Crime & Safety

Mableton Mom Accused of Starving Mentally Challenged Daughter Granted Bond

Ebony Berry was arrested in June after police discovered the body of her severely malnourished teenage daughter.

The 35-year-old Mableton woman accused of starving her mentally challenged daughter to death has been granted bond in the amount of $75,000 by a Cobb County Magistrate Court Judge, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Ebony Berry’s attorney argued that she was entitled to a bond hearing because she’d been in Cobb County Jail without bond for 90 days and had yet to be indicted.

Cobb County police arrested Berry in June and charged her with first-degree child cruelty and murder after they discovered the severely malnourished body of her 16-year-old daughter Markea Blakely-Berry.

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Berry is not allowed to have any “direct or indirect” contact with any victims or witnesses, which include her three living children, the MDJ reported. Her attorney said he did not think she would be bonded out until friends could raise the money.

South Cobb Patch reported in August that Berry had been the investigated in the past for child cruelty both in Michigan and Georgia. 

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An investigation of Markea’s death revealed that Ebony Berry would often lock Markea in a room with “pee pads,” like dog housetraining pads, and a urinal. Ebony Berry told Georgia Division of Family and Children Services caseworkers that Markea acted out and would often open food and eat it while in stores.

However, the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services closed the case 18 months prior to Markea’s death because her mother “sidestepped efforts to compel her to get medical attention for Markea and her siblings.”

DFCS Director Ron Scroggy said Markea’s death should never have happened.

Now, the agency is changing its procedures for children suspected to be malnourished.

Read more:

  • Mableton Cardiologist May Have Influenced Mom to Starve Teen
  • Starved Teen Dies 18 Mos. After Caseworkers Closed Case
  • UPDATE: Mableton Teen Allegedly Starved by Mother Was Mentally Challenged


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