Prosecutors Monday charged an Elkhart County couple with murder, alleging the father beat the boy to death at their home. The boy’s mother and grandmother say they had tried to warn school and child welfare officials that the boy was being abused.
Facing murder charges are 29-year-old Franklin Elmore Jr. and his wife, 27-year-old Cheyenne Elmore. Prosecutors say that on Aug. 3, Baugo Township fire department responded to their home on County Road 22 after Cheyenne called 911. They arrived to find 6-year-old Justin Elmore breathing but unconscious. They rushed him to Elkhart General Hospital but he died there.
At the hospital, court records say police and doctors found Justin’s body covered with bruises. The couple told police that Justin hit himself but doctors said they didn’t believe his injuries were self-inflicted. They also said he was underweight and looked malnourished.
Franklin told police that he punished Justin for misbehaving by whipping him with a belt, putting soap in his mouth, and making him run, do jumping jacks and lift weights. Court records say a neighbor told police Justin had worn a path in the yard from being forced to run so much.
His mother, Miranda McBride, and Franklin Elmore’s mother, Carrie Brown, said they had told the Department of Child Services and Jimtown Elementary officials months ago that they were worried Justin was being abused.
McBride, who is from Alabama, says she let Elmore, who she calls “Frankie,” have custody of Justin because she couldn’t afford to have him when they broke up.
“I just want the world to know that everyone failed my son, everyone from the school, to that CPS office, to that judge," McBride says. "I done what was right for my son. I was homeless up here. I was sleeping on people’s porches in the snow. I was sleeping in my car when I had one. I didn’t want my son doing that. So yeah, I let him stay with Frankie. And that now is the worst decision I have ever made because he would be alive even if he slept in a car with me.”
The couple are in jail and set to be arraigned Thursday.
