Police released new details today in the death of Jarrod Tutko Jr., the 9-year-old boy found dead and decomposing inside his home in Harrisburg last Friday. Jarrod Jr. had Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic disorder.
The child’s death was not reported for several days and the police report says his father worked to keep it hidden.
The report shows Jarrod Tutko, Sr. says he’d seen his son on the Sunday before, but had not checked on him again until Tuesday, when he realized the boy was dead. It’s not clear whether anybody else visited the boy in his filthy room or even fed him over those two days.
Tutko told police he didn’t know how to tell the boy’s mother, Kimberly Tutko. Instead, a strong smell of decomposition filled the house, he bought mothballs and bleach and helped her look for the source and clean.
But neither parent cleaned the feces-covered room where their son lay dead.
“Everybody feels terrible because nobody wants that to happen to their child or anybody else’s child,” says neighbor Beth Beene.
She says she spoke to Tutko about his son’s disability and behavioral issues.
“I gave him agencies, telephone numbers of different services that he could get help to come into the home and he says well he got paid to do all that he didn’t need help,” she says.
The report says the smell was strong underneath Jarrod Jr’s bedroom and Kimberly Tutko finally asked her husband on Friday if their son “was OK.” He admitted the child was dead and she notified police.
The other children have been removed from the home and Tutko, Sr is behind bars. The child’s mother has not been charged.
“Unfortunately this little boy lost his life, but he also saved his brothers and sisters,” says Erica Boyer, visiting the street.