A Central Texas boy was adopted on Friday after a five-year fight from a home where he was severely abused, according to police.
The Moody Police Department said one of its officers, Heather Allen, "worked day and night" with the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department Criminal Investigation Unit to gather evidence after a woman brought "a severely abused, beaten swollen small child to the emergency room" at a local hospital one night.
"Words cannot describe the sight in those pictures," said Moody police.
The police department said it had already responded to a call of possible child abuse at a home where a man told Officer Allen that he had just "snapped" and couldn't control himself.
A few hours later the Weatherford Police Department called and said a woman had brought the boy, RJ, into an emergency room and stated that her boyfriend "had done it."
The state located what turned out to be his "forever home" while authorities investigated and gathered evidence from the boy's previous home.
"There on the walls of the little room where RJ lived, told the story," said Moody police. "Blood spatter, tufts of hair stuck on the walls, feces all over and a single small mattress with no sheets or blankets on the floor."
On Friday RJ was adopted by his grandmother and grandfather, said Moody police; he still believes officer Allen saved him that night.
"The world is a terrible place, but sometimes when you need them the most, angels appear and make it better," said the police department.
