Friday 11 November 2022 11:20 PM Boy, 9, locked in a freezing dog kennel is pictured in a cage as a toddler trends now
Smiling with a bottle in his hands, the toddler sits in his diaper locked in a dog cage among blankets and toys.
Little did he know that this eerie photograph, taken in jest eight years ago when he was just one, was a dark premonition for the brutal childhood that lay ahead.
On October 19, the child was found locked in a freezing dog kennel outside his family's home in Lexington, North Carolina. Cast outside since April and shoeless, he confessed to police that he'd been sent outside to sleep on straw because there was no room for him in the 1,400 square ft house where his father, stepmother, her aunt and his four siblings slept.
Today, his father Jonathan Starr, 32, is behind bars on child abuse charges along with his stepmother, Sarah Lynette Starr, 40, and her aunt, Shelley Lucille Barnes, 56.
While the motive for the abuse remains unknown, the abhorrence of the conditions in which the boy had been forced to live are clear.
DailyMail.com is choosing not to name or picture the boy or any of the other children found in the house. All five are now in the care of social services. They range in aged from eight months to seven.
We can however reveal that just a year ago, he enjoyed what looked like a happy life in a blended family.
In this eerie photograph that foreshadows his future, the North Carolina boy found locked in a dog kennel last month is shown as a toddler, locked in a similar cage to the one he was found. It was taken in jest at a time when he appeared to enjoy the love and care of his father
The boy - who DailyMail.com is choosing not to name - appeared happy as a young baby and toddler. After moving from California to North Carolina to live with his father, his new wife and their kids, his fate changed
This is believed to the dog kennel lot where the boy was found on October 19 after a worried neighbor called 911. It was only 28 degrees - unseasonably cold - and the boy had spent the night without shoes or a bed, sleeping on a pile of straw, in damp clothes. He told police he'd been there since April, sent to 'live outside' because there wasn't enough room for him in the house
The most recent photograph of the nine-year-old boy. When he was found on October 19, he was so cold after spending the night in subzero temperatures that he was shivering and unable to speak
His father had married Sarah, already a mother-of-two, in 2017.
She had two little girls from a previous relationship, both of whom were younger than the boy in question.
The family grew in 2017 with the birth of the boy's first half-brother.
In February of this year, a second half-brother was born.
The family lived in Paradise, California, near Huntington Beach, where both Sarah's family is from.
In 2018, their home was destroyed by the devastating wildfire that ripped through the town.
It seem they moved to North Carolina soon afterwards to live with Shelley, Sarah's doting aunt.
Shelley, 56, is a convicted felon with a lengthy rap sheet of 34 different arrests in both North Carolina and California.
The majority of the offenses are not specified in public records but they include charges of identity fraud and health and safety violations.
Her house is scattered with confederate flags and in old social media photos, her relatives and friends are seen dressing up in KKK robes toting rifles.
She too is from Huntington Beach, and fundraised for the family when they lost their home to the Paradise wildfire of 2018.
Shortly after the arrival of the fifth child in February, the boy found in the cage vanished from his stepmother's social media accounts. In some photos, he was even cropped out.
His sudden disappearance prompted concern among her friends.
On photographs of the other four kids, the friends asked where her stepson was.
In her biography,
