Documents Detail Short, Sad Life of Nubia Doctor, Found Dead in Father's Truck

Feb. 22, 2011— -- The little girl whose decomposing body was found in the back of her adopted father's pickup truck last week endured a hellish life punctuated by sexual abuse, hunger, bruises, hair loss and the lack of care for a rare medical condition.

The short, miserable life of Nubia Doctor, 10, was documented in bureaucratic paperwork released Monday by Florida's Department of Children and Families, which outlined at least eight occasions in which authorities made contact with the girl to investigate her health and well being.

While some reports described a clean, happy girl whose adoptive parents helped her with homework, others depict a shocking life that somehow wasn't bad enough to remove the girl from the home.

A case worker in 2007 wrote: "Nubia's hunger has been uncontrollable, she sneaks and steals food, steals money, has hair loss, is very thin, nervous and jittery. Nubia also has an unpleasant odor… In the past it is believed Nubia's adoption was halted when Nubia was coming to school dirty while in the adoptive mother's care."

Another caseworker wrote, "A couple of months ago Nubia had a scratch on her nose. It is said Nubia scratches her nose a lot and that she is always falling."

The documents released Monday redact mention of a specific medical condition, but they hint at a hormonal problem. Authorities confirmed to ABCNews.com that Nubia was intersexed, meaning she was born with both male and female genitals.

Despite her need to see doctors regularly, a caseworker wrote that her adopted parents simply put her alone on a "medical bus" and often failed to see that she made appointments.

"This child is very medically needy and should not be missing appointments because the foster parent does not want to take her," the report said.

Nubia most recently came to the attention of authorities when her adoptive father Jorge Barahona and her twin brother Victor were found at the side of a highway outside West Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 14. Barahona was passed out, evidently overcome with gasoline fumes, and the boy in the truck cab severely burned from a yet to be identified chemical. Victor remains in the hospital in critical condition.

Nubia Doctor's Short, Miserable Life

In the bed of the truck, workers found a bag that contained Nubia's remains.

Barahona, an exterminator from Miami, has been charged with attempted murder of the boy citing an alleged confession to police that he intended to set fire to the boy and kill himself because he was distraught over Nubia's death. He has since pleaded innocent to the charge.

No charges have been filed over Nubia's death. The Associated Press, citing a Department of Children and Families source, reports that Barahona admitted to starving Nubia to death, but officials refused to confirm that to ABC News.

The twins were born in 2000 to a mother who admitted to using drugs. In 2004, the children were removed from their biological parents' home because their father sexually abused Nubia, state documents state. The records do not indicate whether the man was charged.

The state of Florida thought they were saving little Nubia's life when they put the little girl and her twin brother in a foster home. Nubia and Victor were formally adopted by the foster parents, Jorge and Carla Barahona, in 2008.

In perhaps the most disturbing of at least eight child welfare reports, in 2005 Nubia accused her foster father of sexual abuse, just months after being removed from the home of her biological father because she had been molested.

The sexual abuse investigation was dropped after a psychologist said there was not enough conclusive evidence that the girl had not made up the story.

"Nubia disclosed to [to the psychologist] that the foster father tickled her private parts," wrote a case worker in 2005.

In 2006 she was reported absent 16 times from school. In 2007 she missed two weeks of school "due to heavy bleeding."

Another report cites a bruise on her chin.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Family said in each case there was not enough evidence to suggest Nubia had been abused or to remove her from her household.

"There is no specific threshold for removal. There's not a number of investigations that triggers removal," said Mark Riordan, the department spokesman. "If there is imminent danger to the child we remove immediately. But the preference is never to remove a child from the family."

Riordan said the agency investigated the family eight times and removed the girl from an abusive biological parent, but the agency could not stop "evil people from doing evil things."

"You can't blame us, we are the agency responsible for protecting children, but the parents were involved. They did this," he said.