She weighed just 68 pounds when she died and her husband was arrested for starving her to death

A Florida man was arrested Monday for allegedly starving his wife of 56 years to death.

This week’s charges came out of a gruesome story that began just after 8:00 p.m. on Jan. 6, when officers responded to a 911 call at the Tampa home of Harold Allen, 75. He told deputies that his 74-year-old wife was dead.

Officers found Karen Allen lifeless in her bed–weighing only 68 pounds.

“It appears he wasn’t feeding her. There was sufficient food in the home. And he didn’t seek medical attention for her,” a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office told WFLA,

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Harold Allen told police that his wife was bedridden and did not speak during the week before her death. But deputies noted that she was clearly emaciated, with wounds dotting her face. He explained that while his wife hasn’t been to a doctor in years, though he regularly goes to a physician himself.

In the autopsy, the medical examiner determined that Karen Allen died as a result of thrombosis of veins in her legs. Dehydration was named as a leading cause of the thrombosis. The examiner also noted that the wounds were caused by “severe malnourishment.”

Harold Allen was charged with aggravated manslaughter of an elderly or disabled person. The charge is defined in the Florida Penal Code as “a person who causes the death of any elderly person or disabled adult by culpable negligence.”