It is not known why the boy was given custody to his step-father and why his immediate family was uninvolved in his upbringing or how the heinous abuse went unnoticed for so long.

Here are some details revealed about the sick torture that this poor boy went through:

In the statement, the boy said he was so underfed, he had gained 100 pounds in six months after leaving Pratt’s home.

He said when he was allowed out of the bedroom, Pratt would force him to stay sitting on the kitchen floor. At other times, the boy would be forced to kneel on a hard, wood floor or on a ruler as punishment.

“At Christmas, I could open my gifts. Then he would put them in a box, duct tape it shut and store it in the basement. I never got any gifts,” the boy wrote.

The boy said Pratt intimidated him by hitting him, cutting him with knives and threatening him with the rifle, so he was afraid to try to escape.

The coroner’s office identified the girl as Heather Brooke Center of Woodruff.

Investigators said they weren’t sure of Blackwell’s motive.

“I don’t know where you can go in the mind to justify shooting a child,” said Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright. “I don’t understand how you can get so angry.”

The sheriff said Blackwell, 50, has a long criminal record. He was charged with murder and kidnapping. No one answered his phone Wednesday night.

That is the update Jake Marland’s parents, Jenny and Scott, released in a statement Wednesday evening.

They also said the burns damaged 29 percent of Jake’s body. Though the injuries are still life-threatening, the 2-year-old appears to be recovering, his parents said.

According to the boy’s mother, her son had been digging a hole on the beach when he fell in headfirst. The sand collapsed, preventing him from breathing, police said; he was trapped for about one minute.

The driver deserves to have her guilt eat her alive.

Doug Pomplum says, “It’s a senseless thing that happened, there’s no reason for this person to be driving that van at the time.”Authorities say 31 - year - old Nicole Prechel hit the gas instead of the brake while attempting to back a van into a parking area at the Beaver Falls Campground near Morton…A mistake that killed four - month - old Wyatt Sander and wounded his mother 21 - year - old Sheena Hinshaw while they lay resting in their tent.

A 29 year old, male suspect was arrested for sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend, kidnapping her two children then attempted to car-jack a vehicle and shot it’s owner, then met his mother at a liquor store to take possession of his own two children.

Let’s hope his next destination will be the pearly gates of life long jail.

Los Angeles police issued an Amber Alert today in the alleged kidnapping of four children by a suspect who police said sexually assaulted one woman and later shot another during an attempted carjacking.

What a loser!

Let’s hope authorities don’t allow him any access to these children and that DCFS closely monitors the situation. And what about the girlfriend? She’s got to be a real brain-iac too, eh?

Both “parents” get MT’s Dumbass Award of the day.

The Nebraska man who abandoned his nine children last year under the state’s Safe Haven law and whose girlfriend is now expecting twins is “clearly troubled” and brings a “black eye” to the state, local lawmakers told FOXNews.com.

Gary Staton, 37, became a single father in February 2007 when his wife, RebelJane, died shortly after giving birth to their ninth child. Unable to handle the burden alone, Staton made national news more than a year later when he dropped off his children — ages 1 to 17 — at a hospital in Omaha.

The incident occurred in April 2008 at McSwain Elementary School, a K-8 school in Merced, Calif. Amador alleges in her legal complaint that school Principal Terrie Rohrer, Assistant Principal C.W. Smith and office clerk Martha Hernandez mistreated her daughter and denied the girl her First Amendment rights when they ordered her to leave the cafeteria and change her shirt.

The mother happens to be a social worker as well. If true — what a freakin’ loser! This is strangely reminiscent of the woman who pretended to be a boy and lured a girl into a relationship and then used psychology which drove the teen girl to commit suicide.

This is inexcusable and this mom needs to get her license taken away. She’s the one in need of some serious therapy. She’s lucky nothing more serious happened and I do truly feel sorry for her daughter who is apparently being raised by what may be a sociopath.

(CNN) — A Long Island, New York, social worker is facing two misdemeanor charges after allegedly posting a sexually suggestive ad on Craigslist that gave interested parties the home phone number of a 9-year-old girl.

According to prosecutors, Margery Tannenbaum posted the ad to get revenge after an argument between her daughter and the girl, who attend the same school in Hauppauge, New York.

CLEARWATER, FL — A 15-month old infant died Thursday night after apparently choking on sunflower seeds, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives say Stephan Talley, 1, was visiting his father’s home at 15641 Morgan Street when the incident happened at around 11:30 pm.