In 2010, a boy with Down syndrome was discovered in his family’s attic, starved and neglected by the one person who was supposed to care for him.
Giovanni “Govi” Eastwood was 6 years old at the time, but weighed the same as a three-year-old.
His mom Rachel Perez had been taken into custody for outstanding warrants, and police had found her other children and taken them to a safe place, but Govi remained in the attic of his Kansas home.
“She (Perez) concocted some story about where Govi was,” said Sergeant John Klingele, who discovered the boy. “So they all ended up leaving and Govi was still there.”
Officers had a hunch that the boy was still in the house and returned to look again. After calling out to him, they eventually realized he was in the attic.
“He looked like a kid out of a concentration camp, skin and bones,” Klingele recalled when he first saw Govi. “We were told he was going to be 7 and size-wise he looked 3 maybe.”
Govi weighed just 17 pounds and couldn’t walk, barely talked, and was covered in excrement.
Starved of nutrients, the boy had lost hair on his head, his bones were brittle and bowed from rickets, and the fatty tissue on his bottom had wasted away. Medical staff said Govi wouldn’t have lived much longer if he hadn’t been rescued that night, as reported by the Kansas City Star. There was no blanket, no toys — the boy had just been left up there. Authorities believed his mother had put him in the attic to hide him.
Perez is currently serving an eight-year prison term for attempted murder over the treatment of her child.
Six years later, the officers who found Govi that day were reunited with him and couldn’t believe the transformation.
‘The kid is magical’
Govi and his two sisters were taken in and adopted by their great aunt and uncle, Stacy and Joe Eastwood. Govi’s recovery took a while. At first he would only sleep on the floor and would flinch every time someone wanted to high-five him, but now he feels safe and loved by his new family.
“The kid is magical. Everybody he comes in contact with, he just brings out a better person in them,” Eastwood said.
The officers who saved him certainly noticed the positive change in the 12-year-old who visited the Sheriff’s Department in 2016, where he was made an honorary deputy and awarded a plaque.
Govi shook the hands of the officers and thanked them for rescuing him that day.
“That boy is the hero. Seeing how big his heart is and his smile is… It’s really good to see him,” Klingele said.
According to his great aunt, Govi slept with his special plaque that night.
