A welfare check on October 13 at a residence in High Point, North Carolina turned into a nightmare when officers discovered the body of a 13-year-old girl and her twin brother alive but severely neglected. The twins’ mother, 44-year-old Kymberli Bowden, has since been arrested and charged with multiple counts of felony child abuse and concealment of a death, according to law-enforcement documents.
When police arrived at the home on East Farris Avenue, they found the daughter deceased and her twin brother present inside the same residence. Investigators say Bowden “failed to provide adequate food and medical care” for her daughter, which led to “serious bodily injury and ultimately her death.” Meanwhile, the boy was “allowed to remain in a residence filled with trash, rotting food and unsanitary conditions,” and suffered “serious psychological injury and mental harm” from prolonged neglect and exposure to extreme trauma.
According to court papers, the condition inside the home was grave. Trash littered the space, food evidently rotted in unsanitary conditions, and the twin brother lacked proper nutrition, clothing, and a sanitary environment. Bowden, who works as a certified nursing assistant (CNA), was allegedly paid to care for children—yet the warrant states the children in her own home were living in “filthy” conditions unsuitable for minors.
The arrest came on October 30 after detectives with the High Point Police Department’s Special Victims Unit initiated the investigation. Bowden is currently held at the Guilford County Jail on a bond set at one million dollars, and court records show her next appearance is scheduled later this year.
Neighbors in the quiet neighborhood were stunned by the revelations. Some say Bowden would wave politely when seen outside, making the contrast between everyday appearances and what unfolded inside the home all the more chilling. One neighbor described the police activity and said she’d seen Bowden being transported from the home on a gurney on the date of the welfare check.
While the autopsy results for the teenager haven’t been fully released to the public, the charges allege that negligence and failure to treat or feed the child were significant contributing factors to her death. For the surviving twin, the trauma of finding his sister deceased and living in squalor has been described as constituting serious mental harm as well as physical neglect.
The case is still under active investigation and additional charges may yet be filed as authorities continue to unravel how long the children were living under these conditions and what other care failures occurred. As the community reels, the tragic story serves as a stark reminder of the vital importance of oversight when vulnerable children are in a caregiver’s custody—even more so when that caregiver is professionally trained to care for others.
In a world where we hope our children are safe behind closed doors, this story is a somber wake-up call: trust, oversight, and compassion must go hand-in-hand when lives are at stake.
