OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Oklahoma police are investigating a disturbing case after concerned friends of suspected parents noticed evidence of abuse on a child.
The Oklahoma parents believed that one of their children may have been demon possessed.
“Apparently, for whatever reason, parents believe that one of the children may have been demon-possessed, and they were trying to perform an exorcism by waterboarding the child,” said Oklahoma City Police MSgt. Gary Knight.
Friends of the suspected parents noticed “several welts” on the child’s body and head as well as bruising on his wrists, according to court documents.
“It was one child in particular that was being abused, that they felt that was possibly possessed by demons and felt like they need to take action to do that and that’s when the abuse occurred,” said Knight.
When police spoke to the male suspect, he seemed paranoid and like he was under the influence of a drug.
The female suspect told police the child was sometimes drugged with “benzos and cough syrup” by his father.
“There’s indication the child may have been beaten, abused, possibly given things to help them sleep or relax while this was all going on,” Knight said.
The mother also said other abuse occurred like the child being “placed in a bathtub and waterboarded.”
She also said he was put in a “laundry basket and dropped kicked.”
“He had bruises, welts on his body, appeared that he had been struck and apparently abused, mentioned he had been kicked, so injuries you’d expect would go along with that kind of behavior,” said Knight.
Witnesses say they saw the little boy “Blindfolded, soaked in sweat, and wearing a heavy coat.”
