The Canton House Torture Case

Court documents indicate a couple held a 7-year-old girl captive for seven months between January and July this year by locking her up in a dog cage at their home, according to court documents obtained by The Canton Repository.

Malvern resident William Morlock testified he received a text message on May 4 from Bonnie Metz asking him to go to a house where she lived with Morlock.

What Happened?

The canton house torture case is both shocking and perplexing, involving numerous suspects and victims as well as multiple locations where torture occurred, allegations of drug use among them, and more. But details are starting to come together, painting a troubling picture of human depravity.

The first victim, who was pregnant with Conley’s child, told police that Plovic and Conley beat her until she lost consciousness, then tied and covered her head before forcing her to drink an unsavory liquid before using chemical spray to cause facial burns and burns. She reported seeing Plovic & Conley tie her up & cover her head, then spray her face with chemicals, which caused an unpleasant burning sensation before later spreading their faces with chemical irritants, causing it to sting – eventually, she fainted for good.

She testified that when she would wake up and scream, Plovic and Conley would kick, punch, and stomp on her. While her memory of what transpired following the initial assault was foggy at best, two weeks after it occurred, it became more vivid. According to court documents, she told investigators she and another victim fled into another home where they were pistol-whipped several times before being handcuffed by wrist and ankle chains before being threatened with gunpoint by Plovic & Coley.

At trial, Sheldon Sexton was presented as an abusive person who victimized his wife and three children: wife, daughter, and baby boy. As a felon who served prison time for robbery and aggravated assault crimes, had a volatile temper, was physically incapable of taking care of his family;

Trial proceedings exposed a pattern of emotional and physical abuse directed against children living in homes run by the couple. An eight-month investigation conducted by Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, and Canton Repository, as well as other USA TODAY newsrooms, revealed chaos that goes far beyond fistfights between youths. Instead, life-altering injuries resulted in some instances leading to fatalities.

Cheryl McCollins of Canton is filing suit against Judge Rotenberg Center, alleging her severely disabled son was subject to physical and psychological torture while living there, believing he is being treated like an animal by an institution meant to help him become a productive citizen.

What We Know

The canton house torture case is both heart-wrenching in its severity and disorienting due to all of the suspects, victims, and locations involved. Six individuals face charges of aggravated murder or gross abuse of a corpse. There are two separate homes affected, as well as numerous relationships among suspects, victims, and others connected with this case.

Lillian Cottrell, 29, and Derek Mayle, 30, allegedly tortured a 7-year-old girl by keeping her locked inside a dog cage in the basement of their home at times. When police removed the child from Cottrell and Mayle’s care, she weighed 28 pounds with bloody wounds on both her face and back; police have declined to say how long the caged child was kept within it nor what other forms of abuse or neglect may have taken place during her time with them.

Michael McIntosh, father of the children found beaten and chained at home, admitted allowing Jessica Cox, his wife, to destroy, handcuff, and torture their sons. Additionally, he repeatedly lied to investigators and the court, claiming they deserved what happened; on Thursday, he was sentenced to 16 years.

Cottrell and Mayle allegedly committed further abuses against their other child, an 8-year-old boy. Prosecutors claim he was forced to consume his vomit and have his ears burned with hot metal as they abducted their daughter, whom they then drove back to Ohio, where she was beaten, tied up, and tortured before her disappearance was discovered.

Last month, 13 children found malnourished and chained together in Perris, California, were homeschooled. According to the Coalition for Responsible Home Education – a national non-profit that advocates on behalf of homeschooling families – this case fits within a pattern seen since 2013 of isolated and abusive homes where parents use children as tools of control and manipulation.

What We Don’t Know

ROMULUS — The trial of Jeremy Morlock for murder, felony murder, and torture has begun, and its evidence has already shown how disturbing his case is compared with accounts from Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib or even Chinese re-education camps or Soviet gulags; instead, it describes terror in suburban Canton, Ohio.

It is an account of how families can turn against one another and abandon their children to strangers’ cruelty.

Court documents indicate that two Canton residents were charged with harboring and confining for seven months a 7-year-old girl weighing 28 pounds at one point in a dog cage in their basement, according to court records.

Lillian Cottrell, 29, and Derek Mayle, 30, were arrested Tuesday at their home after federal agents indicted them for two counts of endangering children. By Thursday, it wasn’t known if either had retained attorneys.

Child welfare officials removed her from their home by taking action with regard to child abuse or neglect allegations; she weighed 28 pounds when born from them, had older brothers living there, too, and no evidence was found for abuse or neglect against any of them.

On Wednesday, 34th District Court Judge Tina Brooks Green informed the jury in this case of their relationship via cellphone records, as evidenced by Sutton and Jones allegedly having had an intimate relationship. Police discovered Jones dead on Jan 8 on a bathroom floor with a plastic bag over his head and covered with bloody skin – having been severely beaten before being placed there by Sutton, allegedly having lived together.

The Case Continues

Jeremy Morlock’s ongoing aggravated murder trial is disturbing because it alleges torture that took place at his Correll Avenue NE home, yet it is confusing due to the multiple suspects and victims involved. On day one of testimony from two victims – including one who described being held captive in what has come to be known as the rodent room for extended periods without pillows or blankets, sleeping there under dim overhead lighting with only faint rays emanating from a lightbulb providing illumination – accounts were given that were quite chilling in terms of details regarding details surrounding torture that took place within that home.

A woman alleging domestic violence claimed she had an intimate sexual encounter with a man before he physically attacked her; she managed to convince police not to press charges against him.

Prosecutor Dan Petricini alleges that Lillian Cottrell, 29, and Derek Mayle, 30, both from Canton, were responsible for repeatedly abusing a 7-year-old girl between January and July. According to police reports, these adults locked the child inside a dog cage in their basement for seven months while forcing her to drink from toilets and urinate on herself, among other abuses.

Another victim testified before the court that she was suffocated while sleeping with Cottrell and threatened with a knife, in addition to having had sexual relations with Cottrell; ultimately, she convinced police not to press charges against her.

Michael McIntosh, an ex-cop father whose two boys were subject to physical, nutritional, and psychological abuse at Jessica Cox’s hands, was handed 16 years in prison on Thursday for permitting her to do this while sometimes abusing the children himself at her bidding. Additionally, he lied to investigators and gave false testimony during their trial process.

The mother of a severely disabled boy sues Canton Treatment Center, which uses shocking therapy on its students with severe mental and behavioral disorders. She filed her lawsuit against Judge Rotenberg Center, a special needs school that employs punishing systems like electric skin shocks to alter behavior, and she aims to show that this kind of treatment is cruel and torturous.