An Illinois mother and her boyfriend are behind bars after they allegedly forced her 10-year-old son to eat canned food. In an act of cruelty, they are accused of making the child repeatedly write down humiliating phrases in a notebook. This included sentences such as “You’re not a loved child, everybody hates you.”
As reported by Law & Crime, citing a Fox Lake Police Department press release, the investigation launched on Friday, March 6. At around 9:30 a.m., a business owner near the intersection of Nippersink Boulevard and Grand Avenue in Fox Lake, Illinois, noticed a boy, 11, running out of an apartment building. The boy was only wearing a diaper.
The boy showed signs of trauma, police say, as his body was scratched and bruised, and his face was bloodied. Fox Lake police officers transported the child to a local hospital and then visited the boy’s apartment. There, they found 34-year-old Pricilla P. Marshall, the boy’s mother, who lived alongside the victim and four other children.
An investigation alleged that Marshall and her boyfriend, 35-year-old Cody R. Marion, had abused the 11-year-old for years. They are accused of beating the child, pouring dish soap into the boy’s mouth and ears, and even preventing him from attending school.
Further Allegations, Couple Arrested
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Laughlin, as per the Lake & McHenry County Scanner, said that the alleged abuse didn’t stop there. Laughlin detailed that the Illinois mother had told the boy she was going to stab him “33 times” in the back and even forced her other children to beat up the boy.
Additionally, while the rest of her children ate McDonald’s or Pizza Hut, the 11-year-old was allegedly forced to eat ravioli or other canned food. Then, as a punishment, the boy was forced to repeatedly write phrases such as “You’re not a loved child, everybody hates you,” in a notebook, Laughlin said. He would allegedly do so while kneeling on uneven floorboards.
Following the reveal of this and many other allegations, Marshall and Marion were arrested. They are charged with aggravated battery, endangering the life of a child, and two counts of domestic battery.
Shocked users reacted to the nature of the accusations, with one saying, “What evil people they are.” Another person wrote, “Hope for prison justice for both of them.” A third commented, “And you wonder why SOME kids grow up deranged.”
