Authorities Report: Couple Accused of Underfeeding 5-Month-Old Twins, Resulting in Severe Malnourishment and Dehydration

Background: Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Fla. (Google Maps). Insets, left to right: Leroy Somersall III and Madison Smith (Seminole County Sheriff”s Office).

A Florida couple has been arrested as their 5-month-old twins are receiving treatment for malnutrition at a hospital.

Leroy Somersall III, 24, and Madison Smith, 23, face charges of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm. The charges followed after they admitted their twins to a hospital on January 6. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by WFTV, an ABC affiliate, Child Protective Services was alerted through a hotline tip about the condition of the infants, a boy and a girl, prompting police involvement.

Upon the arrival of Seminole County Sheriff’s detectives at the hospital, medical personnel reported that the infant boy was in a critical state, described as “dehydrated and malnourished to the point where every bone in his body was visible.”

The affidavit, also reviewed by WOFL, a Fox affiliate, revealed that both twins were critically malnourished and dehydrated, each weighing just 5.7 pounds at the age of five months. Notably, the baby girl had weighed more than that at birth. The twins had been born a month premature, and at the time of delivery, Smith tested positive for THC, according to police records.

Smith explained to law enforcement that they sought medical help when their baby boy became unresponsive. She mentioned that the pediatrician had advised increasing the infants’ formula intake to 70 to 80 milliliters every two hours. However, Smith admitted she had not been in contact with the pediatrician since September 2025, when the twins were newborns.

Both parents told police they did not realize they needed to increase the feeding amounts as their babies grew. They also claimed since Somersall was thin, that was why the babies were thin.

When investigators searched the RV where the family lived, they said they did not find any evidence of formula.

Somersall and Smith were both arrested and charged with child neglect with great bodily harm. Both parents are being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on $100,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in court on March 3.

Police said in the affidavit that both babies are expected to survive and have improved since being hospitalized. They may have suffered neurological damage.