Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Girl Starved by Parents Ate Feces, Play-Doh To Survive: Cops

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

Jessica Harmes and her live-in boyfriend, Daniel Fivas, each face one count of child torture in Salt Lake County, Utah. The charge stems from allegations the couple neglected Fivas' biological, five-year-old daughter. West Valley Police said the little girl weighed as much as a 16-month-old child when Fivas took her to the hospital on August 30. Police said the girl cannot talk and hasn't been in school. A probable cause affidavit said Fivas accused the girl of stealing food and resented her so they locked the refrigerator and trash to keep her from eating. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over the horrific allegations in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Mark Weaver https://x.com/MarkRWeaverProducer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Hi, ma'am. Good morning. Tell me your name. Oh, Jessica Harms. That was Jessica Harms appearing in court. She's accused of torturing the five-year-old daughter of her boyfriend by locking the refrigerator and withholding food. The boyfriend, Dan Vivas, faces the same charge. and detectives say the little girl was so hungry, she was actually eating Play-Doh and her own feces to

survive. I go through the horrific case. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and this is crime fix. There's a reason that Morgan and Morgan is the country's largest personal injury law firm. It's because the firm wins a lot. Morgan and Morgan has more than a thousand lawyers. employers who've recovered $25 billion for more than 500,000 clients. In the last few months, a client in Florida got $12 million when the insurance company offered just $350,000. In Pennsylvania, another client was awarded $26 million. That was 40 times the insurer's offer.

Morgan and Morgan makes it really easy to fight for what you deserve. You can even start a claim from your phone. So if you're ever injured, you can start a claim at for the people.com slash crime fix. Click that link below or scan the QR code that you see right there on your screen. This case is so disturbing and the details that I'm going to share with you are really awful. So I want you to be prepared for that. Jessica Harms and her live-in boyfriend, Dan Fivis, they each face a felony charge of child torture involving Fivis' five-year-old daughter who police say was starving and can't talk. She's five, and the police say she doesn't talk. Can you imagine that? She's not in school.

The case takes us to West Valley, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The population's around 140,000. The investigation started back on August 30th when a West Valley police detectives, Dan Fivis, took his five-year-old daughter to the hospital and told doctors that she was not gaining weight and she would eat her own feces. The Center for Safe and Healthy Families at Primary Children's Medical Center or SHF administered care for the girl, noting severe malnutrition and growth failure. Vivas reported to hospital staff that he received custody of the girl when she was approximately 15 months old and she has steadily decreased on the growth chart. Medical records reviewed by SHF showed that on her about March 1, 2024, Fivis reported that the girl will eat until she vomits and has a abdominal dissension, eats non-food items like Play-Doh and fecal matter. She eats food out of the trash, gets up at night to find food, and suffers from chronic constipation.

The girl had two admissions for failure to thrive, including her current hospital stay. Now, all of what I just read to you came from a probable cause affidavit. This girl was very, very sick, according to that probable cause statement submitted to the court, asking that Fivis and his living girlfriend, Jessica Harms, be held her. without bail. The girl was five years old, but detectives said she only weighed as much as a 16-month-old child. Her heart rate was incredibly low, which is apparently a life-threatening sign of malnutrition. A detective wrote that the five-year-old was hospitalized for 16 days and gained 8.8 pounds in that time while being fed regular meals. Detectives interviewed Jessica Harms, 13-year-old son,

and police say the boy told them that he was forced to sleep in a hammock chair to keep an eye on the little girl who would sleep on the floor with a sheet. Police said the boy told them that it was his mother's idea to place locks on the refrigerator, the pantry, and the trash to keep the girl from, quote, stealing food. The detective said they also interviewed Jessica Harms and Dan Fivis. The detective said that Harms told them that when she and Fivis moved in together, she noticed the little girl would eat large quantities of food so she was hesitant to give her more food and the girl would bulk up and then lose weight and get skinnier.

And she also knew that the girl was not talking. The detectives wrote, Harm stated that when the girl started, quote, stealing stuff in the middle of the night, Vivas resented her and thought she was a thief and didn't treat her good. Harms described that the girl would eat whatever she could find, including wax melts, frozen carrots, and moldy bread she found in the garbage can. Harms stated that the girl ate the same amount of food as her 13. year old son, but was unable to explain why the boy wasn't starving, but the girl was.

