Doctor who examined starving boy compares his body to WWII prisoners



As a community reels from the news of a 9-year-old boy allegedly left to starve to death in his own Indiana home, the doctor who examined his emaciated body reveals just his own impression of the horrific neglect.

Dr. Roland Kohr, a forensic pathologist at Terre Haute Regional Hospital, examined the body of Cameron Hoopingarner. Blind, suffering from cerebral palsy and unable to speak, the boy weighed less than 15 pounds when he was pronounced dead this week.

Read: Infant Fighting for His Life After Dad Allegedly Punched Him in the Head: Cops

"I've done over 6,000 autopsies in my career and this is one of the most disturbing I've ever done," Dr. Kohr told WTHI.

Dr. Kohr performed the autopsy on Cameron's body and compared his skeletal form to those in photos from the Holocaust. The boy's cause of death: homicide.

"Try to imagine a 9-year-old that obviously has some developmental problems and is not a normal height for a 9-year-old. Nevertheless, this child is so severely malnourished that the closest thing I can think of are the pictures from World War II concentration camps liberation.

"The bodies which were stacked like wood, that were literally skin and bones. This child looked like that," Kohr said.

Four people have been charged in connection with the boy's death. None are the boy's biological relatives but two of them, Hubert and Robin Kraemer of Vigo County, had been his legal guardians since just after his birth.

On Thursday, Hubert Kraemer and Robin Kramer were seen outside an Indiana court along with Chad Kraemer and Sarah Travioli, who also face charges related to Cameron's death.

Officials arrested Chad Kraemer, 33, Hubert Kraemer, 56, Robin Kraemer, 53, and Sarah Travioli, 30, for neglect resulting in death after paramedics were called to a Vigo County home Tuesday morning.

"Literally skin on a skeleton," Vigo County Sheriff Greg Ewing told InsideEdition.com. "Worst thing ive seen in my 26 years... I have a 9 year old. Trying to choke back tears."

Ewing said the boy required round-the-clock care.

According to court documents obtained by myWabashValley.com, Robin Kraemer told sheriff's deputies that Cameron had suffered from pneumonia for the past week and the flu for the past several days.

Kraemer told police Cameron hadn't been to see doctors in over a year, according to the probably cause affidavit.

Kraemer reportedly also told detectives that Cameron ate baby food, which detectives reported finding very little of in the home.

As all four suspects walked by news crews Thursday, Chad Kraemer insisted they did not intentionally let the boy die.

Read: Parents Charged in Death of Teen Who Died From Emaciation, Allegedly Abused Two Other Children

"...do your jobs and find out the real reason" Kraemer said. "Because he was sick."

All four suspects are jailed with bond set at $250,000.


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