A Cole County couple have been charged in a child abuse case.
Joseph Ciavarella, 52, is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Loretta Wilhelm, 34, is charged with abuse or neglect of a child.
The residence where this allegedly occurred is in the 3300 block of Rock Ridge Road.
Ciavarella is the father of the pre-teen victim and Wilhelm is his fiancee, according to Cole County Sheriff's Department probable cause statements. They were living together with five children.
Authorities claim Ciavarella and Wilhelm kept the child locked in a closet, deprived of food and water.
Wilhelm is also accused of strangling the child.
This is believed to have occurred between Jan. 1, 2018, and Nov. 1, 2019.
An investigation by the Department of Family Services eventually led to the removal of the victim and four other children from the home, court documents show.
A sibling of the victim was interviewed during the DFS investigation and reportedly told how the victim was locked in the closet.
Another witness claimed to have seen the victim being hit and locked in the closet for two days without food and water. The child received only noodles and ravioli when allowed to eat, the witness reported.
Ciavarella and Wilhelm would let the victim out in the mornings only to eat ravioli then lock the child back in the closet, the victim reportedly told authorities during an interview.
The victim also claimed to have been forced to go to the restroom in the closet because the child would sneak out of the home to get food, and Wilhelm had forced the child to chew sleep aid pills without anything to drink.
A witness who frequented the home told authorities that after the children were removed from the home, Wilhelm allegedly was replacing the carpet in the closet and patching holes in the wall. The witness also allegedly told authorities Wilhelm had claimed the work was to make the closet a walk-through.
Authorities interviewed Ciavarella, and he denied any knowledge of the child's claims, saying he worked at night and had no knowledge of what happens in the house at that time, according to charging documents.
Wilhelm also denied the allegations.
Ciavarella and Wilhelm were being held with no bond, although a bond study was ordered, according to court documents. They also are ordered not to have contract with the victim.
The case has been assigned to Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Cotton Walker.
