A 13-year-old died Thursday after he was twice tied to a tree overnight for disobeying his parents, the Edgecombe County sheriff said today.
The boy's father, Brice Brian McMillan, 41, and stepmother, Sandra Elizabeth McMillan, 36, were charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse. They were being held without bail in the Edgecombe County Detention Center.
Rescue workers found the boy Thursday afternoon at 1110 Felton Farm Road in Macclesfield and called deputies, Sheriff James L. Knight said. Knight would not release the boy's name.
Brice McMillan, the child's father, told deputies that the boy had been disobedient on Tuesday, Knight said. McMillan said he tried to discipline his son, who still wouldn't listen, so the child was tied to a tree in the family's yard overnight, according to the sheriff.
Knight said the boy was tied with plastic ties akin to handcuffs. "There were other things on the body that led us to believe they used something different" in addition to the plastic ties, Knight said.
On Wednesday morning, the ties were cut and the boy was allowed back in the house, Knight said.
On Wednesday night, the boy continued to misbehave and was again tied to the tree, where he remained until Sandra McMillan found him unresponsive about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Knight said.
The child was taken to Heritage Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Knight said the child had bruises on his wrists. He said he "had some idea" of what the child was being disciplined for, but he said could not share that information. He said he did not know which parent initiated the discipline.
Two other children, ages 7 and 9, were placed in the custody of the Edgecombe Department of Social Services.
The parents are scheduled for first appearances in court Monday.
Macclesfield is east of Wilson, about 55 miles east of Raleigh.
Uh... your thoughts?
This must be the year of parental failure.
Was it really necessary to tie the poor boy to a tree?
What happened to good old spanking?
Or the even more efficient "one month without computer/[insertgamingplatformofchoice]?
Macclesfield is east of Wilson, about 55 miles east of Raleigh.
No it isn't, it's about 5 miles northeast of Congleton, stop stealing place names =P
Why can't they just beat their kids, like the good old days?
Contextual punishment is usually more effective than spanking, Erika. That is, a punishment that has something to do with the offense.
That said, handcuffing a kid to a tree doesn't exactly sound like a sane punishment. I hope the other two kids get outta there.
You KNOW what I'm going to say. Let the punishment fit the crime. Tie the parents to a tree till they die.
~Tobe
Pssh. Boy's a wimp, I say. 24 hours and he's dead as opposed to passed out from being tired?
He had it easy. What about all those bastard kids that died in little as an hour from being stuffed inside a hot ass car, with the windows rolled up. That's right, this kid could BREATHE, could have fed himself from bugs crawling into his mouth, and he STILL DIED? Pfft. *foldsarms*
Eeeeyeah, I'm kinda curious as to the cause of death myself.
*foldsarms*
So is it like how Diglett/Dugtrio are sometimes portrayed and there's a muscular physique behind the emoticon's heads, speedos and all, just out of sight?
*foldsarms*
Thank you.
Has anyone thought that it might've been the tree that killed the boy?! I've heard that trees can get pretty aggressive at times!
A few years ago during strong winds there was a tree that decided to jump onto a car with a person in it killing them D:, clearly trees can commit crimes of violence as much as people do!!
We should give the tree a lethal injection. =D
