7-Year-Old Died From Punishment For Forgetting Bible Verses

Three people were arrested Friday in connection with the death of a seven-year-old Wisconsin boy following punishment for failing to memorize bible verses. Ethan Hauschultz died in April 2018 of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.

Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office said his court-appointed guardians — Timothy Hauschultz and his wife Tina Hauschultz — and their 15-year-old son Damian were arrested following an investigation. Investigations revealed that on the day of his death, Ethan was beaten and forced to carry around a heavy log.

According to the Sheriff's office press release, “Ethan had been performing punishment ordered by Timothy which required Ethan to carry a heavy wooden log, weighing approximately two-thirds his body weight, while being monitored by Timothy’s 15-year-old son.”

“Over the course of 1-1.5 hours, the 15-year-old hit, kicked, struck and poked Ethan numerous times. He repeatedly shoved Ethan to the ground and rolled the heavy log across Ethan’s chest. He stood on his body and head while Ethan was face-down in a puddle. He ultimately buried Ethan completely in snow,” the release added, the Herald Times Reporter reported.

Timothy and Tina then transported Ethan to a nearby hospital. Though doctors performed life-saving measures, they were unable to save the boy.

"Ethan was unresponsive, had an extremely low body temperature, and had multiple bruises and injuries on his body,” the release said.

“The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office noted that Ethan died following strenuous physical punishment outdoors and prolonged environmental exposure while covered/buried in snow. His cause of death was hypothermia and other blunt force injuries to the head, chest and abdomen,” the release added.

A few days after Ethan’s death, his mother Andrea Everett had said, "When I got there Ethan did not have a heartbeat and his temperature was 23 degrees. They worked on him for five hours, giving him CPR the entire time, and still couldn't get a heartbeat. There was no brain activity. I want justice for my son, and the person responsible should go to jail for a very long time."

During police interrogation, Damian stated he “didn’t do anything that would have hurt” Ethan and said he hit him around 100 times. He also admitted to covering the boy in snow and described Ethan as being covered “in his own little coffin of snow,” Fox 11 Online reported.

Damian was charged with “first-degree reckless homicide” and six other charges, and Timothy with “felony murder” and five other charges. Tina was charged with “failing to prevent bodily harm”, and “intentionally contributing to the delinquency of a child.”

All the three will appear in a court in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, on Monday.