Michigan man starved, tortured autistic brother to death; Could face up to 100 years in jail

A 21-year-old man in Michigan, United States, is facing up to 100 years in prison for the torture and murder of his teenage brother in July 2022. The judge described Paul Ferguson as “one step away from becoming a psychopath”. He sentenced him to jail. The teenager, Timothy Ferguson, was 15 when he died after being brutally abused by his mother and older brother. Timothy, who suffered from autism and speech and motor disorders, weighed only 69 pounds (31 kilograms) when he died.

Paul and Timothy’s mother, Shanda Vander Ark, 44, was found guilty of abusing her son and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in January this year. Timothy’s brother Paul Ferguson has also been convicted in the same case and has been sentenced to a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 100 years in prison.

A video of the court hearing shows Paul Ferguson stepping back as the court announces his sentence.

Timothy endured months of brutal abuse at the hands of his mother and older brother. According to a report in the New York Post, the boy, who was being homeschooled, was fed hot sauce, given icy baths, tied up using shackles and zip ties, and deprived of sleep.

Vander Ark covered the house and placed cameras in the small closet in which Timothy was sleeping, the Daily Mail reports. She would even lock the refrigerator to keep Timothy hungry.

A text message exchange between Vander Ark and his son Paul read: “I wonder how that hot sauce would feel on your private parts. I’m not saying touch it there, not at all, but there It’s dripping a little.” Is this terrible.(sic)”

Timothy died in July 2022. The autopsy revealed that the child died of malnutrition and hypothermia.

Paul Ferguson, who testified that he had tortured his brother at the direction of their mother, confessed to leaving Timothy in a cold tub for four hours before the child died.

There were bruises everywhere on Timothy Ferguson’s emaciated body, ribs almost visible through the skin.

Paul Ferguson confessed to abusing his younger brother, saying he did so on the orders of his mother. He pleaded for “compassion and fairness”.

“If I could do it all over again, and do it right, I would,” the 21-year-old said in court. “I guess I’ll have to pay for my choices and still never feel better, because she still has gone.”

However, the judge deemed Ferguson “as bad, if not worse” than his mother and convicted him of first-degree child abuse.