NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- The suspects in what police are calling one of the worst cases of child abuse they've ever seen will face a judge Thursday.

A 3-year-old girl's face was disfigured after she was bitten, allegedly by her mother's boyfriend.

Bryan James, 34, and Jessica Silveria, 26, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after police, acting on a tip, stopped their car in New Bedford.

James and Silveria had been the subjects of an intense manhunt since warrants were issued for their arrests on Tuesday. James put up a brief struggle after officers stopped his vehicle to arrest him, police said.

Police said James inflicted abuse on Silveria's 3-year-old daughter, biting the girl's face, lip and ear, leaving her badly disfigured.

"There was a big chunk taken out of the lip. The skin is missing from there. The whole lip is gone," New Bedford Police Department Capt. Richard Spirlet said.

The girl suffered human bites to the face in which she lost the upper part of her lip, Boston TV station WCVB reported. Her ear was so mutilated that surgery could not return it to its natural state.

The child also suffered other human bites on her body, Spirlet said.

"It was malicious, mayhem," Spirlet said.

Police said Silveria tried to cover up the abuse.

Police said that the biting attacks started in January. By April, the girl's lip and ear were so badly mutilated that doctors at Children's Hospital couldn't repair the damage.

"The child suffered human bites to the face in which she lost the upper part of her lip," police said in a news release. "In addition, her ear was so mutilated that surgery could not return it to its natural state. The child also suffered other human bites on her body."

Hospital officials who examined the girl found the level of abuse she suffered was among the most horrific cases they had seen, police said in a statement.

It's believed state Department of Social Services was notified in January, but allowed the child to stay in the home, WCVB reported. The abuse allegedly continued for several more months until DSS took the girl and her 5-year-old brother into custody in April.

New Bedford police began investigating in mid-May after the girl was taken to a hospital in Boston.

One family member disagrees with the charges.

"The lip was not bit. The story that was told to me was that she had fallen in the tub and her tooth went through," James' aunt, Lori James, said.

"That little girl fell down a few times -- right outside in front of my eyes. He never abused any kids," neighbor John Costa said.

James has been detained on charges of assault and battery upon a child causing substantial bodily injuries. Silveria is accused of permitting substantial injuries to a child under 14 and intimidation of a witness.

The suspects are expected to be arraigned Thursday in New Bedford, police said.

The case is leading to a renewed push for reform at DSS, following a number of other cases in which signs of child abuse were either missed or overlooked.