Stepmom's Arrest Marks 4th Person Charged in Teen Starvation Case

We're returning to one of the most. disturbing child abuse cases we have. ever covered. A 14-year-old Wisconsin. girl found in what an official described. as a house of horrors rescued from a. trailer weighing just 35 lbs. Her. father, his adult daughter, her partner, they were already facing felony child. neglect charges. But now there's a major. development. The girl's stepmother has. now officially become the fourth person. charged. What led prosecutors to bring. these new charges? How does this reshape. the case against all four adults? We are.

going to break it all down with a former. child abuse prosecutor who has handled. cases just like this. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. Let me tell you something. If you think. the crime stories that I cover are. scary, wait until you hear what's. happening with your personal data. online. Yeah, your name, phone number, address, it is all out there, easy for. anybody to find. But our sponsor, Incogn. helps you disappear online. They track. down where your personal information is. being exposed like on search sites or.

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there is a major update right now, a new. arrest. And I have to warn you right. from the outset, this is one of those. cases that will stick with you. It will. stick with you because it is so deeply. disturbing. It is so incredibly. unsettling. But it is also one where we. are seeing the wheels of justice turn. Yes, all the defendants are innocent. until proven guilty. Yes, they will have. their opportunity to present their. defenses, whatever those may be. But you. got to talk about what's happening here.

Okay, you might remember this. A. 14-year-old girl in Wisconsin was found. in what a court official called a house. of horrors. She was rescued from a. trailer on the brink of death, weighing. just 35 pounds. This is according to. authorities. Her own father, her. stepmother, her stepsister, her steps. sister's partner, they were all living. in that home. Now, when we last covered. this, three of them, the father, Walter. Goodman, his stepdaughter, Savannah Le. Fever, her partner, Kayla Stemler, they. were already facing serious child.

neglect charges. But now, the child's. stepmother, Melissa Goodman, was a. different story. We knew from the. affidavit that she was in the home. We. knew that there were text messages that. were reviewed by police that seemed to. paint her as a central figure in this. case, but she was just in custody. waiting. There were no charges yet. Now, we have this update. Melissa Goodman is. officially the fourth person charged in. this case. So before this girl was ever. rushed to the hospital, this criminal. complaint, authorities, they alleged. that Melissa was right there, right.

there in those text communications. talking about locking this girl who she. referred to or seemingly referred to as. stupid, her door, talking about taking. away her water, even giving the okay for. another adult to physically abuse her, to hit her with a belt. And essentially. the allegation is she allowed this. 14-year-old girl to starve to death. Now, I'm going to break down exactly. what these new charges mean, how the.

case against all four adults is shaping. up. But to really understand why this. development is a big deal, you got to. understand the full picture of what. police are alleging happened in this. house. This story starts back in the. spring of 2020. a young girl who police. by the way are referring to in these. documents by the initials MJG due to her. being a minor privacy was about nine. years old when she moved in with her. biological father Walter Goodman in a. trailer on Hattie Lane in the town of. Onida. Now she wasn't just moving in.

with her dad. The household also. included his wife Melissa Goodman who is. not MJG's mother. Melissa's adult. daughter Savannah Lef Fever and. Savannah's 15-year-old brother. Then you. fast forward to August of 2021 and that. is when Savannah's partner Kayla Stemler. moved in and that is when investigators. believe that MJG's world really began to. shrink. Investigators say her life. became almost entirely confined to a. single bedroom. Her father had allegedly. installed a camera to constantly monitor. her. Police claim they found evidence.

that her door was locked from the. outside with a barrelbolt lock. In fact, they even found the specific lock and. the screw holes in the door and the. frame matched it perfectly. So for. years, if these allegations are true, this was essentially her reality. Let. out only a few times a day under strict. supervision, often just to use the. bathroom. And this is where it gets even. harder to comprehend because over those. years, police claimed that her body. began to waste away. She became.