The detectives also interviewed Dan Fivis, who they said also told them his daughter was stealing food. The detectives wrote, Fivis admitted he tried to give up custody of the girl because she rubbed him the wrong way, and he got an odd vibe or odd feeling from her that was not in any way, shape or form kosher for him. Fivis also reported that he resented the girl. Everything that the detectives and SHF were seeing were clearly signs of serious neglect. The detectives wrote, SHF also noted that the girl experienced physical neglect and psychological maltreatment.

SHF learned that the girl slept on the floor with a sheet while the rest of the family slept on air mattresses or beds, which raised concerns for spurning, a form of psychological. maltreatment. Additionally, the girl was not enrolled in school, which raised concerns for isolation, another form of psychological maltreatment. SHF reported that a child of the girl's age is still dependent on caregivers to provide food, shelter, clothing, safety, nurturing, and medical care. However, they are at an age that they can attempt to, quote, save themselves from things like starvation by scavenging food or eating non-food items. SHF noted that a common late stage manifestation of starvation is the ability to overcome revulsion and eat

non-food in an attempt to sustain themselves, and that eating feces is likely due to starvation. Now, all of this information led detectives to believe that the girl was being tortured by the adults who should have been caring for her. The detectives wrote, SHF concluded that to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the girl's condition and findings were consistent with child physical neglect, and and child torture through food deprivation. The affidavit continued. SHF reported that child torture is a medical diagnosis that may include components of severe

physical abuse, restraint, unusual disciplinary practices, starvation, and severe psychological abuse, including isolation, spurning, verbal abuse, and terrorizing. And that is precisely how this victim was treated. She wasn't allowed food despite smelling and watching her family members eat. she ate her own feces. She didn't have a bed. She wasn't enrolled in school. She couldn't even talk. She was isolated from everything. Jessica Harms appeared in court briefly, where she was ordered held without bail. Take a look. Hi, ma'am. Good morning. Tell me your name. Oh, Jessica Harms.

Ms. Harms, good morning to you. Let's see. This is case 251913805. Ma'am, I have appointed an attorney to represent you on this case from the Salt Lake Legal Defenders. And it's very important that you keep in contact with your lawyer while this case is pending. Let's see, Ms. Harms, in addition to the charge that you're facing, the state is requesting a protective order. The protected party in this case is... Ma'am, do you know that person? Yes.

Okay. Ma'am, I will sign this order today. You're not to have any contact with her while this case is pending. No in-person, no telephonic, no electronic contact. you may not go where she lives or goes to school. You may not have anyone else contact her for you, and you may not possess a weapon or ammunition. Ms. Harms, do you understand everything I just told you?

Yes. Okay. Ma'am, I'll sign this order now. A copy will be served upon you at the jail. Ms. Harms, you are being held without bail, and that means I will set this matter for a detention hearing so that your judge can determine whether or not you can be safely released. That hearing will take place next week.

week, November 13th at 8.30 in the morning with Judge Danes. So Ms. Harms, on Monday afternoon, I want you to call the legal defenders. They can tell you the name of the lawyer who's been assigned to your case. And that way they can be prepared to go forward at that hearing, okay? Okay. Thank you. You're welcome, ma'am. Take care of yourself. You're good to step back now. So to discuss this case, which is absolutely horrific, I want to bring in Mark Weaver. He is a prosecutor based in Ohio and he has prosecuted many, many cases, horrific cases himself and also works as a judge sometimes. Mark, this little girl, the detectives in Utah, they say she is five years old and she basically has been tortured. Basically her entire life for like for the last

two to three years, much of her life, this little girl has been tortured. She's been eating her own feces, Plato, trying to steal. It always kills me. I've seen other cases like this where a child is described as stealing food. Kids can't steal food. It's very upsetting. First of all, good on Utah for having a first degree felony called child torture. Many states don't have that crime. They have endangering children, felonious assault, aggravated assault, aggravated child abuse. but I'm glad there's a serious charge. In this case, it's 10 years to life, the minimum of 10 years. Of course, you can bring a charge for every new event, right?

So it's not just one charge. You could bring multiple charges for every day or every new instance of torture. And I hope the prosecutors will. As you mentioned, I have worked on a lot of cases, heartbreaking cases involving children. This one really, really stuck out. And here's my rule of thought. If you are locking the trash or the refrigerator so children can't get in, that's a dead giveaway that children's welfare agency needs to be in there, finding out why.

