This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
From her Army post in Iraq, Anahi Ferrando called her fiancé, Michael Bowden, almost daily and frequently asked him about her daughter, Jade.
Bowden, who was taking care of the 5-year-old girl, said she was doing well, getting big and enjoying daily trips to the park.
In reality, the girl was likely languishing in front of a television for hours - or days - without food or company. In the 10 months that Ferrando was in Iraq, Jade, who suffers from severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is unable to move or talk, withered to just 13 pounds.
Bowden, meanwhile, depleted Ferrando's checking account of about $13,000 and sold many of her personal items, she said. Police say there is little that can be done about Ferrando's loss because she gave him power of attorney before she left for Iraq.
Now recovering at Primary Children's Medical Center, Jade has gained about four pounds and has switched from liquid to solid food, her mother said. The girl's face is beginning to fill out once again, and doctors say she may be able to go home as early as this weekend.
Still, Ferrando said her daughter won't look at a television and shows signs of anxiety when left alone. And the girl has trouble sleeping at night.
Ferrando said she joined the Army in November so she could take care of her daughter and have financial stability. When she returned home that Christmas, Bowden proposed. Ferrando said yes.
Before she deployed to Iraq, Ferrando and Bowden made arrangements for him to stay at home with Jade. Ferrando gave Bowden power of attorney.
While Bowden reported to Ferrando that Jade was OK, the girl's grandfather, Rafael Ferrando, was worried. He saw Jade's emaciated condition and summoned West Valley City police to Bowden's home Aug. 18 to check on the girl. Officers then called for a team of paramedics to assess the girl and decided she was in no immediate danger.
Rafael Ferrando, however, obtained custody of his granddaughter and took her to the hospital. Anahi Ferrando got the disturbing news in an e-mail and immediately began making plans to return home to Utah.
"I came home to my daughter almost dead. When I saw her there [at the hospital], she broke down and I broke down. We both started crying," Ferrando said. "She was excited to see me."
Although the girl is unable to talk, the 5-year-old can communicate through facial expressions.
Ferrando said she was stunned that her fiancé, a man she had loved and trusted, had allowed her daughter to nearly perish.
"When I came back, he was not the person I had left," Ferrando said.
Bowden, 25, was arrested Aug. 22 and charged with one count of felony child abuse. He is scheduled to appear today in 3rd District Court.
On Wednesday, Ferrando was making preparations to return to her military duties, this time at her base in Fort Hood, Texas. Jade will stay behind with her grandfather while Ferrando finds an apartment and gets her finances in order.
"Leaving my daughter in the middle of this - it is hard," she said. "I trust my dad fully. I know he is going to take care of her and obviously I'm still going to do as much as I can over there."
Helping Jade:
* The ''Jade Fund'' has been established at America First Credit Union for those wishing to help Anahi Ferrando and her daughter.