Woman ‘essentially starved to death’ in Tarrant County jail in February, family says
Update: This story has been updated to include statements from government entities that responded after publication.
A woman who died in the Tarrant County jail in February “essentially starved to death” after not being fed according to her dietary restrictions, her family said.
Kimberly Phillips died in custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 18. She was moved to John Peter Smith Hospital on Feb. 15 after being put on round-the-clock medical watch in the jail for an unspecified amount of time.
“Our very preliminary investigation suggests that Kimberly was essentially starved to death,” Houston-based attorney Chidi Anunobi said on behalf of Phillips’ family in a press release. “Kimberly, who was a known vegetarian, was apparently not fed for several days and was rushed to JPS only after her health had greatly deteriorated.”
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released Phillips’ cause and manner of death.
Phillips’ family retained Anunobi to represent them and they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit in the coming weeks, Anunobi said in an interview.
The Sheriff’s Office said it is unable to comment on open criminal or civil investigations.
Anunobi has requested medical and other records from the Sheriff’s Office, the Medical Examiner’s Office, JPS Hospital, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office and other entities involved, but he has not received them yet.
“We ask for the immediate release of Kimberly’s complete medical and jail records to my office so that we can conclude our own independent investigation,” he said in the press release. “Kimberly will get Justice.”
A spokesperson for the JPS Health Network said it “complies with all applicable laws and regulations regarding medical records requests,” and added that it cannot give comment on specific patient matters.
The Medical Examiner’s Office said Phillips’ report is not complete and her case is still pending.
The DA’s Office did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
In a phone call Tuesday, Anunobi said his office received some records from JPS. Some parts of those records indicate that Phillips hadn’t eaten since Feb. 11, while other details appear to show that she hadn’t eaten since Jan. 27, he said.
“They’re trying to make it that she refused to eat, but what we’re hearing is that they did not give her food,” Anunobi said. “It’s like they didn’t respect the fact that she was a vegetarian and offer her stuff that she could eat. What we’ve seen so far strongly suggests that it was kind of like a ‘You got to eat what we present to you’ type deal.”
Phillips was the second person to die in custody of the Sheriff’s Office this year. Charles Stephen Johnson died in the county jail on Feb. 8. The Sheriff’s Office said he died after a suicide attempt. His autopsy results are pending.
Noting the number of deaths under Sheriff Bill Waybourn’s tenure, Anunobi said his office will aggressively push for information on Phillips’ death.
“We have to see all the stuff that we’re entitled to, and we’re going to keep pressing,” he said.
This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 11:44 AM.
