MEEKER, OK (KFOR/CNN) - An Oklahoma man was arrested and is facing child abuse and neglect charges.
Authorities said Jimmy Jones' teenage son was severely malnourished and in weak shape.
"From the outside you would never suspect something was going on," said Adam Panter, a Lincoln County assistant district attorney.
"They seemed like normal people, nice," said Zach Guy, a neighbor of Jones.
But investigators said the Jones family were far from nice people.
Jones allegedly abused his 15-year-old son so severely doctors are surprised he survived.
"A passerby saw a 15-year-old victim out in a field and became concerned due to his appearance, his condition, and called DHS," Panther said.
The teen weighed only 80 pounds and didn't even look his age.
Guy remembers seeing the victim again this time with injuries.
"About a month ago we were just working on the fence and a little boy came up, we thought he was an 8-year-old, really scrawny, real short, you know barefoot," Guy said. "Little while later we saw him come up bruise on his head. We thought maybe he got into an accident in the barn."
Investigators said the teen told them the head wound was from his father.
And he never received medical attention.
"At one point his father had pulled maggots out of him and superglue it shut, telling him that doctor's were too expensive to take him to," Panter said.
That's not all the teen told police.
"He been shot by his dad with a shotgun with bird shot and X-rays revealed he did have shotgun pellets still lodged in his leg," Panter said.
Panter said the teen was living in a barn on the family's property in Lincoln County.
Four adults and a 4-year-old girl lived inside the house, all appeared healthy and well fed.
Panter also said the animals were also in excellent health.
"He had to forge for his own food, he wasn't allowed food from inside the house," Panter said.
The victim was allegedly forced to eat twigs and grass, sleep on an old ratty couch and only had one book to keep him entertained.
"The doctors at O.U. Children's Hospital after treating him and testing him and evaluating him determined that had he not been found, he would have been dead of starvation within a week," Panter said.
The victim was taken out of school two years ago. Investigators believe that is when his father started to abuse him.
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