horrifically thin. So much so that when. first responders finally saw her, this. is again according to the complaint, they thought she was a small child, maybe 6 to 8 years old, but she wasn't. She was a teenager. And this all came to. a crisis point on August 21st. That is. when Walter Goodman finally called 911. And on that call, which is in the court. records, he tells the dispatcher that. his daughter is lethargic, that she's. breathing on and off, that she's. moaning. And the way that he describes. it is quote like she's comeomaosse but.

with her eyes open but quote all creepy. He says she's grinding her teeth. stiffening up her arms like a board. So. help comes help arrives and they find a. scene that I can say is probably every. parent's nightmare. And I apologize for. how hard this is to hear. This. 14-year-old girl was allegedly so. emaciated that her collar bones, ribs, hipbones, they were jutting out against. her skin. Her blood sugar was at a. life-threatening 24 milligram/DL. Just.

for reference, a normal level is. considered for that age, our. understanding, anything at 100. milligrams, maybe a little bit less sld. or higher. She also had a temperature of. 100.6. She was rushed to a local. hospital, flown by helicopter to. Children's, Wisconsin, where she was. immediately put on a breathing machine, and there doctors discovered she weighed. just 35 pounds. Now, to put that in. perspective, a typical 14-year-old girl. weighs over 100 pounds. She was. diagnosed with severe long-term.

malnutrition that had caused multiple. organ issues. Her liver, pancreas, heart, they were all affected. Doctors. say she even had osteoporosis. She had. pressure sores from lying on the floor. Yet, a prosecutor later say that she was. quote very, very close to death. So. Walter Goodman, Savannah Lef Fever, Kayla Stemler, they were all arrested. and charged with multiple felony counts. of chronic child neglect. The. consequence being great bodily harm and. emotional damage. But there was one.

adult from that household who until now. had not been formally charged, the. stepmother Melissa Goodman. But now this. week, that gap has been closed. Melissa. Goodman has officially become the fourth. person charged in this case, facing the. same serious counts of chronic neglect. of a child for failing to provide the. care, food, and medical attention that. could have saved this girl from years of. suffering. That's the allegation. All right. So, to help us understand. what these charges mean, the evidence. against her, maybe why the delay, I want.

to bring in practice professor of law, former child abuse and sex crimes. prosecutor Marian Bracha. Thank you so. much for coming back on uh to Sidebar. Love having you on. I got to start with. the big picture here. We now have all. four adults in the home facing these. very serious felony charges. From a. legal standpoint, what is charging. Melissa Goodman, the stepmother? How. does that complete or solidify the. prosecution's overall case? Because we. expected she was officially going to be. charged. Now it's happened. >> Yeah. I I think that that at this point.

the prosecution theory is that every. adult in this household neglected the. care of this child and no one um it can. be excused for their behavior. No one. can be um overlooked uh for their uh. lack of supervision, lack of care, lack. of of basic human regard for the child. that was in their care in this. household. I know you won't have the. answer to this because you're not part. of the case, but explain to me why the.

delay. Why not just immediately charge. her, arrest her charger with the rest of. the adults? There was a little bit of a. delay. Any explanation for why that. might have happened? >> So, there there's any number of reasons. why um co-defendants um co-alleged. perpetrators wouldn't be charged at the. same time. There's always the. possibility that investigators were. completing their investigation, that. they wanted more evidence uh against one. particular defendant before they. attached charging paperwork to that to. that individual. Um it could always be.

an administrative delay. Uh there could. always have been communications with the. defendant fire through defense council. to arrange for a surrender. Um, I'm not. saying that this would have been the. case uh in this particular case or in. this investigation, but sometimes even. pre-charging, there can be. communications with a a defendant again. through their attorney um about. potentially cooperating with the. prosecution or profering evidence to the.

prosecution. Again, no information about. whether that happened in this case, but. there's any really any number of reasons. why there would be a delay between one. now alleged codefendant and the three. others who were previously charged. >> I want to dig into the evidence that. specifically implicates Melissa here. because we've heard Walter's side of it, but the complaint alleges that Melissa. was right there, that she was right. there during this medical crisis. And. after first responders, by the way, they. arrived, they found uh MJG with a blood.

sugar level of just 24, they asked. Walter if anyone else in the house was. sick. His response that was captured by. officers on scene was quote, "No, no one. is sick in the house. My wife has kidney. disease. My oldest daughter, she's. overweight, bad, and she's got lung. issues." And he apparently indicated. that Melissa would sleep in to watch MJG. essentially that she's a part of this, not you know that she's there to care. for care for her. And when you look at. the messages, and we're going to get. into this more, when you look at the. messages, it is seemingly really bad.

