{"id":111974,"date":"2026-01-25T17:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111974\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T17:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:10:07","slug":"ny-mom-starved-her-twin-sons-14-shut-them-inside-home-for-9-years-prosecutors-say-the-morning-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111974\/","title":{"rendered":"NY mom starved her twin sons, 14, shut them inside home for 9 years, prosecutors say \u2013 The Morning Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bronx mother was arrested for starving her twin teenage sons, who she kept \u201cvirtually housebound\u201d inside her Riverdale apartment for 9 years, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark<\/a> announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Lissette Soto Domenech<\/a>, 64, was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child for the abuse she inflicted on her two boys, Clark said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant is accused of a shocking, horrifying form of child abuse, allegedly depriving her sons of proper food, social interaction, education, medical attention,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWe will do everything we can to help these boys attain a normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A specialist with the city\u2019s Administration for Children\u2019s Services<\/a> checked on Domenech\u2019s Mosholu Ave. apartment in response to several anonymous complaints on Oct. 15, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Inside, Domenech\u2019s 14-year-old sons were found in an extreme state of malnourishment, with one boy weighing 54 pounds and the other just 51 pounds, according to prosecutors, who said both teens were short for their age.<\/p>\n

Medics rushed the teens to Montefiore Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a>, where they were treated for three months, according to Clark\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\"LissetteLissette Soto Domenech’s Mosholu Ave. apartment in the Bronx is pictured on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Multiple neighbors described Domenech as a recluse supported by her husband, an older man, who made daily food deliveries to his family while living out of a car.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t live with her. He lived in his car. It was strange,\u201d said one neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld. \u201cThey never came out. Not her kids and not her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domenech appeared germophobic, obsessively disinfecting everything her husband brought to the apartment, another neighbor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything her husband brought had to be disinfected,\u201d 47-year-old Valentina Ndou said. \u201cShe would throw out the paper towel if she thought it wasn\u2019t disinfected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ndou\u2019s son, the building\u2019s super, said he was performing minor repairs on Domenech\u2019s apartment when he spotted rubber puzzle pieces intended for small children lying on the floor. It was the only sign he could recall that Domenech had children, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived here my whole life. I never really saw her kids,\u201d said 20-year-old Franco Ndou. \u201cTo be honest, I kind of forgot she had kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valentina Ndou said Domenech worked as a teacher prior to the birth of her sons, after which she appeared to withdraw from the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe went to work every morning and came home in the afternoon like everybody else,\u201d Valentina Ndou said. \u201cAfter she had the kids, she was scared. She was scared to let anyone in. She was afraid someone would take them. She was afraid someone would do something to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franco Ndou said Domenech\u2019s husband died of cancer sometime before her arrest.<\/p>\n

\"LissetteLissette Soto Domenech reportedly lived in the apartment pictured at right but also had access to the apartment pictured at left as well. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Inside Domenech\u2019s apartment, investigators found infant cereal, baby bottles and toys fit for a toddler, but no food or belongings appropriate for two teenage boys, Clark said.<\/p>\n

One of Domenech\u2019s boys is autistic, but his condition was never evaluated or treated, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Investigators determined the boys had their last doctor\u2019s appointment in Nov. 2016 and that Domenech began submitting false paperwork to the New York City Department of Education in Sept. 2017, claiming she was homeschooling them.<\/p>\n

Bronx Supreme Court Justice Audrey Stone set bail for Domenech at $25,000 cash and $75,000 bond. She is due back in court on Feb. 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bronx mother was arrested for starving her twin teenage sons, who she kept \u201cvirtually housebound\u201d inside her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,7299,607,9,24,12,63,530,265,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-111974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-nation","13":"tag-national-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-state","19":"tag-sub-county-region","20":"tag-the-bronx","21":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","22":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}