Body of Wisconsin boy found in his mother's car trunk had 'mummified' and also had mold in places, cops reveal
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN: Disturbing new details have emerged in the case of a Wisconsin mother who was arrested and charged with neglect after the rotting dead body of her five-year-old blind son was found in her car trunk months after he was last seen.
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported how Sagal Hussein, 30, was taken into custody on March 30 after police grew suspicious of her due to inconsistencies in her story and refusal to cooperate over the search of Josias Marquez.
The authorities had started investigating his disappearance on January 26 after a neighbor called to report that two of her children, aged 2 and 6, were unattended outside their home. It was then that they learned about her third child, Marquez, who was wheelchair-bound and relied on others for feeding.
When questioned about the young boy, who was last seen on November 25 last year, she claimed he was with his biological father in Michigan. However, investigators found no records of the man she identified.
The boy's real biological father, who lived in California, said he had become concerned for his son's well-being following a phone conversation on March 26 where she told him she "f***** up" and was "in a hell of trouble."
A few days later, police executed a search warrant to seize her car and sent it to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab to be searched, which was when Marquez's body was uncovered in the cargo area of the vehicle.
During a subsequent autopsy, he was found to be "significantly undernourished" and "mummified." He weighed just 20 pounds, with a doctor stating that his level of nourishment "was severe and would have created a significant risk of death."
The body also "had mold in places" and a long dark-colored hair was located on the decedent's left thigh. Based on the decomposition, it was determined that the five-year-old had been "deceased for months."
While his cause of death was unclear, Marquez had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and his doctor said that because of his serious seizure history, he could have had a "fatal outcome" from a seizure without his medications.
However, his medical records indicated that he had not received treatment for his various health conditions since 2018 and was not taking any of his prescribed medications. Asked about the same, Hussein said she had not given him his seizure medications because she was treating him with CBD oil.
Her neglect of the boy reportedly dated further back as well. One of his teachers told investigators he was "always very thin" and was in an "inadequate stroller" that gave him very little support. She and the daycare director contacted Child Protective Services because of Josias' lack of food, malnutrition, and lack of communication with other children and staff.
A family advocate for the Howard-Suamico School District, who conducted two home visits in 2018 but never met Marquez, similarly said she had filed a report with CPS because she was concerned he was being left at home alone and she had never seen him.
Hussein has been charged with chronic neglect of a child resulting in death, hiding a corpse, two counts of neglecting a child, and five counts of obstructing an officer in connection to the case.
She is currently being held in Brown County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court for her preliminary hearing on May 7. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 80 years in prison.