Teen Killer Livestreams After Taking His Final Victim | Forensic Files

Is it going? Hey, everybody. Uh I just figured I'd send a quick check. This is Paul Ferguson. Tragically, his
brother Timothy passed away just prior to this live stream. For those of you who aren't aware,
um my little brother has passed away and it's a lot to deal with, but we're we're
fine. With such devastating news, viewers quickly showed him support during this
terrible time. But unbeknownst to Paul's fans, this would be his last live stream
ever. Because as it turns out, Paul himself was behind the death of his younger brother.
[music] [music] On the 6th of July, 2022 at 6:37 p.m., police were called to assist with a
medical emergency just outside of Grand Rapids [music] in Michigan. The caller, Shonda Vander Ark, mother of Paul and
Timothy, had [music] told paramedics that Timothy wasn't breathing. Just 7 minutes after arriving on the scene,
Timothy was pronounced dead. Officers had never seen anything like it. Timothy was malnourished, bruised, and
hypothermic. There were [music] bones protruding from his skin, and despite being 5'8, he weighed just 69 [music]
lb. Most concerning was where they actually found Timothy. He was lying in a small closet that reeked of urine and
feces. Inside was a blue tarp and an Amazon box, and just outside were a pair [music] of ankle shackles. There were
also multiple cameras around the room and an alarm on the door he was found in. Undoubtedly, something was
incredibly wrong, but police hadn't even scratched the surface of just how horrible this case would turn out to be.
So, to maybe shed a little light on what just happened here, [music] Officer Shawn Stefanich decides to talk to his
seemingly grieving mother, Shanda. Hello, ma'am. I'm Officer Stepanich. Right now, we got
some people coming over to talk to you, okay? [laughter] He's wearing really loose clothes the
last couple weeks. He's really skinny. He's really skinny, and I didn't notice till this morning
cuz he wouldn't like I asked him if he's okay, and he would not answer me. Like,
he's 15. He's been He He He has autism? Yeah. Like a high-functioning? Yeah. I had no idea how bad it was.
Oh my god. He did this back in Um my husband struggles to remember stuff. Mhm. I know he did this back in I
don't know, second week of January for almost 3 weeks. And then he finally he ate some.
He ate something last night. I can't remember what it was. I'm sorry. It's okay.
This is where police realized that Shanda's emotions [music] might all be an act. And as they would
uncover more evidence in the house and talk to her son, Paul, these claims would slowly fall apart. So, as the
officer listens to her side of the story, he'll be looking for anything to latch onto that they can use against
them later to determine the [music] truth. I didn't I just I had no idea. I would have taken him in or something.
So, the last time you saw him was 5:30 this morning? Did he say anything? He had fallen out of bed. At 5:30? Yeah.
You sure it wasn't earlier? I mean, it's possible. I thought it was 5:30, but I wasn't super
awake. I heard a thump, and I came down, and he's kind of laying [music] on his side, kind of like, "What the heck?" And
um and I picked every cell [music] He I'm sorry. That's all right. Oh my god. Timothy was
pronounced dead at 6:44 a.m. that morning, just an hour after Shanda claimed she last talked to him. The
reason the officer seems suspicious is because the first responders noticed that rigor mortis had already started
setting in, tightening his facial muscles. This usually starts anywhere from two to four hours after death, not
the barely one hour that Shanda is claiming here. But the real question is how Shanda never noticed just how skinny
and emaciated Timothy really was. This sort of malnutrition doesn't just happen overnight. So the officer asks her to
explain herself. I asked him to eat last night cuz his face started looking a little thin. I'm like, "Okay, now." And
he wouldn't So I'm like, "Let me see. Hold your shirt up." And he wouldn't hold his shirt up. He wouldn't do
anything. Did he get real skinny last time, too? Yes. The only reason I know is because my 7-year-old walked in on
him accidentally when he was in the shower downstairs. And then my 7-year-old comes up and he's like,
"Mama, Timothy's really skinny." I was like, "Okay." Was that this time or last time?
last time. And I told him he was either going to start eating every multiple times a day or I was taking him to the
hospital, and he didn't want to go to the hospital, so So he ended up eating on his own?
Yes. [music] And then so this this last time, was it because your husband wasn't
home? Well, he hasn't been home since January 3rd. He actually mentioned he was hungry the day his [music] stepdad
or his dad and stepmom called to tell us that they were divorced and moving to Florida last week. Shanda is essentially
saying that Timothy wasn't eating because of a quote hunger strike campaigning against family problems.
