Man Found Guilty In Death Of 3-Year-Old Boy Encased In Concrete

A Kansas man was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the death of a three-year-old boy whose body was found encased in concrete.

Stephen Bodine of Wichita was convicted in the May 2017 death of Evan Brewer Bodine. He was also found guilty of child abuse, aggravated child endangerment and two counts of kidnapping.

At Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors presented evidence to prove Bodine, who was the live-in partner of the child's mother, had “horrifically” abused the toddler, leading to his death. Reports said there were over 16,000 photos and video files, collected on a home surveillance system, which showed Bodine abusing the child. It included footage of the boy chained and naked in a basement, being berated by Bodine and the boy’s mother, Miranda Miller, and of the boy being forced to stand in a corner for hours. The prosecutors called a dozen witnesses during the six days of trial, a report in NBC News said. The evidence also included parts of the concrete tomb found in the rental home where the boy had lived with his mother.

“Evan Brewer wouldn’t break. Mom broke. But Evan was strong willed,” Sedgwick County Deputy District Attorney Justin Edwards said on Oct. 16. “He wouldn’t bend to the rules of the house and ultimately he died because of that.”

On May 19, 2017, Miller, in exchange for a lesser sentence, testified that Bodine was punishing Evan for not eating when the death happened. She said the man took the screaming boy into the bathroom and came out holding the small boy’s wet and limp body in his arms, she said.

During a preliminary hearing a few days later, she said Bodine told her he wanted “to take care of Evan before he started to smell." He mixed up several bags of concrete and buried the toddler in it, she added.

Evan’s body was discovered in September 2017. An autopsy of the toddler’s body could not reveal the cause and manner of his death as it was already badly decomposed by the time he was chipped out of the concrete, investigators said.

Bodine could face life in prison for the crime, with a possibility of parole after serving at least 35 years of his sentence, Fox News reported. His sentencing will be held Dec. 17.

In April, Miller worked out a plea deal with prosecutors that will put her away for up to 27-and-half years in exchange for testifying against Bodine, a report in the Wichita Eagle said.

Evan’s father, Carlo Brewer, celebrated the verdict. According to reports, he said his joy was tempered by sadness due to the cruelty his son endured. Brewer was fighting for custody of Evan in the months that led up to his death. Authorities were alerted at least six times about the abuse the toddler was going through, a report in NBC News said.

"[Evan] didn't get to have the imagination like other children, where they think there's monsters in their closets or under their beds," Brewer said. "He had real monsters."