Ferrando in Michael Bowden’s care, legally enabling her unemployed boyfriend to take out $1200 a month for living expenses from her military pay that was deposited directly into her account while she was out dodging bullets.

When Anahi left for Iraq in April of 2006, Jade Ferrando weighed 30 pounds and looked like this:

And this is what Jade Ferrando looked like on the 22nd of August, 2006:

A bit of a difference there, huh?

In the ‘after’ photo, Jade Ferrando weighed only 13 pounds.

Yes, that’s right - this five-year-old girl weighed 13 pounds. According to doctors, she was near dead from starvation.

The only reason Jade survived was that her grandfather, Rafael Ferrando, persisted in his attempts to visit with his granddaughter. Michael Bowden tried to put him off, but Rafael was able to see the girl on the 18th of August.

What he saw frightened him, as it would frighten anyone with a speck of common sense.

Rafael Ferrando went to court on the 22nd of August to get an ex parte protective order, which was granted.

With police at his side, he went to where Michael Bowden was keeping Jade and took the girl to the hospital.

The police arrested Bowden.

Not only did Michael Bowden not take care of Jade, but he also blew through $14,000 of her mother’s money. When Anahi Ferrando came back from Iraq, she found her bank account was $800 in the hole.

Michael John Bowden was charged with second-degree felony child abuse for his deliberate neglect and abuse of the girl.

During the trial, which didn’t last long due to Bowden pleading guilty to third-degree felony child abuse, his defense attorney claimed that Michael Bowden suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, was drinking heavily to self-medicate, was incapable of caring for himself or anyone else, and did not intend to hurt the girl.

Michael Bowden was convicted of second-degree felony child abuse on the 10th of August, 2007. He will be evaluated at a mental institution for 90 days before being sentenced. He could serve up to 15 years.

Jade Ferrando survived, due to the medical care that was finally given to her. She had grown 4 inches by December of 2006, and now weighs about 35 pounds, according to her mother, who testified at Michael Bowden’s trial.

Update:

Michael John Bowden was sentenced to 1-15 years in state prison.

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