Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Payton Wesley Ettinger's Sad Life: Mom Courtney Tressler Charged With Starving Him to Death
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 12:02 pm
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| When Martin Ettinger beat Payton when the boy was just two months old, he left him with brain damage that would make his disabled for life |
But mom wasn't up to giving him that constant care. In fact, the 25-year-old Courtney barely cared for him at all.
In May, she called police to report that Payton had died. She claimed she had fed him, put him in his crib, then found him dead later that day. But detectives would find something completely different.
An autopsy revealed he died of starvation and dehydration. He was skeletal with no food in his body. When he was a year old, he'd weighed 17 pounds. By the time of his death at age 4, he weighed a paltry 12 pounds.
Courtney tried to claim she'd taken the boy to the doctor last year. But detectives discovered he hadn't seen a physician since 2006, despite his severe disabilities. Courtney would later say she didn't take him to the doctor because she couldn't afford it. But two days after his death, she went to the doctor herself.
She's now charged with reckless homicide and neglect of a dependent in Greensburg, Indiana. But just to show how dysfunctional this family is, her latest husband claims she's innocent.
Apparently Greg Tressler didn't notice that his own stepson weighed just 12 pounds. Why he hasn't been charged as well remains a mystery. He's either really dumb or really delusional -- likely both -- because he's trying to blame Payton's death on the cops.
"Is this just a misunderstanding?" he asked WTHR-TV. "Is this just someone got the wrong idea or something like that? I think it's a small town and someone's trying to make a name for themselves."
See our last child starvation case: Abneris Santiago Gets Life for Locking Starving Kids in Bathroom for 9 Months.
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