Camille Rechae Lewis and John Lawrence Miles (Tulsa County Jail); Orlando Hugger Jr. (KOKI screenshot)
A mother and stepfather in Oklahoma, already accused of beating and starving their children for years, have been charged with killing their 11-year-old son, who has not been seen since 2021.
Camille Rechae Lewis and John Lawrence Miles, arrested in February on child abuse charges, now face one additional count each of second-degree murder in the presumed death of young Orlando Hugger Jr., court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Lewis and Miles were previously charged with two counts each of child abuse by injuring, torturing, or maiming and four counts of child neglect. Miles was also charged with an additional count of child sexual abuse in connection with Lewis’ 13-year-old daughter.
It began when the children’s grandmother contacted police on Jan. 27 to file a report about her grandson, Orlando, saying he had been missing for several years and was possibly dead, according to a news release from the Tulsa Police Department.
In addition to the missing boy, the grandmother informed the authorities that her granddaughter — whose name has not been publicly released — had been subjected to prolonged and severe sexual abuse at the hands of Miles.
The grandmother told investigators that her daughter had left the 13-year-old girl with her in September 2022. The grandmother described the girl as “skin and bones” from malnutrition, officials said.
The grandmother also said that when Lewis left the child, Lewis told her that Orlando was dead.
In an interview with investigators, the 13-year-old girl said that her mother and stepfather regularly abused her and Orlando, beating them and locking them in separate closets for days at a time, police said. The girl said they were not fed and were often struck with belts and cords.
“The girl said at times she had to urinate/defecate in a bag/cup in the closet,” police said. “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.”
The girl told investigators that her stepfather would offer her food for sexual favors, police said.
Like her grandmother, the 13-year-old girl said Lewis told her about her brother’s death.
“The girl said in March of 2021, she heard her mother crying and begging her brother to wake up,” police said. “The girl said her mother later told her that her brother had a seizure and died, and they did not take him to the hospital because they did not want to be in trouble.”
After Orlando’s supposed death in August 2021, Lewis allegedly told her daughter that Miles and one of his cousins buried the body in a park before digging the body up, burning the remains in a barrel, and discarding the ashes down a storm drain, according to police.
When officers took Camille Lewis into custody on Feb. 7, they said she admitted to abusing her children and causing the scars seen on her daughter’s body but that she hadn’t seen her son since he ran away.
Orlando’s father, Orlando Hugger Sr., told Tulsa Fox affiliate KOKI-TV that he was involved in his son’s life until Lewis — who had custody of Orlando — stopped letting him see the boy in 2019. He said he tried to file a missing persons report in January and attempted to contact the state Department of Human Services, but nothing was done.
“I feel like I could have done more me personally, I also feel like others could have done more as well,” Hugger Sr. reportedly said. “To be honest, it pisses me off. Because somebody did it to him, and as a father, I want to protect my kids. This is the biggest let down. He needed me the most to protect him, and I wasn’t able to.”
Miles and Lewis are scheduled to appear in court again on June 13, records indicate.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
