WHAT were THESE parents thinking?

[Catty1]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0...d/tied_to_tree


NCarolina boy dies after 2 nights tied to a tree; parents face murder charges

By The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. - The parents of a 13-year-old North Carolina boy who died after being tied to a tree for two nights have been charged with murder.



Police say 41-year-old Brice McMillan of Macclesfield told a deputy that the child was being punished for disobedience.

The boy was forced to sleep outside Tuesday while tied to a tree. He was freed Wednesday morning, but then tied up again that night because of more bad behaviour.

The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office says the child was still tied to the tree the following afternoon when he was discovered unresponsive by his stepmother.

Besides the murder charge, Brice McMillan and his wife, 36-year-old Sandra McMillan, have both been charged with felony child abuse.

Two couple' two other children, a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old, have been placed in the custody of the Department of Social Services.

Dwight Jefferson, an emergency responder with Pinetops Rescue Squad who was first on the scene, said he did not know the cause of the child's death.

"What we found was a 13-year-old laying on the ground - CPR being done by his father," Jefferson said. "Then we took over."

Sheriff James Knight said the boy was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

It wasn't immediately clear what the couple used to allegedly tie up the boy.

[elizabethann]

Wow. That is unreal. That poor kid. Parents must be real proud of themselves.

[Jessika]

But why did he die, though??? I don't understand what he died FROM?

Regardless that's horrible of parents to tie their son to a tree as punishment, but he wasn't tied up for like days in a row to have starved? I'm just really curious as to what his cause of death will be.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

OMG!! Wow, I hate people sometimes. Why would anyone do this to such an innocent child? I'm glad these 'parents' are being punished, they deserve it. I pray for their two other children.

[lady_zana]

Probably death from exposure. Being out in the elements without the proper gear can kill a person, especially a child. It's possible he dehydrated in the heat.

[Medusa]

I don't know any more. I just do not know.

[shepgirl]

Seems we just close the door on one episode of child abuse and up pops another case.
I would be curious as to what caused the boy to die. Could he have been tied so tightly that the circulation was stopped or as mentionned, maybe the elements.
I am praying that the other two children will be put in foster homes where they can get the proper care and love they deserve. To be exposed to this kind of brutality will only lead to the children learning to act the same way.
So unbelievably sad, yet somewhere , at the time we read this, another child is being abused.

[Catty1]

shepgirl...there's a typo here, but I think we know what they ment:

Two couple' two other children, a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old, have been placed in the custody of the Department of Social Services.

[Trisst]

How can they do this?
Its impossible...I coudnt tie anything to a tree for a night...and they did this to their child...did they not think?

[pitc9]

OMG!!!

[Catty1]

An update in another article...he was tied to the tree from Wed nite til THURSDAY AFTERNOON AT 4:30????

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. on Thursday, Knight said.

The boy had languished outdoors while the area was blanketed in dense, acrid smoke from the Pocosin Lakes wildfire to the east. State officials had warned the public to stay indoors because of the smoke's health threat.

[Twisterdog]

Wow. Unbelievable.

We had a similar case here a few years ago. A couple put their two little kids, I think they were like 6 and 4 years old, in a tent in their yard. Then they padlocked the door shut. They said they did it because they had fumigated the house for insects, and didn't want them in there. Turns out they had instead had a party. One of the children died from heat stroke inside the tent before they finally let them out the next afternoon.

There must be a special place in hell.

[shepgirl]

Omg...that's even worse than what I first read. Parents like that, no matter how old they are, are just plain to selfish and stupid to have children.
Children are a blessing and parents are supposed to nurture, not torture.
So glad that Child Protective Services got involved for the sake of the other two children.