Back in January, Adam Vanderark, Shanda's husband, had a stroke and had to move out due to issues accessing
their home. Apparently, this caused Timothy to stop eating [music] for 3 weeks, and he only started again after
threats of being taken to the hospital. But for the last 2 weeks, he'd stopped eating again. Allegedly, this time due
to his biological father divorcing his wife and moving away to Florida. Each of these events did indeed happen, but as
it would turn out, they had nothing to do with Timothy's hunger at all. Police handed over the case to detectives who
obtained a search warrant and began to collect evidence throughout the house. That's when they found leg shackles in a
drawer, four webcams scattered strategically placed around a basement, zip ties in the bathroom, a half-empty
bottle of Extreme Regret's Carolina Reaper hot sauce, and locks on every single fridge, freezer, and pantry in
the house. This painted a picture of a helpless boy forced to live inhumanely among his own dirt and filth, watched
every second of the day, and brutally until the very end. The next day, an autopsy was conducted on Timothy's body,
finding even more strange and worrying things. He had extremely sunken eyes, slightly blue-tinted skin, and there
were many signs of dehydration as well. His cause of death was determined to be dehydration and extreme emaciation due
to starvation with hypothermia playing a role, too. With all of this information
and evidence gathered, the police knew something foul had to be a play. They just weren't sure what. Starvation in a
house filled with food, hypothermia in the middle of an American summer alongside hot sauce and handcuffs. It
had to all come together somehow. So, the day after Timothy's death at 3:57 p.m., they bring in Paul, Shand's
20-year-old son, for interrogation to try and uncover what all this could possibly mean and how exactly he was
involved. What Paul doesn't know is that they've already collected a mountain of
evidence. Detective Ryan Peace is going to use a five-step program to slowly extract the truth from Paul, starting by
getting on his good side and ending [music] by tearing into him and making him feel so guilty he'll have no choice
but to confess to everything. I don't want to talk anything specific about the case just yet. But, since you
consented to the police searching your house, Yeah. they brought stuff out here. I want to advise you of some lies
before we talk, but that's where everything What I do want you to know, though, is that we looked at your
phones, okay? There's a lot of evidence in on to and I know that you're kind of aware of the communication between
yourself and your mother and and all sorts of things and that's kind of what I want to talk to you about. Yeah. But
we were certainly those were very serious things that you guys were talking about. As mentioned, police have
spent the last 24 hours combing over text messages, camera recordings, crime scene images and much more to try and
get a good picture of what had happened. So, as the case is with many younger suspects, Detective Peace will start
calmly trying to put Paul at ease and get on his good side before slowly breaking him down and exposing the
truth. I know that we talked yesterday. I know that not everything that we talked about was the truth yesterday.
That's okay. You don't have to feel bad. You don't have to feel guilty about not
telling the truth to me. I'm not trying to get to the truth of what really happened. But I just need to get to the
truth of that. I mean there's clearly a lot of messages about stuff that you guys were doing
with him, about what he was eating, about restricting his food. How did that How did that all work? We stopped the
food restrictions recently because we had noticed his thinness. We wanted to get that back on. We didn't want any of
this. We never wanted him to be injured or hurt. I loved him so much. Yeah, I can tell that. I just couldn't
tell that. And we wanted what's best. Yeah. The thing is he was stuck in the past. So, you stopped the food
restrictions. When did that happen? Two weeks. Approximately We were hoping that
we could get enough where it would be safe for him that we could continue to add it back to where we wouldn't have to
worry and we could What were the What were the restrictions? We made sure that it was still something
that gave him enough calories and everything. We It was rice or bread and like I said last week
he got pizza. Throughout the thousands of texts detectives have between Paul and Shanda, there's a huge amount of
talk about food restrictions. It doesn't take much to realize that this was why Timothy was thin as he was. Peace will
focus more on this later. What's more interesting though is how Paul justified this. Nothing. We followed the path. We
made sure that it was still something that he didn't enough calories and everything. These aren't
Paul's own thoughts. This is just what he's been told by his mother since they started. Over the course of several
months, he's internalized it and now seems to fully believe that what he's been doing to Timothy is for his own
good. What were the What were the place for like in the first place? [clears throat] We didn't do anything.
We didn't do anything. We We tried everything. We were nice. We tried different consequences, but he just I
couldn't never listen. What were some of the other punishments that you did? We didn't take away his devices.
That was also because he would just stay on his school sites and just go on trying to play games or watch YouTube.
And he should have been held back so much. Yeah, but he passed all his final exams.
