Police: 4-year-old repeatedly beaten, locked in basement before being killed by father
HAMLET, Ind. (WISH) — A 4-year-old boy covered in bruises and marks was found dead on Monday at a residence in northern Indiana, police said.
Just before 3 a.m. Monday, La Porte County sheriff’s deputies responded to the 3100 block of East 875 South in Hamlet on reports of a child battered by his father. Reports also claimed that there were other children in the home.
Deputies arrived at the residence and found the door unlocked. Upon entering the home, they located the 4-year-old child inside of a bedroom.
Authorities say the child was naked and covered in a blanket with bruises all over his body and red marks on his face and head. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Deputies located three more children inside the residence, and they were escorted to an ambulance.
A search warrant was later executed for the property. Investigators found the residence to be riddled with garbage, rotting food, clothing and animal fecal matter.
Police also found a malnourished dog locked in a crate inside the home. The crate was contained matted hair, urine and fecal matter.
Mary Yoder, the mother of all four children, was later interviewed by police.
She said that the 4-year-old was often sent to the home’s basement as punishment for not being “potty trained” like the other children. Detectives noted that the basement was cold and had no working lights.
Yoder also said that food was sometimes withheld from the child and that his father, Alan Morgan, would bind his hands and feet using duct tape. She also said that Morgan would physically abuse the child.
The child was typically forced to go to the basement naked, Yoder said, and if he refused to go, Morgan would carry him downstairs by the neck.
Yoder estimated that the child was punished in this manner three times a week. Yoder also said that there were times that the child was kept in the basement for days at a time. It is unknown for how long this took place.
There was no bed in the basement, Yoder said. Detectives found an infant “potty-training” toilet in basement containing fecal matter and urine, as well as a blanket and pieces of duct tape.
Yoder said that the child was in the basement the last time she saw him, which was when she left the house on Oct. 9 to give birth at the hospital.
An autopsy determined that the child’s cause of death was blunt force head trauma causing a massive subdural hematoma.
According to court documents, Morgan is charged with murder, animal cruelty, neglect of a dependent involving cruel confinement and the unlawful use of hand, neglect of a dependent involving cruel confinement and depriving a dependent, and three counts of neglect of a dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent.
Yoder faces charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, neglect of a dependent involving cruel confinement and depriving a dependent, animal cruelty and failure to make a report.
Both jury trials are scheduled for Oct. 10.