UPDATE: Thursday, July 12, 2012

A warrant has been issued for the boyfriend of a Missouri woman accused of abusing her 10-year-old daughter by barricading her in a closet.

The child's mother appeared in court Thursday and waived a preliminary hearing. She was charged last month after police found the child weighing only 32 pounds and confined to a closet in the mother's Kansas City home.

Her boyfriend, Marcus R. Benson, was charged Wednesday with two counts of child endangerment, but police say he hasn't been taken into custody. A phone listing for Benson has been disconnected.

The mother has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, child abuse and child endangerment.

The Associated Press is withholding the mother's name to protect the child's identity. The woman is being held on a $200,000 cash bond.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Prosecutors in Missouri have charged the boyfriend of a woman accused of abuse after police found her 10-year-old daughter locked in a closet.

Marcus R. Benson was charged Wednesday with two counts of child endangerment.

Online court records don't list a lawyer for Benson, whose bond was set at $100,000.

A statement filed when the mother was arrested said Benson told police he didn't know the girl had been forced into the closet without regular access to food.

Police found the child June 22 while responding to a hotline call. She weighed 32 pounds, less than half the average weight for her age.

The mother has pleaded innocent to charges of assault, child abuse and child endangerment. The Associated Press is not naming the mother to protect the child's identity.