A mother has been seized by police after her skeletal six-year-old son was found in their motel bedroom weighing just 15lbs.

Police in Wichita Falls were called after a horrified exterminator mistook the child for a skeleton in the room at the Delux Inn in Wichita Falls, in the southern US state of Texas.

Police arrested mum Catherine Jarvey, 32, after a health check revealed the boy weighed under seven kilogrammes.

The Wichita County arrest warrant for Jervey, dated 14th October and obtained by Newsflash, said that the exterminator had seen the boy lying in a pack-and-play crib.

According to the arrest report, staff told the officers that Jarvey and her two children were in the room and that an “exterminator had been to the room and observed the victim whom he described as looking like a skeleton lying in a pack and play in the room.”

The arrest report added: “When the head of the skeleton turned and faced the exterminator, he realized that the skeleton was a child who was alive.

“The exterminator then notified his supervisor who in turn notified the Wichita Falls Police Department.”

The police then carried out the welfare check, which resulted in them reporting the mother to the Juvenile and Crimes Against Children Unit.

Police said that during their investigation they observed Jarvey “holding a small child that appeared to be possibly a toddler who was identified as the victim.”

They added: “The victim was very thin, and Catherine cradled him in her arms much like a parent would hold an infant. The victim could not extend his arms and legs and did not let out any noises.”

Police said they observed that the young boy had a misshapen head and a curved spine, and that his rib cage was “curved inward and askew”.

There was also reportedly a 10-year-old girl in the room, who appears to be of “average height and weight for a 10-year-old female” and who is the suspect’s daughter.

Neither of the children have been named.

The suspect reportedly told police that she was feeding her son through a tube using baby formula.

Police, though, said that the formula can was more than two years past its use by date and that other cans had use by dates for 2021.

During questioning, Jarvey reportedly admitted that she had not been feeding her son regularly “due to other events occurring that needed her attention”.

Police said: “She advised that things kept coming up that needed her immediate attention such as getting her daughter ready for a dental appointment and scheduling transportation for her daughter’s dental appointment.”

The boy – now recovering in hospital – is said to be improving and putting on weight.

Hospital staff at the United Regional emergency room told investigators: “It was suspected the victim had not been fed for 24 to 48 hours due to there being no gastric contents present in his stomach when feeding was attempted.”

The skeletal six-year-old was then taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth for treatment where he was seen by Dr Elizabeth Peeler.

It was determined that the six-year-old boy had been born with “holoprosencephaly (birth defect resulting in an abnormal brain)” and a permanent dependence on a feeding tube.

She said he was suffering from ” medical neglect, and physical neglect”.

She added: “I see patients for neglect every day. This is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. This is really egregious.”

The six-year-old was then admitted to the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit with “severe malnutrition and failure to thrive.”

The cops said that the hospital records state that the patient “opens eyes and moans with manipulation. Flexes legs into fetal position when examined.”

The hospital also said that the young boy is “not able to walk, talk, sit up, follow commands, and is not potty trained.”

The arrest report also says that the victim “weighed 15 lb 3.4 oz which is less than the 1st percentile for his age and gender. The victim weighed 19 Ib when he was 18 months old. This proves that despite his medical condition, the Victim should weigh significantly more.”

Jarvey has been charged with two counts of injury to a child and exploitation of a child.