(Court Reports - Photo Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

MARIETTA — The parents of a nearly 5-month-old girl who died in November of apparent starvation were among 32 people indicted this week by the Washington County Grand Jury.

Noah Boyd Six, 24, and Shila Kathryn Day, 22, both of 240 Hillcrest Drive, Apt. 30, Marietta, were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide, felonies of the first and third degrees, respectively.

“Their infant daughter … was found deceased in the apartment,” Washington County Prosecutor Nicole Coil said. “The conclusion of the autopsy was … definitely dehydration and malnutrition to the point of starvation.”

Warrants have been issued for the arrests of Six and Day, who were also indicted on one count each of first- and third-degree felony permitting child abuse and two second- and two third-degree felony counts of endangering children. The manslaughter and homicide charges, two endangering children counts and one permitting child abuse count all involved the girl who died, while the remaining endangering and permitting counts are related to her older sibling.

“There was another child that also was suffering from malnutrition, failure to thrive, but on a heightened scale,” Coil said.

That child, around 18 months old, is no longer in the custody of the parents, Coil said.

The children were identified in the indictments only by their initials.

The charges were only brought recently because investigators and prosecutors wanted to ensure they had all the medical information and reports to present to the grand jury, Coil said.

“Medical personnel who were involved in this case had indicated that this would not have been something that would have occurred within a short amount of time. This occurred over a period of time,” she said. “We don’t believe there would have been any way the parents could not have seen the deterioration of their child.”

No medical assistance was sought over the last three weeks of the girl’s life, Coil said.

Both children were born with high levels of THC in their systems, she said.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there is “a growing body of evidence that prenatal exposure to cannabis (marijuana) may be associated with poor birth outcomes.” THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana, disrupts the normal function of the endocannabinoid system, a signaling system in the brain, and may have lasting effects on prenatal brain development, the federal agency’s website says.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com