DENVER -- An indictment unsealed Wednesday said a missing 6-year-old girl died because she was undernourished, suffered cruel punishment and was denied medical care for two years.

Read Indictment

A district court released a 60-count indictment against Aaron Thompson after a judge approved its release. It was handed by the grand jury in May 2007 but wasn't made public until The Denver Post and The Associated Press filed suit.

The indictment accuses Thompson and his girlfriend, Shely Lowe, of fatal child abuse against Thompson's daughter, Aarone. Aarone's body has never been found. Lowe died in May 2006 of heart problems.

Thompson and Lowe are accused of concealing her death and disposing of the body, although the indictment shows there's no indication anyone intentionally killed Aarone.

The indictment said the abuse took place between May 12, 2002, and Aug. 31, 2004.

Aaron Thompson reported his daughter missing on Nov. 14, 2005, telling police that he and Aarone had argued over whether or not she could have a cookie. He said she stomped upstairs and he later discovered that she was not in the house. He woke up Lowe, drove through the neighborhood but he could not find her, he told police. He then called the police station's non-emergency number, not 911.

When questioned by police that day, Thompson said he took Aarone to a park several years ago but not since then and could not name another place where he had taken her or name any children or adults who had seen her in the last several years. Lowe and Thompson told police that Aarone had no friends and had no current picture of her.

She was not enrolled in first grade because Thompson said he had lost her immunization paperwork and did not have her birth certificate. Police later learned the parents could have easily had a birth certificate in Michigan mailed to them or gone to Colorado Human Services, who had already one on file for her.

As many as 80 police officers searched sewers, wood piles and Dumpsters using infrared equipment to look for a heat source that might have come from Aarone's body. Police did not issue an Amber Alert because they could not identify a suspect in her disappearance or give a description of the vehicle used in the disappearance.

Later that night, at about 8 p.m., Thompson told police that he was tired and was going to bed, even though his daughter had not been found and it was beginning to snow outside, the indictment said.

Thompson had told the other children in the house that Aarone was in Michigan for the last two years and had just returned home, although he never mentioned this to police when he reported her missing. Police described his demeanor as "calm and complacent." Neither he nor Lowe asked what they could do to help find her, and never went to go look for her themselves, according to police.

Thompson and Lowe said eight children lived in their Aurora home but police could only find seven mattresses, seven pairs of gloves, seven toothbrushes in the kids' bathroom, and seven bags of Halloween candy.

Lowe's sons told police that the eighth mattress was thrown away after Aarone disappeared several years earlier. Police questioned Thompson about the missing mattress and he told them he only purchased seven, but police found a receipt for eight mattresses. Relatives told police that Thompson explained the missing mattress by telling them it had blown off the truck when he was bringing the mattresses home from the store.

Police tested DNA on bedding on all the mattresses, including the one that Thompson and Lowe said Aarone slept on, and did not find her DNA on any of the bedding. All toothbrushes found in the home were tested for Aarone's DNA and none was found. A pair of pants that Thompson said belonged to Aarone tested positive for her DNA but the pants were for a 2-year-old girl. Aarone would have been 6 years old.

Thompson and Lowe acted strangely after Aarone was reported missing, the indictment said. Lowe showed little concern and had no sense of urgency but seemed very distracted when detectives talked to her children, the indictment said.

The next day, neither Lowe or Thompson cooperated with police and didn't speak with detectives after that.

The last known photograph of Aarone was taken at the Grand Canyon in 2002.

Eric Williams, Sr., Lowe's ex-husband, told police that Lowe told him that Aarone had died in the bathtub in January or February 2004. She allegedly told him that she and Thompson had tried to revive Aarone without success. They decided to bury the body because they were worried about a scar on Aarone's back from when she was disciplined, Williams said. Lowe was concerned it might alert social services to the alleged beatings and she might lose her other children.

According to Williams, Lowe told him that she and Thompson left the children alone that night and went out and buried Aarone's body in a field.

Tabitha Graves, Lowe's friend, told police that Lowe said Aarone died in bed and Aaron buried her.

Since Lowe has passed away, a legal expert questioned Wednesday whether those statements will be allowed in court. Former Denver District Attorney Norm Early told 7NEWS a special exception to the hearsay rules would have to be granted.

"Of course if you had her here, who knows how much of that she'd admit to? She might well say the people who are saying she said those things are not telling the truth. So it may be a little bit easier road without her around," Early said.

Kids In House Say They Were Beaten

According to the indictment, the other kids in the home claim they were witness to and victims of numerous, recurring and violent beatings.

Several of the children in the home told police that they would often "get a whoopin,'" usually in the basement of their Aurora home. They would be struck with a baseball bat, belt, bare hands, and cords, the children told detectives. Sometimes their hands were tied, the kids told police. They said Lowe would watch as Thompson beat them and scarred their bodies.

One of the children told caseworkers that he "heard Aarone getting a whoopin.'"

"He heard the screams echoing through the vents from the basement. He remembered sudden silence and Aaron say a cuss word," the indictment said.

The boy asked Lowe the next day where Aarone was and was told she went to live with her mother in Michigan, detectives said.

One child told authorities she was always worried about Aarone, who was often locked in a closet. She said Thompson and Lowe punished Aarone for wetting the bed by locking her in the coat closet by the front door.

"The (child) hated Aarone being in the closet, and Aarone would stick her little fingers out from underneath the door. (The child) would rub Aarone's fingers to let her know someone was out there for her," the indictment said.

In an exclusive interview with 7NEWS, both Thompson and Lowe denied harming Aarone.

The grand jury got the case in May 2006 and returned the 60-count indictment a year later. It had been sealed until the media lawsuit was filed.

Thompson is due in court on May 21.

Where Are Other Kids?

Two days after Aarone was reported missing the other seven children were removed from the home.

Four of the children are in the foster care system, looking for homes. The whereabouts of three others are still unclear but therapists say all of the kids have a lot to work through.

The four children suffer from traumatic stress disorder. One of the boys is considered "generally healthy but struggles with encopresis (or involuntary fecal soiling) daily," social services said.

Gizane Indart, executive director of Denver's Children's Advocacy Center, has not worked with the children but has reviewed the indictment. She said it is a disturbing situation but one the children will hopefully overcome.

"We have seen children witness the most horrendous of crimes in front of them," Indart said. "It takes years for these children to really recover and understand No. 1, they were not responsible for the abuse or for the disappearance of their own siblings."