For example, in the complaint, there is. an apparent message that Melissa had. sent to Savannah on March 4th, 2025 at. 2:38 p.m. which read, quote, "But MJG is. not to be out of her room at all." End. quote, "I'll call when we're on our way. to let you know her rules and and so she. doesn't hear them." Hm. On March 7th, 2025 at 12:24 p.m., Savannah apparently. sends an image to to Melissa, which is a. photo of MJG lying on the floor of her.

room in the fetal position on her side. This is a direct quote from the. complaint. Goes on to say, "MJ is. wearing pink underwear and yellow socks, which both have brown colored markings. on them. MJG appears not well and. severely malnourished as her bones are. prominent and the top of her spine is. clearly visible. Savannah apparently. writes, "Knows your home and is still. redacted around." Melissa writes, "Did. she move?" Savannah writes, "Nope, and.

she's been at redacted all night. I. yelled at her all night." And Melissa. says, "Let me know if she changes.". Okay, professor, from a legal. perspective, what does this tell us? What does this tell us? That Melissa was. apparently present, aware that this. young girl was seemingly in a uh by all. accounts a life-threatening condition, yet no indication that she ever. intervened and maybe contributed. >> Well, Jeffy, as as you know, for a. criminal case, um there are two.

essential elements to prove any criminal. charge. There has to be an act in Latin. Actis Rees. There has to be some either. commission or omission that was legally. required and there needs to be a. demonstration by the prosecutor of. what's known as men's rhea or a guilty. mind state of mind. Um state of mind is. probably one of the hardest things that. a prosecutor has to prove. You have to. be able to show what was going on in. someone's consciousness, what was going. on in their mental process um as as part.

of the proof element of any particular. crime of any particular charge. Very. very difficult to show intent or to show. knowledge or to show um what somebody. wanted or desired the outcome to be. However, when you have text messages. that clearly um communicate a situation, clearly communicate what the condition. of the child was, um what what they had. been doing for any period of time, um.

what they looked like, what they. appeared like, uh their their their uh. you know um lack of of movement or um or. well-being. Um, that really is I I would. say incredibly. damning and and powerful evidence for. the prosecution to show that Melissa. Goodman knew or should have known that. this child was in need of care um was in. need of either medical services or at a. bare minimum food uh and and didn't do.

anything in terms of being proactive of. of providing that care and that support. And by the way, as we go into this a. little bit more, I think we talked about. this last time. These child neglect. charges, it's very different if you're. talking about murder, you're talking. about manslaughter, they're so broad. that they can encompass a lot of. activity, crimes of commission, crimes. of omission, right? That's uh uh that's. a tool that prosecutors can use, which I. think is necessarily a good thing. You.

know, defense attorneys wouldn't like. it. it might be more difficult to. defend. But from a prosecutorial point. of view, if you're talking about trying. to seek justice against those who commit. crimes uh against the most vulnerable in. our population, and yes, she's innocent. until proven guilty. They're all. innocent until proven guilty. They'll. have an opportunity to present a. defense. The child neglect charges here. are very broad. So, it can it can. include a lot here. you you can and I think that that was. the legislative intent because uh I I. think what's being communicated and and.

the public policy behind very broad. language um that that's included in this. in this statute in this um criminal. offense is that gee it's not enough just. to um have a child. It's not enough just. to house a child. Um and and it's. certainly not just a crime and of course. I say just in in air quotes. It's not. just a crime to do something uh overt. meaning to hit, to punch, to abuse in. some physical way um in order to be held.

