I am beyond words, let alone that a book that
encourages this kind of parenting is allowed in the marketplace.
Hana Williams was found dead in May - naked, face-down in the mud in her own backyard - after she had spent much of a cold, rainy day outside as a punishment, according to court documents.
Although she died of hypothermia, there were other contributing causes to her death, including severe malnutrition and chronic gastritis, doctors said.
The Williams had adopted Hana from Ethiopia in 2008 as a diseased little girl to begin a new life in America.
Instead, according to court records, she was beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a barn at times and deprived of love and basic necessities.
Further investigation revealed that Hana had a number of injuries on the night she died, including a large lump on the head, bloody marks and injuries "consistent with disciplinary impacts with a switch," according to court documents released Friday.
Those same documents describe the hellish life that Hana endured in the months before her death - which included systematic withholding of food, forced times outdoors in the cold or locked in a dark closet, interspersed with regular spankings or beatings with a plumbing tool.
A witness told investigators that the Williams got their ideas for the disciplinary measures from a book, "How to Train Up Your Child," which recommends switchings with a plumbing tool, cold water baths, withholding food and putting children out in cold weather as forms of punishment.