Investigators in Michigan have detained a 28-year-old mother and a 31-year-old man in connection with the death of the woman’s 3-year-old son, who was murdered in his home almost seven years ago.
Authorities said Friday that Amanda Maison and her boyfriend at the time, Maurice Houle, were arrested and charged with one count each of first-degree murder in the 2018 killing of little Matthew Maison.
Due to his alleged actions during Friday’s arrest, Houle is also charged with three counts of assault, resisting, or obstructing a police officer.
The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Friday that Matthew was discovered dead in his bed inside the family’s Port Huron Township home on February 18, 2018.
The sheriff’s office stated that the charges were made in response to “significant recent developments” in the toddler’s death investigation, but it did not elaborate on the specifics of the arrests last week.
Prosecutors said at Monday’s arraignment hearing that Matthew endured “years of abuse at the hands of both defendants,” according to courtroom video.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Josh Sparling stated on Monday that both defendants “admitted” that the other had abused Matthew. “We came to realise of a scheme where both defendants conjured up this lie of previous injuries to the victim in our case, Matthew Maison, and came up with the lie about how the injury occurred prior to talking to investigators,” Sparling said.
According to Sparling, Matthew endured “very cruel, torturous abuse and punishment,” including “being locked in his room for hours on end without food or water” and “being placed in timeout on his knees where his head would be banged off the drywall.”
“There was a prior time where Maurice place a pillow over this child’s face and pretended like he was playing, but yet we know from the autopsy that Matthew died from blunt force trauma from all of the injuries he sustained as well as suffocation,” Sparling stated.
Then, as the prosecution repeated yet another vile accusation made against Maison and Houle, the proceedings took on an even more twisted tone.
“Not to mention this plan that was put forth to kill Matthew to make room for a child the two of them could have together,” Sparling stated.
According to the Macomb County Scanner, once the two were arraigned Monday, it was disclosed that Matthew was most likely battered and strangled to death, and investigators concluded that his cause of death was a homicide.
St. Clair County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz reportedly stated in the autopsy report, “It is my opinion that Matthew Maison died secondary to blunt traumatic injuries with features of asphyxiation. The extent, severity, and distribution of the traumatic injuries is indicative of inflicted trauma.”
Authorities had not disclosed any information on the boy’s death until Monday’s hearings.
On the morning of February 19, 2018, emergency medical workers and deputies arrived to the Maison residence in response to a youngster who was not responding. First responders discovered Matthew deceased inside the house when they arrived on the scene.
When the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in February 2020 for the 911 call related to the boy’s death, they were informed that the St. Clair County Central Dispatch recording system automatically removes recordings after a year.
For the 2015 murder of Andrew Maison’s 5-year-old daughter Mackenzie Maison, Amanda Maison’s brother Andrew Maison and his wife Hilery Maison are presently serving life sentences without the possibility of release. Additionally, they were convicted of gravely harming Makayla Maison, his 3-year-old daughter.
Source: lawandcrime
