HollyMatkinWichita, KS – A three-year-old boy’s mother and her boyfriend were charged with first-degree murder in the toddler’s death on Tuesday, police said.
WARNING: Extremely disturbing details below.
Probable cause affidavits for the arrests of Miranda Miller, 36, and her boyfriend, Stephen Bodine, 40, were released on Wednesday, KSN reported.
The paperwork detailed the evidence that led to Miller and Bodine’s arrests in the death of Miller’s son, 3-year-old Evan Brewer, who was last seen alive in July.
Evan’s father, Carlo Brewer, had been worried about his son for several months when he decided to contact the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), Wichita Police Department Lieutenant Jeff Gilmore told People.
CDF investigated the allegation of abuse in April, and the court subsequently granted custody of Evan to Carlo on July 6.
But no one could find the little boy – or his mother.
Investigators soon discovered that Miller “was aware of the protection from order and was actively eluding being served,” Lt. Gilmore said, according to People.
On Aug. 30, the couple notified their landlord that they were moving out, and the landlord notified police, who apprehended the pair as they were leaving in a U-Haul, the Daily Mail reported.
Neither of them would tell investigators where Evan was.
Miller was arrested on suspicion of aggravated interference with parental custody.
Bodine was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and aggravated interference with parental custody.
Evan’s body was discovered on Sep. 2, when the couple’s landlord went to clean out their rental property.
“While working in the utility room located at the back of the residence, he attempted to remove a carpet covered platform that had tool boxes stacked on top of it,” the arrest affidavit read, according to the Daily Mail.
“The platform was much heavier than he expected, so he removed the tool boxes and pulled off the carpet,” the affidavit continued.
“He found that it was a large block of concrete with a wooden lower frame and caster wheels,” the report read.
Fearing the worst, the landlord began to hit the block with a sledgehammer. The further the hammer penetrated into the concrete, the more a rotten odor emanated from the block.
“He believed the smell was Evan’s body so he stopped and called 911,” the affidavit read.
Police responded and found the toddler, whose body was wrapped in a Ninja Turtles bed sheet, towels, and a roof tarp, the Daily Mail reported.
His remains were so badly decomposed that medical examiners were unable to determine the boy’s cause of death, FOX News reported.
According to the affidavit, Bodine told another inmate that Evan had stopped eating, and that “Miranda slept all day and the kid had no adult supervision,” FOX News reported.
Bodine told a sheriff’s office employee that the boy died “probably from neglect,” KSN reported.
A different inmate told investigators that Bodine said Miller waited several days before she called him to “help her get the body out of the house,” the affidavit read, according to FOX News.
Investigators also learned that Miller purchased concrete, threaded rod and a concrete trowel on May 26.
After the child’s body was found, investigators located horrific videos and still images of the little boy being abused.
Time stamps on the videos indicated that they were recorded in March and May, and were stored on an online account, the Daily Mail reported.
According to The Wichita Eagle, Miller was listed as the account owner.
One video allegedly showed Miller “violently spanking Evan for moving while in bed,” KSN reported.
Another showed the little boy with a chain around his neck, as he stood on a piece of cardboard on top of wooden pallets, the Daily Mail reported.
A different video showed the naked, bound toddler with a belt around his neck.
Bodine could be heard yelling at Evan in another video.
“Here you go tough smart guy. Think you can hear me coming now? Think you are so smart? Bet you’re not,” Bodine said.
“I’m f**********g sick of you,” Bodine told the boy in another video. “You’re going to lose everything.
According to the Wichita Eagle, investigators were told that the couple sold meth from their home. The witness “believed Evan was a hindrance and obstacle to Bodine and Miller’s lifestyle.”
Bodine’s mother told police that Bodine also abused his own daughters, and attempted to drown one of them when the child was two years old, The Wichita Eagle reported.
She added that Bodine allowed people to molest one of his children in exchange for drugs, and that she ultimately gave him a house so he would let her have custody of his children.
Miller and Bodine have yet to enter pleas, People reported.
Their next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11.