Detroit Parents Charged With Torture

The parents of 12-year-old Charlie Boethuell, who was found in his own basement starved and abused after his parents claimed he was missing, were charged Saturday with second-degree child abuse and torture, a felony which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The boy’s stepmother, 37-year-old Monique Dillard-Bothuell, allegedly placed him in the basement and told him “not to come out, no matter what he hears.” A news release from the prosecutor’s office said that when the boy was found, ”he was observed to be very thin, with marks on his upper body. It is alleged that the parents systematically physically abused the child, forced him to live in the basement and not socialize with others, intentionally deprived him of food and forced him to engage in an extreme and unreasonable exercise regime.”