Boy found emaciated in mother's tiny attic reunites with officers who saved him

'He's had a hard life and done well with it.'

Johnson County officers in Kansas discovered a 6-year-old boy weighing only 17-pounds locked in his mother's small attic.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Inside Edition, Giovanni (Govi) Eastwood's mother, Rachel Perez, raised concerns when she asked her mother to babysit her children.

When Govi's grandmother noticed only his two sisters, she was immediately concerned and called 911.

Johnson County officers responded to the call. 

According to KSHB, officers spoke to Perez but didn't see any children.

They made a note of the home's condition, calling it "not suitable for living" and adding the home was "littered with trash [and] feces on the carpeted floor." It also had "an overwhelming odor of urine and feces."

Perez was taken into custody for several outstanding warrants for her arrest but she said nothing of any of her childrens' whereabouts.

Sgt. John Klingele explained: "She concocted some story about where Govi was. So they all ended up leaving and Govi was still there."

Nearly nine-hours later, Perez's grandmother called officers to say her two granddaughters were with her but Giovanni was nowhere to be seen.

She told officers one of the girls said Govi may be hiding within the home, giving them probable cause to reenter the home and search for the boy.

Sgt. Klingele joined a team calling out to the boy and, in the midst of the search, heard a small voice from above.

Court documents revealed: "Officers had to access the attic through a hatch approximately eight feet in the air, and there was no ladder or climbing apparatus anywhere near the hatch.

"Upon opening the wooden hatch, Giovanni stuck his head out. The child was completely emaciated and had open wounds, feces and urine all over his body.

"The attic was a crawl space which contained broken wood and sheetrock, exposed nails, and insulation. It appeared as though the child hadn't eaten in days and most of his bones were visible."

Govi was immediately transported to the hospital, where he was discovered to be just three-weeks shy of his seventh birthday and weighed only 18.7 pounds.

He was diagnosed with Down Syndrome and other medical issues stemming from the neglect and abuse.

Sgt. Klingele later shared: "I looked up and he was standing right above the access panel to the attic. "He looked like a kid our of a concentration camp, skin and bones. We were told he was going to be 7 and size wise he looked 3 maybe.

"Govi didn't freak out when we took him out. He just started playing. He didn't have the muscular support to stand up on his own. He didn't seem remotely surprised by the situation."

After being patched up at the hospital, Govi's great aunt Stacy Eastwood adopted him and his sisters.

"He was [a] very bright spirit but he was a broken child," she shared. "Even like a touch or a hug, he would say 'ow.' It was sad."

Over time, with help from a loving parental figure, Govi began to come out of his shell and, perhaps for the first time, felt safe.

"The kid is magical," Eastwood reported. "Everybody he comes in contact with, he just brings out a better person in them."

The Kansas City Star reported Govi has since recovered, weighs a healthy 101-pounds and is thirteen-years-old.

"He's a spotlight, you know," Eastwood said. "He likes to be the center of attention."

Saturday morning Govi was made an honorary Johnson County Sheriff's Office deputy, was given a police badge with the same number as Sgt. Klingele and was shown a few self-defense moves.

That morning Govi was reunited with the officers who rescued him from that horrible attic and when they met, Captain Mark Rokusek, one of two supervisors present when Sgt. Klingele pulled Govi down from the attic, shared his initial thoughts:

"Wow, that little boy has has come a long way. It's so comforting to know he's in a loving home."

Sgt. Klingele said the moment they were reunited was an amazing encounter. Though they were hailed as heroes, Klingele shared: "That boy is the hero. Seeing how big his heart is and his smile is...It's really good to see him.

"You don't always get a happy ending being a police officer so it was good to see that we played a small part in his journey."

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