criminally liable under this statute. I. think there is a legislative recognition. that you know once a uh a caregiver is. ostensibly in charge or responsible for. the well-being of a dependent of a child. or another dependent person. um that. there there is more uh that needs to be. done other than just lock them in a room. and forget that they're there. Um and so. this broad language goes to show that um.

that that again it's not just enough to. be uh a parent to be biologically or or. um uh in other way household related to. someone who's in your care that there. are affirmative steps that need to be. taken to care for that dependent person. And when they're not, that is considered. a crime of omission. >> Let's look a little bit more at the. conditions that police claim Melissa was. enforcing. So, in the complaint, officers claim that they extracted. photos from Melissa's phone, which. include photos from the camera in MJG's.

room, which Melissa reportedly had. constant access to. And police say they. found one image from December of 2024. showing MJG lying directly on the bare. floor wearing only underwear and socks, two mattresses leaning up against the. wall behind her, unused. There's also. evidence suggesting that Melissa played. a role in isolating MJG from the outside. world because the complaint reveals that. in May MJG's grandmother came to the. house seemingly asking to see her.

granddaughter. Melissa allegedly texted. Savannah about what Walter told the. grandmother, saying, quote, "He told her. that she's on a trip with his cousin.". And I also want to look at something. crucial in the complaint where Melissa. Goodman appears to be trying to shift. blame onto her husband, Walter. So, when. Child protective service workers first. came to the home on August 22nd, this is. the day after MJG was hospitalized, they. asked Melissa why this girl hadn't seen.

a doctor in years. According to the. complaint, Melissa told them, quote, "MJ. has not been to a doctor because Walter. didn't like the pediatrician that she. had." She then continued saying Walter. never thought she needed to go. In. another part of the conversation, she. stated Walter was going to take MJG to. the family doctor, but never did. Now, professor, obviously, you put aside the. idea if defense attorneys would ever. say, "Well, is that exactly what she. said? Is that a assuming this is what. she said? It seems I don't know for.

sure, but it seems there's an emphasis. here, maybe an argument that Melissa is. putting the blame on others, putting the. blame on Walter. But I wonder how much. that can actually work when you have. those messages. Those messages uh it's. different than just testimony. Messages. like that are can be tough to explain. >> Yeah. I I think it's going to be um the. the job of the prosecution to show a. very clear timeline to show how long. Goodman was in MJG's life. uh how long.

they had lived under the same roof, how. long Goodman had been aware of her. condition, and any um uh assumption of. responsibility that Goodman had taken. over the time that she had been in MJG's. life. Because I think this is a a fairly. common uh defense in in codefendant. cases, at least in um child abuse cases. that I've seen, where um there is a. shifting of responsibility. there is. something of a pointing fingers at each. other um in order to distance one.

oneself as a defendant from. responsibility or from knowledge um or. from any kind of involvement in in the. criminal activity. And so, um, these. statements about, um, everything that. Walter, the father, the codefendant, um, either wanted to do or refused to do or. failed to do, I think are, um, fairly. good defense uh, theory moves to, uh, to. distance Melissa Goodman from her. responsibility in this case. >> But the only way, and and let me know if.

you've ever seen this before, where you. can have one caregiver, one parent say, "Yeah, I knew what was going on. Yes, I. participated in it. Um is and and. somehow. I don't know the charges are dropped, the charges are lessened. I don't know a. deal's worked out is to suggest there. had to been some sort of duress, right? Some sort of coercion uh that she was. forced to do this, right? Isn't it the. only way that there could be something. to that or am I not thinking about it.

the right way? >> Well, I I I think that that duress is. certainly one possible defense. Um, but. I think again there is also the. possibility of a lack of access. Melissa. Goodman could say um I I was barely with. this this person, this child. I was uh. barely in the house. I barely knew her. I didn't have any responsibility for. her. Never did. That was the arrangement. between me and my husband. I was just, you know, just again in air quotes a. stepmother and and um didn't have any. caretaking responsibility. That was my. understanding coming into this household.

