Parents arrested after 10-year-old son weighing just 36 pounds is found searching for food

Neighbours called 911 to report malnourished youngster walking the streets

Tyler Schindley, 46, and Krista Schindley, 47 (Spalding County Jail)

A Georgia couple have been arrested after their emaciated 10-year-old son was found searching for food in their neighbourhood.

Tyler and Krista Schindley were taken into custody and are being held in Spalding County Jail after a judge denied them bail.

The hungry youngster, who weighed just 36 pounds, was found by police in Griffin, Georgia after someone called 911 when he was seen walking to a supermarket to buy something to eat.

The malnourished youngster pleaded with officers to “make him go back”, according to WANF

“As a mother, I can’t comprehend it. As a human being, it breaks your heart,” Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Marie Broder told reporters, according to Fox5 Atlanta.

“We aren’t releasing any photos of this child for obvious reasons, but I will tell you, the photos are absolutely horrible, and anybody with a human heart who looks at them should be shaken to their core.”

And she added: “It is my true belief that had he not gotten out of the home, this case would be a very different one.”

Police described the boy as being “thin with discoloured skin and visible injuries” and he was taken to a hospital to be treated for malnutrition and a low heart rate. He is reportedly in a stable condition.

Tyler Schindley, 46, and Krista Schindley, 47, have been charged with attempted homicide in the second degree and attempted malice murder. They also face charges of cruelty to children in the first degree, second degree and third-degree, battery, simple battery and false imprisonment.

An arrest affidavit claims that the couple intentionally did not give the boy food and allegedly kept him locked in his bedroom without lights, toilet paper or any human interaction.

Four other children found inside the Schindley’s home were taken into the custody of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.