On November 4th, the state took custody of a 6 year old girl. Authorities say she was severely malnourished, weighed less than 32 pounds, and was locked in a basement furnace room at her parents' home in Trenton (Cache County), Utah.

When investigators found her, she was wearing only a t-shirt, had lice in her hair, was very dirty, unkempt, and emaciated. They said the only thing in the room with her were a bare, rusting bedspring and a metal washtub full of dirty water.

One veteran lawman said, "She looked like a kid that hadn't slept, in Bosnia, for two weeks. She just looked like a corpse."

The parents claimed they were only trying to control her behavior by occassionally keeping her locked in the basement.

Friends and neighbors in the small northern Utah town were quick to come to their defense.

About two weeks after the state removed the malnourished girl and her 4 year old half sister from the parents' home, Cache County filed a felony child abuse charge against Chris and Rebecca Tucker, the girls' adoptive parents.

At that time, it also came to light that another foster child died in the Tucker's care two years earlier, when they lived in Coldwater, Michigan. The Tuckers say the girl died from head injuries she suffered from falling down some stairs at their home. Indeed, medical records indicated the three year old died of "catastrophic head injuries" and doctors believed the injuries "seemed consistent with parental statements." No criminal wrongdoing was proven.

Michigan neighbors say they don't believe the Tuckers would abuse their children, "Well, I've never seen them mistreat them at all. They've been real nice to them. I've seen her pick the little girl up and kiss her when they're out playing. I never seen any misuse."

But, the new allegations made Michigan authorities re-open that investigation for a short time, before closing it for lack of evidence.

In November, Utah prosecutors laid out evidence that the girl was malnourished to the point of near starvation, and had been denied basic hygene care. They said she had very few clothes, and the ones she had didn't fit. They said she apparently had few or no toys, although her siblings did, and she had not been seen in family photos since Christmas 1996. On the heels of that evidence, a judge bound the Tuckers over for trial.

On December 1st, the Tuckers pleaded not guilty to second degree child abuse in Utah. A judge set a trial date for early March, in Salt Lake City, instead of Cache County, because of pre-trial publicity. The Tuckers faced the prospect of 1 to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Before the trial started, neighbors of the Tuckers launched a door to door petition drive to the Governor. They wanted him to ask the Attorney General to monitor the upcoming court action, to make sure the Tuckers got a fair trial.

The neighbors accused the authorities of damaging the Tuckers' chance for a fair trial by making inflammatory statements about the girl's living conditions and physical appearance. One Tucker supporter said, "The child has some severe emotional problems that are the cause of her appearing the way she did when they went in to investigate. And it's been going on her whole life." The Tuckers said, and neighbors believed, that the adopted girl's physical and mental problems were the result of fetal alcohol syndrome.

On March 4, the case took a surprising turn. Confronted with damaging medical reports, the Tuckers pleaded guilty, and admitted they are to blame for the girl's condition.

Cache County Attorney, Scott Wyatt, confirmed that tests show the girl has no symptoms of, and never suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome.

As part of the plea bargain, the Tuckers signed away their parental rights to the two girls, but will not lose custody of their two boys.

They tearfully claimed, under the circumstances, they did the best they could. Rebecca Tucker's attorney, Shannon Demler, said, "There was a feeling she was making their family very difficult. She would do things like wipe feces on the wall, urinate in the hall."

But prosecutors contend the girl showed no behavioral problems before or since this ordeal. Prosecutors said she is doing remarkably well in foster care.