Kimberly Tutko says she thought it was a dead mouse inside one of the bedrooms in her family’s house along Green Street causing it to smell so bad, but Friday night she learned it was far worse.
“That’s when he had turned to me and he said, ‘No, Junior is dead, he had passed away,” she said.
Harrisburg Police say Kimberly’s son, 8-year-old Jarrod Tutko, Jr., had been dead for several days.
Her husband, Jarrod Tutko, Sr. is now facing several charges, including abuse of a corpse, endangering the welfare of children and concealing the death of a child.
“He brought his body down and it was in a sheet and when he opened it up, I could tell that it was longer than a few hours,” Kimberly said.
Kimberly said she hadn’t seen Junior, who suffered from severe mental disabilities, since last Saturday; almost a week before his body was found inside in their house.
She says Tutko, Sr. didn’t tell her their son died right away because he was, “afraid.”
“He was you know like, not only worried for Junior but the other children that were in the home, like you know, are they going to be uprooted, are we gonna be arrested?”
Neighbors say they were in disbelief when they heard about the little boy’s death.
“Completely shocked and horrified,” said Michelle Landolfa, who lives right across the street from the Tutko family.
“It’s unbelievable,” added neighbor Tom Garrity.
Neighbors say what’s even more disturbing is that they had no idea the 8-year-old boy or his five siblings, who also suffered from mental disabilities, even lived in the house.
“I’ve never seen kids. I’ve never seen them come out. I didn’t even know that many kids lived there. It was very weird,” Landolfa said.
At this time, Kimberly is not facing any charges, which has some neighbors upset.
“A person who lives in the house had to know what was going on,” Garrity said. “I don’t care if they have the father locked up; they both need to be locked up.
We’re told the Tutko’s five other children were removed from the house Friday night and are now being cared for by county children and youth specialists.