The Michigan woman convicted of starving her disfigured teenage son to death vomited violently on a seat Friday after being shown photos of her emaciated body hours before she died.
Shanda Vander Ark, 44, testified that she had bathed 15-year-old Timothy Ferguson – a detail disputed by her eldest son – shortly before he was found dead in July 2022 in a glorified closet that forced him to sleep, wrapped only in a tarp.
An autopsy determined the teenager — who weighed just 69 pounds — died of malnutrition and hypothermia.
Prosecutor Matt Roberts pressed Vander Ark on the details of the alleged bath, confirming that he was the one who put Timothy in and washed him himself.
“Did he look like that when you put him in the tub?” Roberts asked after slapping several pictures of Timothy’s bruised and badly killed body in front of his mother.
Vander Ark immediately raised his hand to his mouth and giggled as he looked at the pictures before giving in and throwing up into the bin under the seat.
Shanda Vander Ark was testifying when she vomited in front of the court. Court TV Vander Ark was arrested in 2022 for killing and torturing his 15-year-old son Timothy Ferguson. Muskegon County Jail
“I’m sorry,” he began to say before another bout of illness turned into tears and prompted the judge to clear the courtroom.
Vander Ark was still ill and did not return to the courtroom when the jury returned his guilty verdicts on murder and child abuse.
The jury took over an hour to deliberate. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 29.
“He killed her. He starved him to death,” Roberts said.
Vander Ark’s disabled son was found dead in the closet that forced him to sleep, wrapped only in a tarp. Muskegon County Jail
Vander Ark’s attorney, Fred Johnson, argued that his client did not understand the harm his son had caused and did not know he was starving to death.
A series of text messages and confessions from Timothy’s brother dispute Johnson’s claims, including his testimony that he gave the boy a warm bath the night he died.
Paul Ferguson, 20, allegedly told investigators he had given Timothy an ice bath that day, leaving him in the tub for at least four hours, because his mother told him to.
It was revealed during the trial that Vander Ark fed his son hot sauce as food. Muskegon County Jail
Ice baths were among the teenager’s regular abuses, along with being fed hot sauce, being shackled and zipped and unable to sleep.
Vander Ark also ordered Paul Ferguson — who faces one count of first-degree child abuse for his alleged involvement in the crime — to taunt his younger brother with frozen pizza and pour hot sauce on his privates.
Although Paul Ferguson denied the latter, he admitted to fulfilling many of his mother’s other claims while testifying against her.
“I would say it’s something close to Stockholm Syndrome,” he said.
“I wanted to find a role model who, because of my low self-esteem, I would do anything to make them proud of me.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
