Caregiver Reggie Bethel has been charged with the murder of an 11-year-old autistic boy, whom he claimed slipped and fell in dog urine and feces.
Mason Weston was found unresponsive on the couch of his Minnesota home on July 29, The Daily Beast reported. He died on August 7.
A physician says Weston’s bruises and fresh cuts weren’t consistent with his caregiver’s story. Medical records show that he suffered a traumatic brain injury that required surgery.
To make matters worse, the boy’s mother, Christina Herren, originally corroborated Bethel’s account but eventually came forward to say the man had repeatedly hit her son’s head on the floor and wall when disciplining him.
When authorities brought the evidence to Bethel’s attention, he admitted to hitting Mason in a fit of rage.
Herren and her son moved in with Bethel last November.
Bethel, 56, of Fergus Falls, is charged with one count of second-degree unintentional murder, court documents show. He also faces charges of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter.
