WARNING: This story contains content some readers may find disturbing. Discretion is strongly advised.
When Alex Radita was found dead inside his parents’ home, he weighed just 37 pounds, and was wearing only a T-shirt and a diaper.
The 15-year-old looked like a skeleton, with thin hair and sunken eyes, forensic pathologist Dr. Jeffery Gofton testified Thursday.
He had no usable teeth, and he was covered in dozens of ulcers.
Alex’s parents, Emil and Rodica Radita, are on trial, charged with first-degree murder.
READ MORE: Alex Radita trial: B.C. youth advocate slams sharing of child welfare info between provinces
Gofton is the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Alex Radita in May 2013.
He testified Alex was filled with infection.
There was the presence of bacteria everywhere from his kidneys to his adrenal glands, his spleen and blood stream.
The teen had a necrotizing ulcer on his neck that left one of his salivary glands exposed, and he had what appeared to be gangrene on one of his toes.
Gofton testified Alex was lacking neck muscles, the tissues had liquefied, and the area was filled with pus.
Court heard Alex suffered from neglect and starvation. He had almost no fat and no muscle, suggesting “malnutrition or starvation” and making it difficult for his body to fight the infections.
READ MORE: Calgary parents accused of not treating diabetic teen plead not guilty to first-degree murder
This was all compounded by his Type 1 diabetes that went untreated.
Alex was diagnosed with diabetes when he was just three years old.
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Court documents show he was removed from the Radita home as a young child living in B.C., after concerns the parents weren’t treating the diabetes.
A judge later returned him to his parents’ care.
His family then moved to Alberta, where it seems he went “off the radar.”
READ MORE: Crown alleges Calgary parents accused of not treating diabetic son knew it could kill him
“Although this is a criminal trial in one province, the issues that may have placed this child in deep danger are inadequacies in our child welfare systems,” B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, told Global News.
Three years after Alex’s death, there are renewed calls for changes to the way child welfare information is shared between provinces.
“The inter-provincial protocol has recently been updated, which sounds promising. However, most of these jurisdictions do not have a common information system or even a common way to flag and follow families that may be evading child welfare or have an at-risk child,” Turpel-Lafond said.
The autopsy revealed Alex died from bacterial sepsis (Staphyloccus aureus) from complications of neglect and starvation.
The trial continues Friday with expected testimony from several people who were at the Radita home the night he was found dead.
With files from Andrew Russell
Below: Photos of Alex Radita on his 15th birthday, taken just months before his death
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