According to reports, a 7-year-old boy named Ethan was assigned to live with his guardians. These guardians are Timothy, who is 48 years old, and Tina, who is 35 years old.
However, despite letting Ethan stay in their house, they didn’t show him kindness or love. They wanted Ethan to read and remember parts of the Bible, but when they discovered he hadn’t done it, they did something very wrong.
Ethan had a twin, and both of them were told to remember parts of the Bible. However, Ethan faced the harshest treatment from his family.
When Timothy and Tina found out that Ethan hadn’t done what they asked, they reportedly caused his death. Timothy was in charge of the punishment. He made Ethan carry a heavy wooden log around their property for hours as a penalty for not memorizing Bible verses.
Their property had a path that they used to punish Ethan when he didn’t do what they wanted in terms of Bible memorization. The log Ethan had to carry was as heavy as forty-four pounds, much too heavy for a little boy.
Timothy was the one giving out the punishment, but he had Ethan’s fifteen-year-old brother Damian supervise it. Damian followed Timothy’s orders and would kick and hit Ethan when he couldn’t keep up or do the task of carrying the heavy log. Sometimes Damian would even stand on Ethan’s back and push his face into the cold ground. There are reports that Damian also rolled the heavy log onto Ethan’s chest to make him suffer more. During one of these punishments, Damian told Ethan to hide in a big pile of snow. Ethan did what his older brother said, but he died within a few minutes from the extreme cold.
Besides the freezing weather, Ethan also suffered severe injuries to his head, chest, and stomach, which made his condition even worse. When the police talked to Damian, he denied most things but admitted to burying Ethan in the snow.
He said this was part of the punishment because Ethan hadn’t memorized thirteen Bible verses. As part of the punishment, Ethan had to carry the heavy log for two hours around their property. Damian was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and six other charges related to Ethan’s murder.
Timothy was charged with felony murder and five other charges connected to Ethan’s death. Tina was charged with not preventing harm to a child and another charge.
