Couple Who Starved, Beat To Death 8-Year-Old Girl Sentenced To 40 Years

The father and stepmother of an 8-year-old Minnesota girl who was starved and beaten to death were sentenced Thursday to 40 years in connection with the child's death.

Brett Hallow, 30, and Sarah Hallow, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this summer to second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges in the death of Autumn Hallow, who was found dead in the family's apartment in Elk River, Minnesota, last year.

The 40-year sentence is divided, with nearly 27 years (320 months) of the sentence being served in prison, while the remaining 160 months will be served under supervised release, KARE 11 reported.

The prison time could be lengthened if the two commit any disciplinable offenses between their sentencing and release, Judge Karen B. Schommer said.

Present during the sentencing was Autumn’s biological mother, Kelsey Kruse, who gave gut-wrenching testimony.

"The hardest part is not that my daughter is dead. It's how she died, how she suffered. Imagining how much pain she was in," Kruse said to the court. "Every day, I wake up and I will suffer until I go to sleep, thinking about this. I think losing a child is the greatest loss you can endure."

She continued, "I find peace knowing that my kids never have to look into the eyes of their abusers again. Autumn no longer has to feel terrified, unloved or unwanted. She is safe and she is with me again."

Autumn reportedly weighed 33 pounds at the time of her death, prosecutors said. This was the same weight she was when she was 4 years old, according to the KARE 11 report.

During the sentencing, the stepmother broke down in tears and apologized to the family. However, the family's attorney Rich Hechter said this was too little, too late.

"So while the words may have been uttered like 'I'm sorry,' I don't think there was enough true remorse or guilt behind it," Hechter said.

Sarah also pleaded guilty to another charge of abuse involving Autumn's brother, Noah. She admitted to threatening to hit Noah and put his head "through a wall."

The judge sentenced Autumn's stepmother to an additional 12 months.

Autumn was found face-down and partially submerged in a bathtub in the family's Elk River home in August 2020 by police. Authorities believed she'd been dead for some time before they found her, according to the charging documents.

An autopsy found fatal injuries pointing to her being asphyxiated, along with wounds to her head.

The Hallows physically abused Autumn, often tying the girl up if they felt she had misbehaved. They also withheld food from the child as punishment.