BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKRC) – A mother and stepfather allegedly punished their 7-year-old by holding him beneath cold water, leaving the child with life-threatening hypothermia.
According to a release from the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, officers were dispatched to a residence at 10:47 p.m. on December 11 regarding a call of an unresponsive child. The victim was a 7-year-old child who was suffering from hypothermia among other injuries, per the release.
The victim’s parents, 26-year-old Jacklyn Balabis and 24-year-old Parris Woods, allegedly “forced the victim to take a cold bath and held the victim underwater as punishment.” Authorities said that between October 16, 2025 and December 11, 2025, Balabis and Woods punished the child “by means of physical abuse, withholding food, forced exercise and cold showers.”…