An Alabama couple is accused of allowing the woman’s 22-month-old son to lie in agony for at least 10 hours before she took him to the hospital.

AL.com reports that police arrested mother Almetric Matthews, 33, and her boyfriend, Tristan Dial, 31, last week following an indictment. Dial is facing murder charges while Matthew is charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Documents stated that Dial said he was watching Arkhi Matthews on August 14, 2017, when he refused to eat and drink, had diarrhea, and his stomach grew in size. Despite this, Dial allegedly failed to get help for the ailing child.

At some point, Almetric reportedly found her son lying on the sofa and gagging. She took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police wrote that Arkhi was unconscious by the time he made it to the hospital. They believe he was “gasping for life” for more than 10 hours without aid.

Moreover, the medical examiner determined the toddler died from multiple occurrences of blunt force trauma and deemed his death a homicide, according to the outlet. Their findings were presented to a Dallas County grand jury, which resulted in last week’s indictment.

“The death of this defenseless and innocent child is disturbing,” Selma Police Chief Spencer Collier said. “With the assistance of the District Attorney’s Office, our investigators were persistent in their investigation and we are grateful the Dallas County Grand Jury.”

Dial is jailed on $1 million bond while Almetric is being held on $20,000 bond.

[Featured image: Tristan Dial, Almetric Matthews/Selma Police Department]