Man Raped 8-Year-Old Boy, Nude Photos Of Victim Found In Phone

A man from Millington, Tennessee, was charged after he admitted to raping an eight-year-old boy.

Police responded to Austin Fitzhugh’s home Thursday after receiving a complaint of child pornography in possession. Upon arrival, the officers searched the man’s phone and found photos depicting “prepubescent children in a state of nudity and performing sex acts.”

Some photos showed an unidentified 8-year-old laying nude on the bed. The officers then noticed that the curtains in the pictures matched with that of the accused’s home. During interrogation, the man admitted to performing sex acts on the 8-year-old boy including putting “the 8-year-old child’s penis in his mouth and penetrating the 8-year-old child’s anus with his finger.”

The accused was taken into custody and charged with rape and aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. Fitzhugh was released on a $100,000 bond Saturday.

Speaking to CBS-affiliated television station WREG, the 8-year-old victim’s family members said they had no idea about the accusations until they received a call from the law enforcement officials.

“It was like a bomb hit me. I’d never have known it,” the victim’s mother said.

Speaking about the accused, she said, “Until this situation, he was a really good dude. I never saw him do anything. He was quiet. I never thought in a million years this would happen. I allowed him to go with him.”

“It hurts to say he's done something to my son. It hurts to know he did it. Why did he do it? That’s my question, is why?" she added. The relation between the accused and the victim was, however, not known.

The neighbors of the accused said Fitzhugh only went between work and home and that he was “a good guy.”

"He does not strike me as a person that would harm a child. I don’t believe that whatsoever. I don’t believe it. He’s slow. He got scared, they talked him into some stuff. We all sit around and cook out. He doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs, he goes to work,” a neighbor said.