or coming into this marriage. Um and and. again uh there's there's always the um. uh a lack of knowledge defense. Now, I I. don't know how successful that would be. in a case like this, especially given. the webcam footage and given the uh test. text messages that are between the. alleged codefendants, but um there there. are always um any available defenses as. far as a lack of knowledge, a lack of. participation, um a lack of association. between the alleged co-conspirators and.

uh a lack of in this or in your example. um the presence of duress. Now, the. criminal complaint, the problem for her, the criminal complaint is filled with. these text messages that would suggest. she had more of a direct role in what. was happening in that house. For. instance, the complaint reveals that. Melissa and Walter's 15-year-old son, who also lived in the home, was pulled. into this situation as well because you. have a text exchange where Melissa. apparently texts her son instructions. And these instructions are very, very. chilling. She allegedly writes, quote,

"Can you please make sure the door is. locked and so is stupids, please?" Few. minutes later, she follows up to. clarify, "Okay, but make sure Dumy's. door is locked and make sure the front. door is to when you key her in, but. don't forget to check Dumy's door." H. and this control that police allege, they say it was absolute down to the. most basic human needs. There's another. exchange where Melissa writes again if. you're talking about control even over. something like water. She writes, quote,

"Because last night I took her water. away and then he took her to the. bathroom and let her drink it." That's. the problem, professor. That's the. problem, right? the level of control. here. Is there is there a way a defense. attorney can look at those messages? If. they can't argue successfully to not. have them included in a trial, which I'm. not really sure what the argument would. be, but if those do come into trial, what is a defense argument to try to. provide a different context to that? >> Honestly, Jesse, the only thing I can. think of would be uh two challenges. one.

one which could be heard pre-trial to. challenge the authenticity of these. messages to say that these messages you. know didn't come from a reliable device. that they weren't recorded properly um. even even so far as allegations that. they are deep fakes or AI generated or. that they are not actually uh the words. or the communications of the defendant. But the other argument if they do come. in um would be to whom they are. referencing. And what I mean by that is. we are referring to the complainant in.

this case as MJG because obviously we. want to protect child victims, alleged. child victims and and not put their. names in the press or put their names in. public. Um we'll we'll notice however. that we are um interpreting these. messages uh referring to dummy or. referring to stupid as referring to this. child's complaintant MJG. I could see I. could imagine a world where the defense. will say we were referring to the family. pet. We were referring to something or. someone else. We weren't referring to.

MJD the complainant in this case. So, you're um assuming what my. communications were in regards to, but. you don't have proof that I was talking. about this actual alleged victim. >> Yeah. A and one of maybe the most. damning series of text exchanges occurs. from January 2023. This is when Walter. and Melissa were away from the home and. Savannah and Kayla were left in charge. of MJG. Now, Melissa is apparently. remotely monitoring the camera, participating in a group chat with them.

And in this chat, Kayla writes to. Melissa, "Just so you know, MJG was. taking more than one bite at a time, and. when Savannah confronted her, she. continued to argue with her, so I used. the belt." Melissa's response, two. words, that's fine. Later on, writes, "She deserved it." The complaint also. alleges that Melissa was acutely aware. of how bad things had gotten. There was. this exchange with Savannah texting her. worried about MJG's deteriorating.

appearance, writing, "I am just scared. because of how horrible she looks. I'm. scared we're all going to go to jail or. something." And Melissa's apparent reply. was, "Yeah, I know. I live it every. day." H Now, uh, Professor, your. thoughts on that? But I guess the other. question is if you're looking at this. case and a prosecutorial point of view, you wonder if you really want to take it. to trial, expose jurors to all of this. evidence. You also wonder if you want to.

make a deal with at least one of them to. testify against the other. But I got to. tell you, if all these allegations are. true, who would you want to make a deal. with? Who would you want to provide some. sort of leniency to to testify against. the others? Because I don't know, it's. it's pretty bad. Uh, I I think I think a lot goes into. the calculus and a lot goes into the. determination of um which defendant in a. codefendant matter would receive an. offer for a non-trial disposition in. exchange for either information or.

