I knew there was something up with Robert's case. That there was more than that he fell into the water, that he was even there to start with, which I never believed. I felt that he had head trauma and that he was dead before he went in that water. But I cannot imagine the horror that little boy lived the last hours of his life.
As reported by KTVB.com:
"According to this grand jury indictment, this was not an isolated event that killed this little boy, but rather the tragic conclusion of prolonged abuse."
"Melissa Scott Jenkins, on or between June 2009 and the 24th day of July 2009, in the County of Ada, State of Idaho, did aid or abet another, Daniel Ehrlick, who did unlawfully and with malice aforethought kill and murder Robert G. Manwill," read 4th District Judge Deborah Bail. " And/or by inflicting upon Robert Manwill extreme or prolonged acts of brutality with the intent to cause suffering, to execute vengence or to satisfy some sadistic inclination, by inflicting repeated acts of blunt force trauma to the abdomen and/or head of Robert Manwill."
The indictment says Ehrlick did so by, essentially, beating the child -- causing internal bleeding, bruising and swelling of the brain.
In the mother's indictment it says she did not protect her child from such abuse, and goes further to say she hid evidence of his mistreatment from those who could have helped.
If convicted, both Jenkins and Ehrlick could face the death penalty.
I am sick to my stomach. I look at the face of that sweet,innocent little boy and I want to cry. I cannot imagine how a person could do this to another human being, let alone an innocent 8 year old child. And a mother who not only abuses her children, stands by and watches someone else torture one of them and then helps them to cover it up by dumping his little body into a canal. Sometimes I go back and forth with the morality of the death penalty, but I can tell you right at this moment, I want to impose it myself.