In rare, rare occasions with an eating disorder, perhaps you need to keep certain food away from children, but that's so rare as to be, probably need to be medically supervised. The notion that you're locking your refrigerator is the red flag that something has gone wrong. here. Something is very, very wrong if you're putting locks on the refrigerator. And according to the probable cause statement, the 13-year-old son of Jessica Harms. And it sounds like from what this boy has told investigators, he was tasked with like watching over this poor child. And Jessica harms in these documents, you know, she's not the biological mother of this five-year-old girl. So she sounds like evil stepmom here. It was her idea.

according to her biological son, the 13-year-old boy who was tasked with sleeping in a chair, a hammock chair, to watch over the little girl who would sleep on the floor, sick. It was her idea to put locks on the trash and on the fridge to keep the little girl from stealing food. I don't understand, Mark, have you seen this in other cases where, and I have, But where do they come up with this idea that the child is stealing food? Because if you live in the house and you're a member of the household and you are hungry, you should be able to be able to go into the fridge or the pantry and get food or ask for food and get food. At the core of this appears to be a dislike for this child compared to the other child.

apparently this couple had another baby together. This child came with the mother. The 13-year-old boy came with the father. I grew up in a single father, a single mother home. And so there's lots of different family situations out there. I respect that. But in this case, it's clear that this family had some issue with this child. Perhaps she had a discipline problem. She doesn't even speak at age five, she must have been difficult to raise. But that's what we are called as parents to do. You raise your children no matter how difficult they are. And the first part of raising children is keeping them safe. And that's where these two people seem to have failed. And that's where they should be held accountable. I want to walk back just a little bit here because it sounds

like, you know, Jessica, the mother figure here, and I use that figure very loosely, that term mother figure very loosely here. She's got this 13-year-old son. She and this five-est guy, Dan Fivis, they get together. He somehow has this five-year-old child that he doesn't even want. He's got the five-year-old girl. He somehow brings this child into the relationship. And then they have this baby and Dan five this tells the cops according to this probable cause statement that he went to children's services after they figured out that they were pre he and jessica were pregnant and she was going to have an actual baby that they shared together and he he said he was like i don't want this child you know take her and they wouldn't take the the child do you believe that is that

even possible that you would go to children's services and say, I don't want to take care of this child, I can't take care of this child, and that there wouldn't be some type of way to get foster parenting or something like that? It's perhaps my prosecutor's bias, but I tend to not believe things defend aunts say. Maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm cynical. Maybe I'm doing this too long. I do know this. Most people in child welfare welfare agencies care about children. Sometimes they're over, you know, over scheduled and they have too many files in their caseload. But a parent, let's assume for a second, it's true. A parent who comes to the authorities and says, I can't or don't want to raise this child should leap that case to the very top of the caseworker's caseload. And that means

either pulling that child out or finding the mother of the child. In my research, I couldn't figure out where the mother is, whether the mother is even alive, finding another place for this child, whether it's a foster home or whether it's a well-run and safe group environment. You know, we all remember orphanages from movies like Little Orphan Annie and other places like that. It's possible to have a well-run and safe group environment where child's needs will be taken care of. Whatever it is, you would think that had someone said, I can't or won't raise my four-year-old or five-year-old, whatever this allegedly happened, that it would leap to the top of the caseload of the caseworker. My guess is this man did not say that, and it didn't happen

the way he described. Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of issues with children's services agencies in every state. I mean, they're overworked, overwhelmed. But if somebody really went in and said, I don't want this child. I can't raise this child. I mean, something you would think happen and something would take place. You know, the facts here as being alleged in this probable cause statement are so disturbing, Mark. This little girl was five years old. She is five years old.