testifying or um any other conditions. Uh I think that the prosecutors in this. case are certainly going to do a very. thorough review of all four defendants. criminal histories, their uh knowledge. in this case, their involvement in this. case. Um any information um so-called. mitigation information that the defense. teams, the defense attorneys can. provide. Um so I am sure that the. prosecutors are going to have a a a very. complete dossier of information before.

they decide who um if anyone uh will be. considered um a cooperating witness or. will receive any kind of offer for um. either leniency or a non-trial. disposition. >> There's also another layer that to this. case that we didn't we didn't mention. that has made this alleged prolonged. neglect possible and that is the part. that the victim's complete disappearance. from the public eye including from the. school system. So the the criminal. complaint states that after attending. school virtually for one year after. COVID, MJG was reportedly homeschooled.

from the 2021 2022 years to the 2024. 2025 years. So you have all these years. where she apparently had no contact with. teachers or school nurses or other. mandatory reporters. And in Wisconsin, it's our understanding that the. Department of Public Information. requires homeschoolers to be registered. But once that happens, again, our. understanding is there's no state. statute that requires any agency to. continually monitor the education or the. instructional hours. It's a system that. appears to be built on trust. So for uh.

professor, unless I'm wrong, is that. something you see as well uh that this. homeschooling situation could lead to. prolonged abuse? Uh, it could, Jesse, especially in a. system like this where there is no um. mandatory check-in um or or exam. examinations, meaning academic. examinations to ensure that um the the. school standards or of the of the state. department of education are being met by. the homeschooler. Um, so I I think we.

saw this a lot and and you and I have. been uh having these conversations for. for a long time now that this was. unfortunately um one of the many. byproducts of COVID that COVID and uh. the shutdown and our isolation um our. quarantine um allowed many children who. were um children and and intimate. partners who were more vulnerable. members of society to kind of slip. between the cracks and be forgotten and. go missing. and go off the radar, so to.

speak, so that any of the social. services that would have otherwise been. available to them um or any conditions. that would have been uh mandatory. reporting conditions uh went unnoticed. because we were in a shutdown and and. frankly no one was watching. And in a. case like this, even after quarantine. ended or the shutdown ended, this child. remained off the radar and for all of. these years now, her care, if we can. call it that, has been neglected. And. and according to Fox 11, the DPI can't.

even confirm due to conf confidentiality. purposes if MJG was even properly. registered. And it it's balanced by the. fact that in the law, in our society, in. this system, there is an emphasis to uh. maintain a a child with their biological. parent. There's an emphasis that you. want to defer to the parent how they. want to raise their child. But it gets. complicated. It gets tricky. Now, uh, Walter Goodman, Savannah Lever, Kayla. Stemler, they are all due back in court.

for preliminary hearings next Wednesday. Um, what can we expect there, professor? >> Well, we'll see. I mean, either the. preliminary hearing can proceed um or I. would assume that Wisconsin has um the. allowance for a continuence date for. further investigation or for um the you. know, more more complete compilation of. evidence. But remember that a. preliminary hearing is exactly what it. sounds like. at the preliminary stage of. the proceeding. Um the standard the. prosecutorial standard is much less. The. prosecutor does not have to present. evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Uh.

in most jurisdictions, a preliminary. hearing has a primopaccia standard which. means that it's more likely than not. that a crime was committed and that the. person who's been charged uh or in this. case the people who've been charged are. responsible for that crime. Um but. again, it's not a reasonable doubt. standard. It's more like a civil. standard of 51% if you will. Um so we'll. see if the cases are bound over for. trial um in their court in their trial. court system um or if the matter will be. continued for further investigation. >> And I will take a guess that if you look.

at this uh what has been alleged in this. criminal complaint that's put forward by. prosecutors, a judge would say there is. probably sufficient probable cause uh. that they committed these crimes and. that the case should move forward. towards a trial process. We'll say. though, um, and Melissa Goodman, she has. her next court appearance, uh, set for a. status conference next Thursday. So, this is a story we'll keep a a careful. eye on. Uh, Professor Marian Brocher, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so.

much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.