In one of the most disturbing tales one may ever read, KPRC News of Houston reports a Texas couple was jailed on March 28 for allegedly starving their five-year-old child who was kept locked in a tiny basement room.

The story, which is accompanied by graphic photos of a boy whose bones are protruding from his skin due to malnourishment, tells a tale of shameful neglect and abuse. KPRC reports Bradley Bleimeyer, the boy’s biological father, and stepmother Tammi Bleymeyer fled with the emaciated boy after an altercation occurred between the woman’s 16-year-old-son and his stepfather outside their home in Spring, Texas.

When police arrived, the boy said the fight occurred because of the way the couple was treating his half-brother, the child locked in the basement. Harris County deputies searched the house and found a tiny room under the stairs where they allegedly kept the starving child imprisoned. Inside was only a mattress.

Police tracked Tammi Bleimeyer’s phone to a nearby hotel and took the couple into custody. The boy, whose bones were sticking out of his skin from malnourishment, was turned over to Harris County Child Protective Services officials.

Bradley Bleimeyer was already out on bail for a burglary arrest and is being held in jail without bond, KPRC reports, while Tammi Bleimeyer was released on a $2,000 bond. In describing the terrible state of the child, one Harris County officer told the news agency it was unlike anything he had ever seen in nearly three decades of police work.

It’s a horrific, horrific situation,” the officer told KPRC. “It’s something out of a Third World country.”