A New York woman has been convicted of starving and neglecting her elderly father after authorities found the 73-year-old weighing just 73 pounds inside what prosecutors described as deplorable living conditions.
Christine Jackson, 50, of Schenectady, was found guilty on four felony counts following a jury trial over her treatment of her father, Derek Henix.
The case began on March 25, 2025, when Schenectady police responded to Jackson’s home after someone called 911 requesting a welfare check on Henix.
What officers discovered inside quickly turned into a major elder-abuse investigation.
Police found Henix severely emaciated in a bedroom, sitting on a bed wearing an adult diaper with a dirty jacket draped over his head, according to prosecutors.
The room reportedly smelled of urine, feces and infection, and the carpet was heavily stained.
Paramedics rushed Henix to Ellis Hospital, where he weighed only 73 pounds.
Henix reportedly told first responders and hospital workers that he was hungry and thirsty and claimed his daughter had been mistreating him.
According to prosecutors, he said Jackson usually gave him only one meal per day, often fast food or pizza.
Even more disturbing, investigators said the refrigerator inside the apartment had been locked, preventing Henix from getting food for himself.
Doctors diagnosed him with severe dehydration and severe malnutrition caused by prolonged inadequate protein intake.
Prosecutors said his condition had deteriorated so badly that his body had lost much of its ability to heal wounds and fight infection.
Henix was also unable to walk and suffered from severe peripheral vascular disease.
Doctors discovered ulcers on his foot and warned he faced an extremely high risk of catastrophic medical problems, including death.
His condition continued to deteriorate after he was removed from the apartment. Henix eventually developed gangrene in his left foot, and his leg had to be amputated.
He died approximately a year after authorities removed him from Jackson’s care.
The case became even more troubling as investigators examined what had allegedly happened in the years before police arrived.
Jackson removed her father from a skilled nursing facility in the Bronx in June 2023 and became his caregiver through New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, according to prosecutors.
At the time, Henix weighed approximately 145 pounds.
Jackson was given a detailed care plan and told that her father needed to follow a prescribed diet.
But within about two months, his weight had fallen to 129 pounds.
A doctor recommended nutritional shakes, but prosecutors said Jackson later acknowledged that her father never received them.
By October 2023, Henix weighed approximately 118 pounds and had developed swelling in his legs.
A cardiologist ordered tests to determine what was causing the problem, but prosecutors said Jackson never took her father for the testing and failed to respond to subsequent calls and correspondence from the doctor.
Despite his worsening health, prosecutors said Jackson continued telling Medicaid care coordinators that her father was stable and that nothing had changed.
The DA’s office said she also told a primary-care physician that vascular testing had come back normal even though prosecutors said the testing had never actually been performed.
Henix reportedly last saw a doctor in November 2024, several months before police discovered him.
Prosecutors also accused Jackson of isolating her father from relatives and preventing Schenectady County Adult Protective Services from helping him obtain additional services, including assisted living.
But the case was not limited to allegations about his physical care.
Jackson was responsible for managing her father’s Social Security money and was supposed to use those funds for his needs.
Instead, prosecutors said bank records showed thousands of dollars in ATM withdrawals along with spending at restaurants, convenience stores, retail stores and nail salons.
Money was also allegedly transferred through Cash App to Jackson and other people.
Authorities said Jackson continued receiving and spending her father’s Social Security money and food benefits even after he was removed from her care.
Investigators also learned that utilities at the apartment had been placed in Henix’s name but were not being paid, leaving a balance of approximately $2,300. Prosecutors said rent had also gone unpaid during the two months immediately before the welfare check.
When investigators searched Jackson’s home, they said they discovered the locked refrigerator as well as an emergency call box belonging to Henix that had been unplugged and placed on the other side of the apartment.
Jackson gave investigators a startling explanation for the refrigerator lock.
According to prosecutors, she said it was necessary because her father was “nasty.” She also claimed Henix had stopped eating because he was “punishing himself.”
Jurors ultimately rejected Jackson’s defense and convicted her of first-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree grand larceny.
Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney called it a “shocking case of abuse and neglect” and said Henix had been starved until he lost roughly half his body weight.
Although Henix died before the trial, prosecutors had previously obtained a court order allowing his testimony to be preserved through a deposition involving both prosecutors and the defense.
That meant jurors were still able to hear Henix describe what happened to him in his own words.
Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced on December 8, 2026.
