PIKEVILLE, Ky. — A Pike County couple has pleaded guilty in a child abuse case that doctors likened to torture.

Jerome Norman, 44, and Mary Hall, 43, both of Raccoon, entered blind Alford pleas to one count of first-degree abuse and two amended counts of second-degree abuse. An Alford plea functions as a guilty plea, but allows a defendant to maintain innocence while acknowledging the evidence in the case would likely result in a conviction.

The charges were the result of someone at the child’s school noticing several injuries and disturbing behaviors in January 2025. The person said they had not seen the child in over a month, due to an extended break from school.

Before the break, they reported the boy would come to school with bruises which could have been caused by playing. But when the child came back to school, his front teeth were chipped and he had a busted nose.

The boy explained his injuries as the result of carrying wood while riding a bicycle, but did not say how they happened. When she was asked about the injuries, Hall also said he had been carrying wood and outside playing, but also said he might have hurt himself in his sleep.

But there were other signs of abuse outlined in the report.

“There are times when [he] is not allowed to eat at home due to discipline,” the arrest warrant says. “[He] has appeared hungry. The other children report to Mary as to what happens at school. [He] was able to have a piece of cake and pizza at school, and Mary stated that he will not receive dinner since he was given this at school.”

The report described the boy as pale and skinny, and that he appeared malnourished with clammy skin. It also says he would frequently gorge himself when he ate at school, and that he did so until he threw up the day the report was taken.

The report says the boy’s siblings do not get the same treatment and do not appear malnourished and do not gorge on food at school.

When police went to the boy’s home, they found his bedroom to be a dark room with locks on the outside.

Once the boy was taken from the home, the arrest warrant noted he went into cardiac arrest and had to be taken to UK Hospital. There, doctors said he was unable to keep down solid food and that he showed signs of torture.

Hall and Norman are now facing 10-to-20 years in prison. They will be sentenced April 10.