Siblings of boy, 12, found ‘beaten to death by evil parents in dungeon had no idea he even existed’
THE SIBLINGS of a 12-year-old boy found dead while held captive in a dungeon didn’t know they had a brother.
Little Maxwell Schollenberger was imprisoned by his dad and step-mom who never enrolled him in school and had not brought him to a doctor in over a decade, court docs say.
The 12-year-old boy was found .
Annville Township, Pennsylvania police found him dead, naked in his bed covered in feces with claw marks on the bed sheets.
The bedroom windows were sealed completely shut and there was no electrical or natural light in the room.
Police also observed three metal hooks on the door they believe were used to keep Max locked in the room. Authorities also found a cup filled with one inch of water in the room.
Max’s biological father Scott Schollenberger Jr., 42, and Scott’s wife Kimberly Mauer, 35, have been charged with criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of children.
Other children who lived in the home said they didn’t even know they had a brother.
They appeared healthy and are believed to be the biological children of Scott and Kimberly, but it is unknown how many there are in the home.
Police say little Max was not found to have any physical or mental disabilities. A medical examiner found that the young preteen was severely malnourished and had limited muscle mass on all four of his limbs.
He had weakened bones and only weighed 47.5 pounds and was 50 inches tall despite being 12 years old.
Michael W. Johnson, who performed the autopsy on Max, said the little boy died of homicide, referring to the blunt force injuries on Max's head along with long-term starvation.
"In my medical opinion, this 12-year-old child died as the result of blunt force head trauma complicating starvation/malnutrition," Johnson .
Pier Hess Graf, Lebanon County District Attorney, said Max's guardians were anything but.
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"Today marks the first step in the long path of justice for this little boy. Max Schollenberger existed – I will not call this living – in a state of perpetual suffering; he existed in the most egregious and foul of conditions," Graf said.
"He remained starved, locked away, and isolated until his killing. This child never looked forward to his first day of school, blew out candles on a birthday cake, or experienced the unconditional love of family," he continued. "The utter despair that was Max Schollenberger’s life begs for justice for his death."
Both Scott and Mauer are being held without bail.