Tennessee Couple Allegedly Forced Daughter To Sleep In Bathtub, Drink Toilet Water

A Tennessee couple are facing charges after allegedly abusing a nine-year-old girl in their care — including forcing her to sleep in the bathtub and making her drink out of the toilet, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.

Jesse Piatt, 37, and Trish Piatt, 30, of Millington, Tennessee were charged with aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect or endangerment after authorities discovered they were allegedly torturing their young girl.

The female suspect, Trish Piatt, 30, allegedly told the girl to “go ahead and kill herself,” an affidavit cited by localmemphis.com showed.

The couple were arrested last week following a nearly three-month long investigation and charged with aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect, reports said.

Police launched an investigation into the couple in January after the girl was caught stealing food from a teacher at her school. School officials discovered at that time that the child was forced to sleep in a bathtub and that she was not being taken care of or being fed properly.

After meeting the girl, authorities learned that the child was frail and had a shaved patch on the top of her head, according to FOX13 Memphis.

The girl told the responding officer that the suspects allegedly also made her sleep outside without a blanket, according to court records obtained by CBS-affiliate television WREG.

The couple would allegedly serve the girl dry ramen noodles and once gave her a hot dog roll to eat while others in the house ate spaghetti.

The child reportedly told the teacher at her school that she wanted to move so she could “sleep in a warm bed, take hot showers, and have good meals.”

The girl reportedly went to school in dirty clothes and sneakers that were too big for her, court records stated. A police report also described her as being “very thin.” The child also claimed she was beaten up with a belt by the suspects.

When authorities questioned Jesse Piatt, believed to be the girl’s father, he reportedly told them that he believed the child was mentally ill, and that he reportedly wanted to send the child to a mental health facility out of fear that “she would kill them as they slept.”

He allegedly claimed that the girl slept in the bathtub on her own will as she refused to sleep in her room. The child did not brush her teeth in a year because he and Trish were "unable to make her do anything," he added.

A doctor who examined the child had told police in January that they had "concerns about child abuse by torture."

“The child’s behaviors and disclosures were all indicative of nutritional neglect, medical neglect, and psychological abuse as well as physical abuse,” a police report stated. “Descriptions of [the] treatment are consistent with torture and [the doctor] believes [the child] is at high risk for serious psychological problems as a result of [the] abuse, as well as death,” it added.

The girl has since been placed in foster care after the authorities took the couple into custody.

The couple has not yet entered a plea and was being held in Shelby County jail.