Wisconsin Parents Charged With Yearslong Starvation and Abuse of Six Children
Prosecutors in Crawford County, Wisconsin, have charged Casey Cano, 38, and Mary Cano, 35, with multiple felonies for allegedly starving and brutally abusing their six children over several years, forcing them to eat mold, bugs, dog food and grass and beating them with belts from at least January 2018 through April 2022. Court records say the children, then ages 1 to 9, described being denied food for days at a time and suffering repeated physical punishment that left welts and bleeding, with at least one child kept in a soiled diaper for three days as "punishment." The children were removed from the home around April 2022 in connection with a separate sexual-abuse case, and local outlets report the couple were convicted that year of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old. A new investigation opened in December led to the parents’ arrests in March; both have posted bond, and Mary Cano is charged as a "party to a crime," indicating prosecutors allege she allowed the abuse to continue. The case is fueling renewed outrage online over how long severe abuse can persist before authorities intervene and what oversight failures may have allowed six young children to live for years in what prosecutors describe as violent, deliberately depriving conditions.
📌 Key Facts
- Defendants Casey Cano, 38, and Mary Cano, 35, are charged in Crawford County, Wisconsin, with six counts each of repeated physical abuse of a child causing great bodily harm and child neglect, plus one count of causing a child under 13 to view or listen to a sex act.
- Prosecutors allege that from January 2018 through April 2022 the couple beat their six children with belts, withheld food for days and drove them to eat mold, bugs, dog food and grass.
- The children, ages 1 to 9 during the alleged abuse, were removed from the home around April 2022 amid a separate sexual-abuse case, and the parents were previously convicted in 2022 of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old.
- A new investigation began in December, the couple were arrested in March and released on bond, and their next court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
📊 Relevant Data
Black children and adolescents were suspected to have experienced child abuse at higher rates than children and adolescents of other races/ethnicities, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.25 for Black patients compared to White patients in emergency medical services encounters.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Child Abuse Identification and Reporting by Emergency Medical Services — JAMA Pediatrics
Family risk factors for child maltreatment include stress, early parenthood, mental health issues, substance use, financial problems, low emotional support, and family breakdown.
In Crawford County, Wisconsin, the population is 95.2% White alone, 2.3% Black alone, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, and 0.4% Asian alone according to the 2020 Census.
QuickFacts: Crawford County, Wisconsin — U.S. Census Bureau
In 2023, the national child abuse victimization rate was 7.4 victims per 1,000 children in the population.
Child Maltreatment 2023 — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families
📰 Source Timeline (1)
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