Young Man Starved by Adoptive Parents Finds New Life

June 1, 2006 — -- The first public photos of Keith Jackson evoked both horror and heartache.

In 2003, Keith -- one of four New Jersey brothers found emaciated and allegedly beaten by adoptive parents Vanessa and Raymond Jackson -- was 14 and weighed just 40 pounds.

Today, he barely resembles the waif from those infamous photos and wants to forget everything about his dark past, right down to his own name. He has changed his name to Tre'Shawn Mitchell.

"Tre'Shawn is the new me," he told "Primetime's" Chris Cuomo in an exclusive interview.

The name celebrates Tre'Shawn's new family and the new chance he has received at life.

"Tre" honors his new brother, Tremaine, while "Shawn" is his nephew's name.

"He wants the world to see that, 'Yes, that did happen to me, but look at me now,'" said Fulvia Mitchell, Tre'Shawn's new adoptive mother. "I did gain weight. I am growing. Yes, I was starved. Yes, I was mistreated. But look at my family now."

Authorities discovered Tre'Shawn and his three brothers when a neighbor spotted the eldest brother, Bruce, rifling through a trash can for food. At 19, Bruce weighed just 45 pounds. Brother Tyrone was 10 years old and 28 pounds; Michael, 9, and 23 pounds.

The brothers had come to the Jackson home as foster children, and Tre'Shawn said the abuse started after they were formally adopted. Their story alerted the nation -- and New Jersey -- to the growing crisis of lost children.

"The child welfare system is badly broken," said Kevin Ryan, formerly the New Jersey child advocate and current commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services, at a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee in 2003. "The playgrounds of heaven are too crowded with children we should have saved, and we are lucky that we count the Jackson boys among the saved and not the lost."

Tre'Shawn didn't feel lucky living what he described as a life of deprivation with the Jacksons.

"Nobody outside of the house ever knew anything about what was happening inside," Tre'Shawn said. "They always thought they were the nice kids, nice people, nice family."