Ethan Washburn charged with strangling his young stepbrother – A 10-year-old Georgia boy allegedly being starved to death by his parents was also subject to physical abuse from another shockingly close member of his immediate family, police say.
Ethan Washburn, 20, of Franklin, Tennessee, stands accused of two felony counts of aggravated assault in the Peach State, the Griffin Police Department announced on Monday, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ethan Washburn appears in a mugshot from June 2023. (Spaulding County Sheriff’s Office)Ethan Washburn charged with strangling his young stepbrother
In arrest warrants obtained by the paper, the defendant is accused of using both of his hands to choke the child around his neck. Details about those allegations, however, are currently scarce.
The victim’s stepbrother is in custody at the Spaulding County Jail without bond on a pretrial hold, according to Spaulding County Sheriff’s Office records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Police say that Washburn is the stepbrother of the abused boy and the adult son of Krista Schindley.
Last month, she and her husband, Tyler Schindley, were charged with myriad counts related to the alleged starvation and child abuse of their son, who was found wandering along a street on the way to a Kroger – emaciated and begging to never see his parents again.
Tyler Schindley, on the left, and Krista Schindley, on the right, appear in mugshots in May 2023. (Spalding County Sheriff’s Office)
According to warrants in the case obtained by Atlanta-based NBC affiliate WXIA, the couple caused their son “cruel and excessive physical and mental pain” when they “intentionally withheld food from the juvenile for an extended period of time.” They are additionally accused of causing their son “dental injury and disfiguration,” withholding medical attention, and locking the boy inside his bedroom “for extended periods and on multiple occasions, with no access to lights, food, clothing or adult interaction and/or assistance.”
At the time the boy’s parents were charged with attempted homicide in the second degree, attempted malice murder, numerous counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, second degree, and third degree, battery, simple battery, and false imprisonment.
More Law&Crime coverage: ‘This child was, simply put, being starved to death’: Homeschool parents arrested after 10-year-old boy weighing 36 pounds found on the way to grocery store
The Schindleys have both shared children and children from prior relationships, officials told the Journal-Constitution. Four other minors were living in the same house as the 10-year-old boy who had nearly wasted away, police said, but nothing appeared to be wrong with – and no abuse appeared to have been present in – those other children.
Few updates in the case against the Schindleys have been released since the couple was arrested and charged in early May. Law&Crime reached out to the Griffin Police Department for this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
Washburn, for his part, appears to have previously spoken with media about the case against his mom – at least in a fairly limited fashion – immediately after the allegations were leveled.
A reporter for Atlanta-based Fox affiliate WAGA visited the large, two-story home with the well-manicured lawn where the homeschooling parents allegedly enacted a regime of torturous abuse on their boy and spoke with a man behind the front door.
“I’m not too close to the situation right now,” Washburn said. “I’m just actually watching the house. I don’t really have any comment at this time on this story.”
“But, they are your parents?” the reporter asked.
“Yes,” Washburn replied.
A bond hearing for the Schindleys is currently slated for June 26.
A hearing date for Washburn has not yet been scheduled. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.
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