Her autistic son starved to death after she locked the fridge and kitchen cabinets, police say

Pedro Gomez told a judge that Katiria Tirado, the biological mother of his autistic son, "deserves to rot in prison" for what she did.

The 34-year-old woman from Hartford, Connecticut, just received 11 years in prison and another five years probation after police say she abused and starved her 17-year-old nonverbal son Matthew Tirado to death, according to The Hartford Courant.

The teenager weighed just 84 pounds and had bruises all over his body when he died in February 2017, police told Fox61.

Katiria waited 24 before calling 911 for her son, who had been vomiting and complaining of a stomachache, police say, and her son died within hours at Hartford Hospital. According to The Hartford Courant, the cause of death was labeled “fatal child abuse syndrome with dehydration and malnutrition" after an autopsy.

An investigation allegedly found that Katiria had screwed shut the kitchen cabinets and locked the refrigerator to keep her son from eating any of the food inside, according to WFSB. This led the boy to rummage through trash for food, police say, but Katiria asserted that she locked the food away because the teenager had an eating disorder.

Gaily Hardy, Hartford State's Attorney, said that this "is probably one of the most horrific cases that I've seen in my 23-year career as a prosecutor," WFSB reported. Katiria ended up pleading guilty in March under the Alford Doctrine, indicating that there is sufficient evidence in the case but that she still asserts her own innocence against the state's argument.

Her lawyer, William O'Connor, argued in court that Katiria "was a victim of a sexual predator" and that she didn't mean to kill her son. He said that Katiria became pregnant with Matthew after Gomez had sex with her at the age of 15, The Hartford Courant reported, and that the mother continues to grieve for the loss of her son.

Gomez, a convicted sex offender when he impregnated Katiria, testified in court that the woman “showed real hate for our son since day 1," according to The Hartford Courant.

But O'Connor argued they both lived on the same street, WSFB reported, and that his client's "intellectual limitations and becoming a single parent at a very young age, coupled with her own son's significant cognitive impairments, created a perfect storm for Matthew's untimely death."

The judge ruled Tuesday that Katiria must avoid unsupervised time with children as a part of her probation when she gets out of prison, according to NBC Connecticut. She also has to undergo counseling.

The Connecticut Department of Families also came under fire for the case, as noted by The Hartfort Courant, which reported that Matthew hadn't attended school for months and Katiria was on a state registry for child abuse. The department closed the case in January 2017, a month before the teen's death.

This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Her autistic son starved to death after she locked the fridge and kitchen cabinets, police say."