In 2010, a family found a child with Down syndrome in their attic. He had been starved and neglected by the person who was supposed to take care of him.
Giovanni “Govi” Eastwood was 6 years old but weighed as much as a 3-year-old.
Rachel Perez’s mother was detained because she had outstanding warrants. The police found her other children and took them to a secure place. But Govi stayed in the attic of his house in Kansas.
Sergeant John Klingele, who found Govi, said, “She (Perez) told a lie about where Govi was.” “So they all went, but Govi stayed.”
The cops thought the kid was still in the house, so they went back to check. After reaching out to him, they finally realized out that the kid was in the attic.
Klingele remarked of Govi when he first saw him, “He looked like a kid from a concentration camp, skin and bones.” “We were told he would be 7, but he looked more like 3.”
Govi weighed barely 17 pounds and couldn’t walk, talk, or move. He was also covered in crap.
His hair had fallen out, his bones were weak and bowed from rickets, and the fat on his bottom had disappeared. The Kansas City Star claimed that doctors told them Govi would not have lived much longer if he had not been saved that night.
The boy had just been put up there, and there were no blankets or toys. The cops felt his mother had put him up there to keep him safe.
Perez is now in prison for eight years for trying to kill someone because of how she treated her child.
The police who found Govi that day saw him again six years later and couldn’t believe how much he had changed.
“The child is magical.”
Stacy and Joe Eastwood, Govi’s great aunt and uncle, took him and his two sisters in and made them their own. Govi had to do a lot to get better. He was terrified he would get hit every time someone wanted to high-five him, so he just slept on the floor at first. But now he feels safe and cherished by his new family.
“The child is magical.” Eastwood said, “He just makes everyone he meets a better person.”
The cops who saved him obviously sensed a difference in the 12-year-old who came to see him at the Sheriff’s Department in 2016. He was named an honorary deputy and granted a plaque there.
Govi shook the officers’ hands to thank them for saving him that day.
“That boy is the hero.” Klingele said, “It’s great to see him,” after seeing how big his heart and smile are.
His great aunt relates that Govi slept with that plaque that night.
I can’t believe a parent would do this to their child. I’m so glad they found him when they did and that he is now living in the loving home he deserves. Please inform others.
