A Wyoming man has pleaded guilty to assault occasioning serious bodily injury after he was accused of torturing and starving his 13-year-old stepson with his wife.
Truman Sitting Eagle, 36, was even accused of forcing the boy to live in a crawl space under his home in the town of Araphoe, without access to food.
The federal investigation dates back to December last year, after the boy had been missing from school for a month.
Matt Lee, a school resource officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, made several attempts to find him but was unsuccessful, according to the FBI.
On December 12, Lee demanded to see him and Sitting Eagle finally gave in, revealing that he had been hiding in the crawl space.
Truman Sitting Eagle (pictured left), a Wyoming man, has pleaded guilty to assault causing great bodily harm after being accused of torturing and starving his 13-year-old stepson with his wife Kandace (pictured right)
The federal investigation dates back to December last year, after the couple’s son had been missing from school for a month. Matt Lee, a school resource officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, made several attempts to find him but was unsuccessful, according to the FBI.
The boy had bruises and a swollen face, with Lee reporting that he appeared to have lost ten pounds since the last time he saw him.
He was taken to a local health care facility before being airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) south.
During his hospitalization, his arms, chest and back were observed to be bruised and his fingers, face, ear and scalp had lacerations, according to Cowboy State Daily.
He could move only slowly and said he was in pain and very hungry, having not eaten for several days in the past 24 hours, apart from a sandwich and some chips.
When interviewed by investigators, he said his stepfather Sitting Eagle and his mother – Kandace Sitting Eagle, 33 – told him he was causing a mouse problem and stealing food from them.
The Sitting Eagles tied his bedroom door shut, but the boy was able to escape and get food, the FBI alleged in an affidavit.
‘This made them angry. They put a lock on his door. They also screwed the window shut so he couldn’t get out,” the report said.
He even accused them of punching and punching him in the face when they caught him stealing food.
The boy was forced to hide in a crawl space at the couple’s home in Araphoe, Wyoming
When interviewed by investigators, the boy said his parents told him he was causing a mouse problem and stealing food from them
The family’s other children, all under the age of nine, were interviewed and confirmed that they had witnessed their brother being abused
At one point, stepfather Truman put the boy in a chokehold until he was unconscious. When he woke up, his stepfather was beating him.
The boy’s mother was “taking care of the babies or taking the girls to school” when her husband did this to her son.
“You have to stop hitting that boy or something bad will happen,” Kandace said, according to the FBI, which said that at one point Truman hit the boy so hard that his hands “swelled up like balloons.”
Kandace also hit her son, but he said “her blows didn’t hurt.”
His memory had become ‘fuzzy’; at one point he couldn’t remember being let out of his room on Thanksgiving.
The mother and stepfather yelled at him and only occasionally fed him leftovers.
The boy’s siblings – all under the age of nine – were interviewed by federal agents and all confirmed that their brother had been hit.
During Lee’s visit on December 12, the boy overheard Truman talking to Kandace on the phone before Truman told him to go to the crawl space.
Sitting Eagle reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors on April 4 and will be sentenced on July 9. He faces no less than 10 years in prison and could receive a life sentence.
He stayed there until Lee told him to come out.
Federal child abuse charges were brought against the couple in mid-December, with a federal indictment set for January 18.
Sitting Eagle reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors on April 4 and will be sentenced on July 9.
He faces as many as 10 years in prison and could receive a life sentence.
Wife Kandace’s prosecution is still ongoing and a guilty plea has yet to be entered. She faces multiple felony charges related to her son’s abuse and incarceration.