Remember when Nancy Grace of HLN’s Nancy Grace told a father on live television that his missing son had been found in his own basement? We all had ourselves quite the WTFSMDH moment. And while Charlie Bothuell IV denied being aware of his son’s whereabouts (which also escaped police searches for a while), we all wondered exactly what the hell the story was. Well, more information is surfacing and unfortunately it paints a picture of child abuse.
12-year-old Charlie Bothuell V informed authorities that his stepmother, Monique Dillard-Bothuell knew he was in the basement, telling him “not to come out, no matter what he hears.” Despite knowing exactly where he was, she did not bring him any food—Charlie V allegedly snuck up to the kitchen to eat when the house was empty.
A child-protective proceeding was filed yesterday detailing disturbing physical abuse of Charlie by his father and stepmother, including a “half circular scar on his chest, that he reports being a result of his father driving a PVC pipe into his chest,” his grandmother reporting that the last time she saw Charlie, “he was very skinny, and looked like a Cancer [sic] patient. He had marks all over his arms and chest.”
According to Opposing Views, a PVC pipe with blood on it was found in Bothuell’s house but Bothuell is not owning up to anything:
He has denied abusing his son and his attorney, Mark Magidson, denied that the pipe was used to beat Charlie. Magidson said that blood found on Charlie’s clothing was from scratching his eczema.
Dillard-Bothuell is spending the weekend in prison after a gun was found in the home, a violation of her probation.
Children’s Protective Services have taken Charlie’s younger siblings from the home, and Charlie himself is in the care of his mother.
Screenshot via Youtube.