{"id":18636,"date":"2026-08-30T00:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T00:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/?p=18636"},"modified":"2026-08-30T00:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T00:42:11","slug":"boy-with-down-syndrome-found-starving-and-locked-in-attic-reunites-with-the-officers-who-saved-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/?p=18636","title":{"rendered":"Boy With Down Syndrome Found Starving and Locked in Attic Reunites With the Officers Who Saved Him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2010, six-year-old Giovanni \u201cGovi\u201d Eastwood was discovered locked inside his family\u2019s attic, severely neglected and starving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although he was six, Govi weighed only 17 pounds\u2014the size of a much younger child. He could barely walk or speak and was suffering from severe malnutrition and rickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police had initially taken his siblings to safety after his mother was arrested, but Govi was still missing. Officers suspected he might be somewhere inside the home and returned to search again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They eventually heard him in the attic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What they found shocked them. Govi was extremely weak, covered in excrement, and had been left without proper food, care, blankets, or toys. Doctors believed he might not have survived much longer if the officers hadn&#8217;t found him that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Govi was later adopted by his great aunt and uncle, Stacy and Joe Eastwood, along with his two sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His recovery was slow. At first, he struggled to feel safe around other people. But with love and care, Govi began to heal and grow into a happy, loving child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Six years after his rescue, at age 12, Govi was reunited with the officers who had saved his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He visited the sheriff&#8217;s department, where he was made an honorary deputy and received a special plaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The transformation left the officers amazed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe kid is magical,\u201d his great uncle said. \u201cEverybody he comes in contact with, he just brings out a better person in them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Govi shook the officers\u2019 hands and thanked them for rescuing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That night, he reportedly slept beside the special plaque he had received\u2014a powerful reminder of the people who helped give him a second chance at life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/z6WAvIXYYGc\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Boy rescued from attic now an honorary deputy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333;width:480px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2010, six-year-old Giovanni \u201cGovi\u201d Eastwood was discovered locked inside his family\u2019s attic, severely neglected and starving. Although he was six, Govi weighed only 17 pounds\u2014the size of a much younger child. He could barely walk or speak and was suffering from severe malnutrition and rickets. Police had initially taken his siblings to safety after &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18638,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636\/revisions\/18638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}