Colorado boy, 7, died in agony after his parents force fed him olive brine ‘as a punishment'

Daily Mail​

16-05-2025

A malnourished boy died an agonizing death after he likely ingested too much olive brine, which his adoptive parents had fed to him as an unusual form of punishment.
Seven-year-old Isaiah Stark was rushed to hospital on February 17, 2020 after an extended period of vomiting and displaying 'unusual' behavior. He became unresponsive on the drive, and died the next day.
His adoptive father Jon Stark was a cop in their small town of Grand County in Colorado, while his wife Elizabeth raised their five boys at home.
Isaiah was the only one of the Starks' children who was adopted, and all five were homeschooled.
Local authorities have concluded Isaiah's death was a tragic accident not worthy of pressing charges, but child welfare activists have been campaigning for a thorough investigation, arguing it was 'needless and could have been prevented', according to an investigation by the Denver Post.
Jon and Elizabeth repeatedly expressed frustration and voiced their struggles about raising Isaiah, who they adopted from his biological mother shortly after his birth.
They claimed he suffered mental health problems which 'held him and our family hostage' including Reactive Attachment Disorder - which is characterized by a young child struggling to form healthy emotional bonds with a caregiver.
In 2019, two years after Isaiah had been formally adopted, Elizabeth contacted his doctor, admitting: 'I am desperate for help.'
She reportedly asked if there was 'a stronger medication that you can prescribe ASAP that will take the ability away from him to keep him awake and completely force his body to sleep?'
In an extraordinary show of support, the region's assistant coroner Tawnya Bailey assured the couple 'I will do everything in my power to make sure this stays here,' according to a report by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and seen by the Denver Post.
She reportedly told the couple that the sheriff's investigator Bobby Rauch would do the same, adding that the district attorney would 'throw aside' any autopsy findings.
The Starks were assured 'the case was done', the report stated.
Stephanie Villafeurte from the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman later criticized the investigation, telling the publication: 'We have many unanswered questions, and those responsible for giving these answers are unwilling to do so.'
In a report conducted by her department, it was alleged that the Starks had claimed little Isaiah was 'damaged when they took him in', 'different and difficult.' They had reported his problems stemmed from 'manipulative behaviors and willfulness.'
Elizabeth also claimed that Isaiah 'hated her' from the age of two months old, the report stated, and that he only misbehaved privately, when in the care of his adoptive mother.
There were three separate mandatory reports to the state's child abuse hotline after his death. A mandatory reporter is a professional obligated by law to report known or suspected incidents.
One of the concerned mandatory reporters disclosed that the Starks used olives and olive brine as a strange form of punishment when their children misbehaved, the ombudsman stated.
'The reporting party was concerned for the other children in the home and the potential for excessive discipline,' the letter notes.
According to the autopsy, Isaiah was so dehydrated at the time of his death that a far smaller dose of olive brine could have killed him than would otherwise be considered fatal.
He was also suffering malnourishment and both his small and large intestines were markedly distended, the publication learned.
Shireen Banerji, poison center director at Denver's Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, said such a large amount of sodium absorption is quite rare.
'It would have to be more than an accident,' Banerji said. 'You'd need to drink it like a beverage; you'd need a good amount.'
Despite Villafeure's findings, District Attorney Matt Karzen maintained there was nothing that indicated he should prosecute the parents.
'The autopsy, and then subsequent additional review by medical professionals, could not confirm the exact cause of death nor establish any culpable mental state required for a criminal prosecution under applicable Colorado statutes,' he said.
One month after Isaiah's death, the couple fell pregnant with another son, named Knox.
In a family blog seen by DailyMail.com, Elizabeth Stark called Knox her 'miracle baby', adding: 'We lost Isaiah in February 2020. Three weeks later, the world collapsed and curled into itself in isolation.
'For us, it only echoed the loneliness our family knew during his seven years of life, what we stumbled through in the darkness of his mental illness. Knox is our miracle baby, born with CDH ten months later.'