'You can see every bone': Parents of malnourished 5-month-old twins, who continued to feed babies as if they were newborns, plead no contest

Insets (left to right): Leroy Somersall III and Madison Smith (Seminole County Sheriff's Office). Background: Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Fla. (Google Maps).

A Florida couple who were arrested for nearly starving their 5-month-old twins both decided to plead no contest.

Leroy Somersall III, 24, pleaded no contest to two counts of neglect of a child with great bodily harm on Thursday. The plea came months after his partner, 24-year-old Madison Smith, pleaded no contest to the same charges on April 29. Smith was sentenced to 45 months in prison. Somersall and Smith were arrested after they brought their 5-month-old twins to the hospital on Jan. 6.

Medical staff told police that the babies, a boy and a girl, were severely malnourished and dehydrated and weighed less than they did at birth.

According to an affidavit obtained by local ABC affiliate WFTV, Seminole County Sheriff's detectives arrived at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida, after Child Protective Services received a tip about the babies. Medical staff told the detectives that the little boy was "dehydrated and malnourished to the point where you can see every bone in his body."

The babies, who were born a month premature, weighed around 5.7 pounds at the hospital visit — the little girl had weighed more than 5.7 pounds when she was born.

Smith told police that she and Somersall brought the babies to the hospital when they realized the little boy was unresponsive. When police asked about how she was feeding both babies, she told them the pediatrician recommended increasing their formula to 70 to 80 milliliters every two hours. However, Smith said she had not spoken to the pediatrician since September 2025, when the babies were newborns.

More from Law&Crime: 'You can see every bone': Couple kept feeding 5-month-old twins as if they were newborns, brought them to the hospital malnourished and dehydrated, police say

Both parents told police they did not realize they needed to increase the feedings as their babies grew. They also claimed that since Somersall was thin, they thought the babies were thin.

Police said they did not find any formula in the RV where the family lived.

Somersall is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1.

Both babies were expected to survive, but may have suffered neurological damage.