Man gets jail up to 100 years for torturing autistic brother to death

A chilling incident came to light where a Michigan resident Paul Ferguson was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 100 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to torturing his autistic sibling to death. The court read out the sentence on Monday.

Paul Ferguson was convicted of first-degree child abuse related to the death of his 15-year-old younger brother Timothy, who was tortured by his mother, Shanda Vander Ark, 44.

The 15-year-old Timothy died in July 2022. When he died, he was just 32 kgs and was subjected to merciless punishments including feeding him hot sauce, locking away food and depriving him of sleep.

In the text messages, it was also found that they discussed pouring hot sauce on the genitals of Timothy. The text message read, "I wonder how it would feel to have that hot sauce on your private parts. I’m not saying touch him there, not at all, but dripping a little bit there, is that horrible,' said the mother.

The mother, Shanda Vander Ark, was sentenced in January to life in prison without a chance of parole. The jury convicted her of murder and child abuse in her son’s death. When she was shown the images of her son’s emaciation as he starved to death, she vomited in court in full view of the jury.

During the trial of the mother, it was revealed that she forced him to eat bread covered in hot sauce and would lock the fridge to prevent him from being able to eat. She also installed the house and the tiny closet Timothy was sleeping in with motion sensors, alarms and live feed cameras.

Paul testified against her mother at her trial and he said that he put Timothy in an ice bath for nearly nine hours. Paul said, "(I am suffering) something close to Stockholm Syndrome. I desire to find a role model that, due to my low self-esteem, I would do anything to make them proud of me."

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