Mum 'left quadriplegic son in woods to die'

A US mother is accused of abandoning her quadriplegic son in a forest with only a blanket and a Bible for five days while she went to visit her boyfriend.

Nyia Parler, 41, allegedly left her 21-year-old, wheelchair-bound son in the woods in Philadelphia last week.

A man walking through the area stumbled across him on Friday lying 3m from his wheelchair with the Bible lying on his chest.

He was rushed to hospital suffering dehydration and malnutrition and with cuts on his back.

Philadelphia Police Lieutenant John Walker said the man with special needs had been left to die.

“This kid is obviously a fighter. It’s just unbelievable how we found him last night. It’s just heartbreaking to see how another human, especially a mother, could treat him like that,” he told ABC.

Parler, who police say travelled to Pennsylvania to visit her boyfriend after she left her son in the woods, has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, neglect of a care-dependent person, unlawful restraint, kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Teachers at her son’s school raised the alarm on Monday when he did not turn up to class.

The school called two of Parler’s sisters, one of whom called police.

But Parler told her family and police that her son was with her and her boyfriend in Maryland.

Parler has another 16-year-old son who is being cared for by relatives.