John Jefferson
From top left, clockwise: Lisa Mitchell, Anthony Yonko, David Yonko, Tiffany Mitchell (Oklahoma County Detention Center).
Newly released court documents in Oklahoma provide additional details about the grisly death of a 7-year-old girl who was starved and beaten by multiple family members. The victim’s parents, Anthony Yonko and Lisa Mitchell, and the victim’s aunt and uncle, David Yonko and Tiffany Mitchell, were all arrested in August and charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of young Violet Mitchell, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Anthony Yonko and Lisa Mitchell are also facing first-degree murder charges while David Yonko and Tiffany Mitchell were also charged with child neglect.
According to a recently filed autopsy report obtained by Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO, doctors said that Violet died after swallowing the “rubber top of a baby bottle nipple” that completely blocked the first part of her small intestines.
The autopsy report from the Oklahoma City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also noted that the 7-year-old victim had “sunken eyes,” weighed just 29 pounds, and measured 40 inches in length, referring to her as “essentially skin on bone.” She was wearing a diaper sized for a 3-year-old when she was brought to the hospital on the morning of Aug. 2, 2024.
The medical examiner listed Violet’s cause of death as “failure to thrive.”
“It is unclear to this examiner if the intestinal obstruction by the foreign body is accidental or intentional,” the medical examiner’s report states.
As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Midwest City Police Department’s Investigations Unit at about 1:08 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, responded to a call from the county medical examiner’s office regarding a child brought to the emergency room of Saint Anthony’s Midwest Hospital. The victim was transported to the hospital in a personal vehicle at about 11:28 a.m. and pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
Medical personnel who treated the child told police she “had signs of rigor mortis and possible injuries internal and external.”
“[A doctor] stated when working on the child numerous amounts of black and dark red secretions came from the child’s mouth when pushing on her stomach area,” the affidavit states. “The child was extremely malnourished weighing only about 25 pounds and approximately 37 inches tail.” The average weight for a female child that age is about 50 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Anthony Yonko told police that he, Lisa Mitchell, and their children had been staying at the Vista Green apartments in the 7000 block of E. Reno Avenue, about seven miles east of Oklahoma City. From there, police say the father’s story continued to change.
Anthony Yonko initially claimed he went to sleep at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 1, while Lisa Mitchell and the victim slept on a small couch in the same room, per the affidavit. He said he woke up around 9 a.m. the following day and Lisa Mitchell told him the victim was “not moving and was sick and needed to go to the hospital.”
Anthony Yonko claimed his “friend” took him, Lisa Mitchell, and the victim to the hospital but he was unable to provide a name or phone number for the friend. He also said that they had been feeding the victim “crackers and soup because she possibly had the flu,” though they had not been to a doctor since the girl was “much younger.”
Police placed Anthony Yonko under arrest and transported him to Midwest City Jail where he was read his Miranda rights and allegedly agreed to speak with detectives a second time.
“During the interview Anthony changed his story numerous times stating the only people in the apartment were him, Lisa and (the victim),” police wrote in the affidavit. “He later stated Lisa’s sister, boyfriend, and two or three other kids were in the apartment when he woke up this morning to Lisa saying that (the victim) was not moving. Anthony said that Lisa was playing with (the victim) this morning but then stated that she was not moving,”
Asked about his daughter’s emaciated state, Anthony Yonko allegedly claimed that the victim weighed 50 pounds only four or five days prior and was “completely healthy,” further stating that he “feeds the child all of the time.” He had no explanation as to why she weighed only 25 pounds and was “very unhealthy” at the time of her death.
Anthony Yonko further clarified that his brother, David Yonko, was the person who took him and his family to the hospital, adding that the brother had been staying in their residence as well.
David Yonko allegedly told police that on the morning of Aug. 2, Anthony Yonko was “freaking out” and said they needed to get the victim to the hospital. David Yonko said he dropped the parents and child at the hospital and drove away because “he was afraid and needed to get to work.”
One of Violet’s cousins told authorities that Lisa Mitchell regularly “tied her up with strings/zip ties” and would repeatedly “hit her with a broom,” KOCO reported. The cousin reportedly said she would release Violet from her binds when possible.
The parents would also allegedly glue Violet’s mouth shut, the cousin reportedly told police.
Per the report, when “Violet’s mouth was glued shut,” the cousin would try to “dig glue out of her mouth.”
Lisa Mitchell and Anthony Yonko are currently being held without bond. Tiffany Mitchell is being held on $5 million bond and David Yonko’s bond was set at $1 million, records show.
All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty.
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