—blogged by @lovelikejhoney
Two brothers were charged for the brutal torture, rape and murder of a 16-year-old boy in Washington state on Monday.
The convicts, Jonathon Adamson, 21, and Benito Marquez, 16, appeared in Lewis County Superior Court where they were each charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape, tampering with physical evidence and unlawful disposal of remains in the death of Benjamin Eastman.
Evidence retrieved from Eastman’s phone prove that the brothers lured the 16-year-old into the woods on June 24 for a camping trip about 110 miles south of Seattle.
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When Adamson confessed the details of the night to Lewis County detectives, he recalled that after Eastman joined them, he was knocked to the ground and kicked more than 100 times. At one point, the 21-year-old admitted to sexually assaulting the teenager with a stick while he was still alive. The pair then proceeded to strike Eastman repeatedly in the head with a rock to make sure he was dead, before burying the body.
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According to court documents obtained by the public, after burning the 16-year-old’s clothes and items used to dig the grave, the brothers dug Eastman’s body back up and buried him in another place out of fears the first site would be discovered.
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The Lewis County Sheriff’s Department informed news sources that deputies came across a shallow grave on June 28, but were initially told the gravesite was for a dog that had recently died. Officers, however, “felt the information was suspicious in light of recent report of the runaway/missing juvenile.”
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After digging up the site, officers discovered the remains which were later identified as Benjamin Eastman. A coroner ruled that the cause of death to be blunt-force trauma to his head.
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Classmates of Eastman described the 16-year-old as “always joking” and someone who would do anything for a friend.
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“If you ever needed something he was there,” Peyton White, a classsmate, told the local news station. “He’d give you the shirt off his back.”
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Neither Adamson nor Marquez have offered any explanation, reason or remorse for the crimes committed. As a result, prosecutors decided on Monday to charge Marquez as an adult, and the judge ordered the brothers be held on $10 million bail.
