Suspect In Custody For Allegedly Helping Mom Waterboard Son
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KAUFMAN COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - There is new information in a case of a North Texas child who deputies say was tied up and waterboarded. It was officials in a school district who alerted members of law enforcement to the possible abuse.
Deputies believe Casey Shackleford helped his girlfriend waterboard and abuse her son.
The child attends school outside of Kaufman County. Deputies say someone at the school suspected abuse and called Child Protective Services on February 3. Officials with CPS in turn notified law enforcement officers.
Shackelford turned himself in at the Kaufman County Jail Wednesday night. Now deputies are working to determine exactly what the 45-year-old's role was in the alleged abuse.
Details included in the arrest affidavit are disturbing. Shackleford, who is the boyfriend of 40-year-old Howell, joined the woman in using torture-style techniques on the child, who is under the age of 14 and has special needs.
Officials with the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office arrested Howell last week and she reportedly admitted to to trying up her son, but said she did it because Shackleford told her to.
According to the affidavit, Shackleford grabbed the boy by the hair and pinned him down, while Howell held a towel over the boy's face and poured water over his mouth and nose. When interviewed. the boy said the only reason he didn't feel like he was drowning was because he could still move his head form side to side, under the towel.
Because it is so harsh, waterboarding is an interrogation technique that has been banned by the U.S. when questioning terror suspects.
Deputies say the couple also bound the child's genitals and neck with a rope. Photographs of the boy's injuries, including rope burns, bruises and cuts, were taken by an investigator with Child Protective Services.
The report says the pair hurt the boy because he had inappropriately touched a dog's rear end, which the child admitted to because he said he "wanted to do the right thing."
Howell is charges with Injury to a Child and her bond is set at $250,000. Shackleford has also been charged with Injury to a Child and also Probation Revocation -- last year he was convicted of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
The injured child is now in the custody of Child Protective Services. There were no other children living at the home.
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