Otto Smith

Name: Otto Smith.
Died: April 13, 2014.
Age at death: 18.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Auburn, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Details:
Otto and his younger brother were being raised by a single mother. His favorite thing was a musical keyboard, and he liked to watch The Lion King.

Everything changed for them when she started dating one of the men she met through Craigslist. The man moved into the house and beat both boys, taking them out of school to keep the abuse secret. He also forced Otto’s mother to cancel the caregiver who normally came to help Otto. They were made to exercise to exhaustion and to take ice baths. Otto was shocked with a stun gun. Otto’s younger brother was so isolated that he never had a chance to tell anyone what was happening; Otto himself tried to communicate by his behavior how bad his home was, but no one was listening.

During one beating, Otto’s stepfather hit him with the musical keyboard he loved, smashed it, and then flushed its keys down the toilet. Otto was beaten badly enough that his mother had to take him to the hospital, but she lied to the doctors, claiming that Otto had fallen down the stairs and then that he had injured himself deliberately. Otto was taken to a residential treatment center briefly, and when the stay ended, he was so afraid of returning that he tried to jump out of the car on the way back.

Otto’s fear was well-founded. Only days after he returned home, his stepfather murdered him. His mother was there at the time, but she didn’t help him as her boyfriend stuffed a sock into Otto’s mouth, duct-taped it closed, and waited for him to suffocate. Once again, she covered for Otto’s killer, and the death was ruled a natural one.

For a month after Otto’s death, Otto’s brother lived a hellish existence of abuse and starvation, forced to sleep in the bathroom and often beaten.

When his mother and her boyfriend were arrested for causing damage to their apartment complex, Otto’s mother and brother finally had a chance to come forward–his mother admitting to helping to hide the murder, and his brother reporting the abuse he and Otto had been subjected to.

When Otto’s killer was charged with abusing his younger brother, the investigation into Otto’s death was re-opened. Otto’s brother was removed from the home, and is now living with their grandparents.

With Otto’s death declared a homicide, his mother and stepfather were arrested and convicted–his stepfather of murder, his mother of helping cover up the crime.

References:
Trial considers whether man killed, tortured girlfriend’s sons
Detective: Teacher says she helped beau hide her autistic son’s murder
Police: Autistic teen beaten to death
Charge: Auburn man abused autistic boy to death as mother stood by
Mom: Beau’s love left me ‘euphoric,’ then he killed my son
Brother of slain autistic teen: Abuse rendered me ‘hopeless’
Boyfriend found guilty of murdering woman’s autistic son
65 years for Auburn man in death of girlfriend’s autistic son he bound and gagged