Stepdad abused 10-year-old boy and burned his body, OK officials say. ‘Pure evil’
Warning: This story contains graphic content that readers may find disturbing.
An Oklahoma man was convicted of murder and other charges after officials say he fatally abused an 10-year-old boy and then burned his body.
John Lawrence Miles III, 34, was charged with child neglect, child abuse, child sexual abuse, first-degree murder and desecration of a corpse, according to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office.
Miles was convicted in connection to the death of his girlfriend’s 10-year-old son, officials said.
McClatchy News reached out to Miles’ attorney for comment on Oct. 29 but did not immediately hear back.
Reports of ‘disturbing’ child abuse
On Jan. 27, 2023, Tulsa police were called by a woman who said her grandson was missing “for several years” and was possibly dead, according to a February 2023 Facebook post by police.
The woman said her 13-year-old granddaughter came to live with her in September 2022 and was “skin and bones,” police said. The woman’s daughter told her that the girl’s brother was dead.
When police interviewed the girl, they uncovered “disturbing” allegations of abuse, according to officials.
The girl told police that her stepfather, Miles, “would lock her and her brother in separate closets for days at a time, not feed them, and beat them with belts and cords,” according to officials.
The boy and girl would be brought out of the closet each day to “get a whoopin” and could only use the bathroom twice a day, according to the district attorney.
The girl said there were times when she had to urinate and defecate in a bag or a cup while in the closet, police said. In exchange for food, Miles would make the girl perform “sexual favors,” she told police, according to officials.
“She said sometimes she and her brother would be forced to sleep in an igloo-style doghouse in the backyard and exercise outdoors in very cold weather,” police said.
The two were only fed “scalding hot beans and rice” and had a limited time to eat, officials said.
“This abuse and neglect culminated in (the boy’s) death,” the district attorney said.
The boy dies
The girl said that in March 2021, she heard her mother crying, begging her brother to wake up, police said. Later, her mother told her that her brother died of a seizure and they didn’t take him to a hospital because they were scared they would get in trouble.
In August, the mother told the girl that Miles buried the boy in a park, but that he later dug him up, burned his body in a barrel and then dumped the ashes in a drainage system, the girl told police, according to officials.
“This is the most horrific and gruesome case I have seen in my career as a prosecutor,” Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney Amy Dickens said. “The torture, abuse and neglect these children faced day after day is abhorrent.”
The mother was arrested on Feb. 7, 2023, a day before Miles was arrested.
McClatchy News is not naming the mother to protect the identity of the children.
Miles pleaded not guilty and a trial began on Oct. 21. When the verdict was read, the boy’s biological father “broke down in tears,” KOKI reported.
“I’m sorry the jury had to see and hear the evidence presented during this trial,” Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney John Tjeerdsma said. “This crime came from a place of pure evil...”
The boy’s body was never found, KOKI reported.
A jury recommended Miles be sentenced to life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 19. A trial date for the mother has not been released yet.
This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 1:30 PM with the headline "Stepdad abused 10-year-old boy and burned his body, OK officials say. ‘Pure evil’."
