Overview
- Genesee County prosecutors this week charged Damien and Jessica O’Brien with second-degree murder, torture and multiple counts of child abuse and the couple were arraigned and are being held without bond.
- The county medical examiner ruled dilated cardiomyopathy as the cause of death and listed extreme morbid obesity and weight as a contributing condition in the child’s November 2025 death.
- Investigators say the 7-year-old, Casper O’Brien, was nonverbal, bedridden, had severe bed sores and rashes, and that officers found hoarding, piles of trash and a lack of school enrollment at the family’s Flint home.
- Medical records in the autopsy show Casper saw a primary care doctor in February 2024, weighed about 104 pounds at that visit, was referred to a pediatric endocrinologist and never received the recommended specialty follow-up despite having health coverage.
- One child-abuse count concerns the couple’s 5-year-old daughter, who was placed in foster care, and prosecutors plan a probable-cause hearing in early July as the case prompts questions about gaps in health, school and child-protection oversight.