An Arizona couple faces possible prison time after parenting practices shaped by online misinformation about medical care and nutrition left a 5-month-old child dead and three others suffering from chronic malnutrition, according to police and court records.

Police found Tremaure Stanley, 25, and Janiece Brooks, 26, living in a central Phoenix home where their youngest child was discovered dead in July 2023 after Brooks called 911 because their baby was unresponsive.

Three surviving siblings, ages 2, 4 and 5 at the time, were subsequently hospitalized with rickets, osteopenia, vitamin D deficiency and significant developmental delays, court records show.

The couple was charged with first-degree murder and four counts of child abuse. They met with prosecutors Dec. 1 to discuss a possible plea deal.

Prosecutors said the pattern of harm traces back to an extreme version of the "alkaline diet" the couple imposed on their children, combined with a growing distrust of medical care.

Court records show the couple told investigators they relied on online videos and posts that warned against vaccines, infant medical treatments and even common medicines such as Tylenol.

The alkaline diet is built on the disproven belief that shifting the body’s acidity levels can cure diseases or "detoxify" the body.

For these children, that meant eating mostly vegetables, fruit and plant-based milks, with almost no protein, fats or fortified foods. It was a diet so low in calories and nutrients that doctors who examined the children said it led to severe malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.

Such diets often appeal to parents who are already overwhelmed by conflicting health information, according to Jessica Steier, a public health scientist and executive director of the nonprofit Unbiased Science.

"They feel out of control, and I think the pandemic really threw gasoline on that fire," she said. "People are looking for this feeling of control over their health."

The case comes as experts say public confidence in scientific institutions is fraying. Steier said the distrust has created fertile ground for misinformation to spread, especially in nutrition and wellness spaces.

Would a 'reasonable' person have recognized danger to kids?

Prosecutors presented Stanley and Brooks with a potential plea agreement that would carry a 16-year prison sentence. If the case goes to trial, they face charges of first-degree felony murder and four counts of child abuse.

Under Arizona law, the central question for jurors is not whether the couple believed they were helping their children, but whether a reasonable person would have recognized the danger and acted.

"We chose this diet for good health," Stanley told the court at a Dec. 1 settlement conference.

Court records show the couple interpreted the children’s rapid weight loss as evidence the diet was working and removing toxins, rather than as a warning sign of a medical crisis.

Two months after beginning the diet, their infant child was dead.

Prosecutors have charged the abuse counts at the most severe level, alleging Stanley and Brooks knowingly placed their children in harm’s way.

Each count carries a 10- to 24-year prison range. Because the victims were under 15, any sentences must run consecutively. The judge noted during the Dec. 1 hearing that the child-abuse charges alone amount to life in prison.

The couple also faces a life sentence, or possibly the death penalty, if they don't accept a plea deal and are convicted of felony murder.

As Stanley and Brooks decide on taking a plea, the case stands at the intersection of a fractured information landscape and the particular vulnerability of parents who want to do right by their children and are being told, online, that "natural" is always safer.

On Dec. 5, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee made a split, and highly contested, decision to end the universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation at birth, a debate that underscored how even long-standing, evidence-based guidance is colliding with growing skepticism toward medical institutions.

Steier said people immersed in online alternative-health circles tend to have a common disconnect.

They lose the ability to see warning signs that would seem obvious to anyone outside their information bubble, she said.

Extreme diets often function less like trends and more like belief systems, according to Jonathan Stea, clinical psychologist, adjunct assistant professor at the University of Calgary, who wrote a book about pseudoscience and misinformation in the wellness industry.

Recent studies from the University of Alberta have shown science becoming more politicized, he said.

"If someone strongly identifies as a Democrat and then strongly identifies as a Republican, those people might read the same piece of information but interpret it in different ways because they're coming at it from different belief systems," he said. "Motivated reasoning kicks in … confirmation bias gets activated."

Parents avoided taking children to appointments with doctor

Court records show the parents spent months consuming videos and posts promoting the alkaline diet, warning about supposed vaccine dangers and discouraging medical care.

They also avoided taking the children to doctor visits, limiting outside contact.

Steier said that the level of insulation is increasingly common.

Online ecosystems can reinforce extreme beliefs, noting that parents are exposed to influential voices on social media promoting "natural" solutions and criticizing medical care, she said.

Stea said these belief systems often become core parts of identity, making it emotionally difficult to accept conflicting information.

Through her work at Unbiased Science, a science-communication firm that translates complex health data for the public, Steier focuses on helping people navigate health claims.

To help friends and family get past misleading beliefs, she has found that finding common ground and leading with your humanity is the best way to reach people.

Her conversations are "more emotional than factual," she said. She approaches parents as a fellow mother, not by "throwing numbers and statistics at people."