Girl Chained To Dresser Dies, Father Gets 18 Years In Prison

A 6-year old girl from Arkansas died due to being chained to a dresser last year by her father with police now looking into the matter.

Jersey Bridgeman was tied to a dresser with a metal dog leash by her father and died on Nov. 20 with the cause of death being looked into this according to authorities in Arkansas.

Since then Jersey's father has been arrested and is currently in jail. The Boston Herald says that the young girl's body was found just minutes after she was reported missing and it is unclear who notified police about the girl's whereabouts.

"Police in the city about 215 miles northwest of Little Rock are treating her death as a homicide, but they have not said how the girl died or released the names of any suspects," the Herald reports.

David Bridgeman Jersey's father along with Jana Bridgeman the girl's stepmother pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor.

Jersey's father faces 18 years in prison while his wife Jana Bridgeman is set to serve 12 years. In the case Jersey told the courts that she had been sleeping on the ground in the same room as David and Jana Bridgeman.

"She said that Jana and David chain her to the dresser because she had gotten up and eaten some pies, cereal, and bread," Rogers Police Detective Larry Taylor wrote in the court affidavit.

According to the Boston Herald David Bridgeman told an investigator that his daughter got into medication and other things around the house, so he and his wife decided to chain her to the dresser at night so she couldn't wander off, according to court records.

"He said that he thinks she may be sleepwalking and that they discussed buying a child gate, but since he does not have a job, they could not afford to buy one at that time," Taylor, the detective, wrote in the court affidavit.

The father said he cut a belt to make it fit around his daughter's ankle and added a lock on the chain after she pulled it off, according to court records.