Three Virginia women have been charged in connection with the death of a 4-year-old boy police say was “subject to long term abuse” by the three, all members of the boy’s family.

The boy’s 5-year-old sister also suffered abuse and neglect by Rebecca Ann Romero, 53; Shanyah Elizabeth Dilda, 22; and Kemmilyn Anita Wade, 18, the Prince William County Police Department said.

All three have been charged with felony murder and child abuse & neglect, police said. Romero and Dilda were additionally charged with aggravated murder.

Police said they responded to the family home on January 19 and found the boy unconscious. He was transported to an area hospital, where he died.

Investigators determined that Romero, Dilda, and Wade were the children’s primary caretakers and learned that the boy had been “routeinely bound in plastic wrap and packing tape. An autopsy found him severely malnourished and dehydrated.

Both children were “regularly deprived of food and water,” police said.

The three women were arrested on January 29, and two other children, 12 and 14, were taken into custody by Child Protective Services along with the 5-year-old girl.

According to the Prince William Times, Romero is the children’s grandmother and Dilda and Wade are their aunts. The three younger children — the 4-year-old boy and 5- and 12-year-old girls — in the home were left in their care by their parents in August 2023.

Charging documents say that cell phone messages and photos recovered by investigators revealed the abuse. A photo taken on January 18 shows the boy alive but wrapped in plastic wrap from his shoulder to his toes, taped to a mattress covered with garbage bags. A pillow covered his head, also taped to the mattress.

A message between Romero and Dilda discusses the boy wrapping in a plastic bag and put in a bathtub, and Dilda was upset that he escaped the bag and ate a banana and some candy.

The charging documents reveal that the 14-year-old child, another girl, was Romero’s daughter.

All three women are being held without bond.

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[Featured image: Rebecca Ann Romero/Prince William County Sheriff’s Office]