And when she was admitted to the hospital on August 30th, the detectives say she weighed the same as an approximate 16-month-old child. I mean, that is so... so insane and it almost sounds like this child had the child not been taken to the hospital when she was could have died very soon i mean the the human body is very resilient and especially kids are very resilient but this child was in bad shape yeah the official motto of my state ohio is with god all things are possible so i pray that this child can could go on to have a meaningful life as she grows up but we have to acknowledge that the growth that a child makes between when they're a baby and when they're, say,

six, seven, eight, that is such an important time of growth, both for them physically and mentally, that this child has had that period so significantly stunted and affected. It's hard to imagine that her physical growth will be typical, certainly that if she's not talking at age five, or that her mental development will be typical as well. So I'd like to think with a loving home, this child can go on to live a important and meaningful life. But having said that, these two people appear to have made that very difficult for the child. And I want to go back to locking the refrigerator. You know, it wasn't just the 13-year-old who said, yes, they did this. I mean, the 13-year-old told the

detectives this. But then, according to what the detectives wrote, they interviewed both Dan Fivis and Jessica Harms. And they both admitted to doing these things, according to what the detective said they attempted to give her away after jessica harms became pregnant with their child and they admitted to locking the refrigerator the freezer the pantry and even their bedroom door despite their story that they fed the victim monstrous amounts of food the victim's medical status shows otherwise um so it sounds like they tried to say according to the detectives that they oh my god we were feeding her we were feeding her but they're saying yeah we locked we locked the door or the the pantry door We locked the fridge.

This little girl is eating wax. She's eating Play-Doh. She's locking herself to try to save herself, like locking herself in the bathroom and using the bathroom and then eating her own feces. Have you ever seen a case or had to handle a case like this, Mark, in your experience? I've seen a lot of children being mistreated, nothing to this level. The facts also suggest that they were locking the trash. if you're that does away with any notion that we were giving her plenty of food why is the child going in the trash you mentioned the horrific the horrific fact that she's eating her own feces

there's some indication in the evidence that this child refused to use the toilet and stayed in a diaper so she would have access to her own feces as a food source every you don't have to be a parent to be mortified by this but certainly those of us who have raised children it breaks our heart in a different way. Utah prosecutors need to come at this couple hard, and they need to make a very high profile out of this case because in the one case, we want justice for this child and punishment for these two people. In the other case, we need every parent to know that this sort of mistreatment of children will land you in a prison for the rest of your life. You said that there can be a torture count for each act. So this is just the initial arrest document. Do you?

you think maybe this goes to grand jury and additional charges with additional investigation are added? That's how I would prosecute it. Sometimes we will bring a charge just to get the defendants in custody. And then we do what's called a superseding indictment, which is another indictment adding additional charges. Under criminal law, each separate act can have its own charge. Now, if I'm in the middle of beating up somebody, for example, in the assault case, you can can't charge a defendant for every punch that the defendant makes. But every time this family went to bed and then the next day got up and put another lock on the refrigerator or opened it again, I would argue is a separate charge each day that they

decided to do this where they all night long they could have thought better of it, stop and reflect on what they're doing. Every time they did it again, certainly you think they able to get a half a dozen, a dozen and more charges, all felonies of the first degree, all of which have 10-year minimum prison sentences. And the right judge will stack those charges, and these people would never get out prison. You know, the 13-year-old, we don't know how well he was treated. Obviously, it doesn't sound like there are any charges filed with regard to him, but he obviously, it sounds like he was wanted by his mother. But if you're going to do this to a child, you don't want.

a child you do care about and you do want, I'm assuming, maybe there is some mistreatment potentially there. Do you think that they'll be looking at that too? I mean, you have a 13-year-old sleeping in a chair to keep watch over a five-year-old girl that you don't want. Yeah, whether or not there's individual abuse against a 13-year-old, simply asking your 13-year-old to be part of your criminal behavior of torture of another child is its own crime. Right. So enlisting your 13-year-old into your crimes is its own crime of either endangering children or encouraging the delinquency of children. Those are lesser offenses. If, you know, a prosecutor may add those to the indictment to give the jury sort of a menu of options when they go back for deliberation. If it were me, I'd be trying to find as many instances of child torture as I can for each of them, separate apart from each other, lay them out there. And the defense lawyers will be begging.

for a deal that lets these people out in 25 years. Wow. Well, it's horrific. And there's a baby involved here, too. A little baby. We don't know the exact age of the baby, but just an awful case. These people are innocent until proven guilty,

but what is written in these documents is absolutely horrific. And I hope that this little girl can recover, learn how to talk, go to school, but she is way behind in life already. Mark Weaver, thank you so much. Yes, we should be praying for this child. And thanks to law and crime for bringing light to this very sad case. Yeah, thank you, Mark.

And Jessica Harms, she will be back in court later this week. Dan Fivis, we're still working to learn his next court date. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Angie Netleavy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. Thank you.