Dad shackled son in bathtub with K-9 shock collar before his death: cops
An Indiana dad locked up his 12-year-old son in a motel bathroom — restraining him with shackles and a K-9 shock collar — before he died last week, cops said.
The boy, Eduardo Passo, had been placed in the bathtub, where his father — Luis Posso, 32 — allegedly videotaped him and took “selfies” in front of his 9-year-old sister and two brothers, ages 5 and 2, according to police officials.
“There are no words for this kind of abuse,” said detective Lt. Jennifer Allen at a press conference Tuesday. “Disbelief, horror, shock — you can’t even put it into words.”
Local sheriff Brad Swain said the case was “beyond anything” he had ever seen before.
“You don’t even want to let your mind go to imagine what this child went through,” he told reporters. “The emergency room doctor had a pretty emotional experience as a result of having to do this examination and seeing firsthand the cruelty some people can place [on a child].”
Posso and his son’s stepmother, Dayan Median Flores, 25, were both arrested on Friday and charged with neglect following an investigation. They had taken Eduardo to IU Health Bloomington Hospital on Thursday for treatment, Swain said — describing the boy’s condition as “unresponsive.”
“A quick examination of the child found signs of extreme abuse,” the sheriff explained, noting that law enforcement was notified.
“The child was brought in at 2:52 a.m. and determined dead at 3:05 a.m.”
Swain said he was “severely emaciated” — weighing between 50 to 55 pounds.
“I can’t think of, in 30 years, a case like this,” he told reporters.
Posso and Flores had been in town with a traveling circus, advertising for an upcoming show, according to police. Detectives found the shock collar and shackles that they allegedly used on Eduardo during a search of their motel room.
Video footage of the alleged abuse was found on the couple’s cellphones. Eduardo’s brothers and sister have been placed in the care of Child Protection Services.
“I’m sure this will be with those children for the rest of their lives,” Swain said.