And so I don't think it was my step mother. My step mother was amazing. Yeah. But I
believe it was my father's doing. Okay. But my dad is controlling, freaky, and jealous. He didn't want me having any
contact in school. He wanted to control all of it. Okay. Note how the only consequence that Paul [music] mentions
here is the fact that they take away his phone occasionally, something fairly innocuous. It's also worth mentioning
just how quickly he tries to put Timothy and his father down in exactly the same
way his mother was known to do. But as Paul continues talking, it becomes clear exactly how much of a problem this is
actually become and that he might have actually been strongly manipulated by her to do all of this. It was the same
back in Oklahoma where I had to I had problems with emotional release. I was so terrified of him that
I didn't ever want to ever release any of these negative emotions I ever had around him. It was It was terrifying. I
wanted to say no, but I was so terrified that I just couldn't. Here, I can release my anger. And I do
[clears throat] it in the right way because I never do it any in any way that I'm not supposed to.
When she had her tubes undone for little for Gabriel, he was a blessing to this world. Yeah. He's not going to pet.
Certainly. He's a blessing. Of course. She loves him so much. Before having her third son, Gabriel, Shanda had a
procedure to restore her fertility. To her, having Gabriel was a miracle because she didn't know if this would
work. That's likely why no evidence was ever found of her harming Gabriel because he was by far and away her
favorite child. That does, however, provide a harrowing reason for why she might have abused Timothy so much. He
was her problem child, and she didn't like the fact he had so many mental health conditions, [music]
so she wanted to take her anger out on and deal with the problem directly. Dirty nasty that I know that he
slept over at her house and rubbed that. They were talking. I would call that an attitude that was
unnecessary, and [clears throat] she would have me get off the devices for maybe 15 minutes cuz usually that
was what it was revolved around. It was just I'll be honest, I never I had an addiction to my devices. Okay. I never
had not very much of that at home. Yeah. My dad was strict. She didn't even give me a phone. My sis- my sister and
my step-sister had phones before I did. So now you're in work, [music] and I'm assuming you're paying your
straight up all your paying bills and Yeah, and like my step- my father she doesn't take force me to give her
half of my paycheck. He forced that on me. Yeah. And I was working basically minimum wage.
At both. That's tough. And the thing is that my mother can't even face my father right
now. We She doesn't want to call him because the one thing that she and I both know
is that he's going to hurl every ounce of blame he can at her. Listen to how he's talking about his
father. He's only able to say negative things about him and brings these points up even while unprompted. He clearly has
a strong dislike of his father and talks about him like a divorced partner. Take
a guess where that stemmed from. It's clear his mother has been feeding him lies and negativity about his father and
there's no clearer example of this than what he says next. I moved here into Michigan, I think, 30th of
cuz for the time after I had moved out of my parents' house, I stayed with my uncle even now. And
uncle who both had actually been tricked by my father to also believe that my mother was bad. Nobody was tricked.
Shanda simply was a bad person. The police report contains countless witness testimonies from family, friends, and
teachers who knew something was wrong and believed Shanda to be a bad parent. This wasn't an uncommon opinion. One of
Timothy's teachers even told the cops that all the teachers knew he wasn't cared for at home and that he lived
through hell most of his life. But to save face, Shanda would make up lies to tell Paul that made her seem perfect and
kept his respect at the cost of making his father seem downright evil. That's what makes this case so controversial.
Paul was almost certainly not in control for the majority of this and he was definitely manipulated by his mother to
some extent, but he still went through with everything and that's what a jury would end up focusing on.
I saw your phone that you had sent to a couple of pictures too my mom, yeah. Pretty skinny and you said you know, I
mean he's nothing but skin. But yeah, I was I was very concerned that he just Yeah, what do you think that maybe would
have been a good time to take him to the doctor or Yeah, honestly, that probably
would have been one too. And then you sent a picture of both his legs that were just basically gone,
right? Yeah, I don't know how to say it or something along the lines of Yeah, but the thing is
yesterday and I think the day before, he could walk. He might need a little support every so
often, like he put his hand against the wall or grabbed the rail of the stairs, but after [music] a couple of seconds,
he'd let go and he'd be fine. Okay. It was never anything major. When was the last time he was really like talking to
you, like able to have a conversation, or at least try to have a conversation? Last time he actually talked was 3 days
ago, but the day before or the day after that, the day before yesterday. He could talk a He talked a small amount
in the morning, but then he just sort of making groans and moans and It must take
an astonishing amount of delusion to believe that not being able to walk or speak isn't anything major. But in
reality, that's not what they thought. They thought he was faking it entirely. In fact, on the day before Timothy died,
Shonda told Paul to wave warm pizza rolls just in front of him and take them back if he tries to eat them. It all
just seems as though they were messing with him to satisfy their own sadistic desires. What about the photograph in
the bath? Of his face, like sleeping in the bathtub? Uh he he'd been taking a bath,
and I went in there to check on him at one point, and he was just kind of laying there. I'm like, "Buddy, you
okay?" He didn't respond, but he was looking around, so and he was breathing. I know that much. Yeah. But he wasn't
talking at that time? No, and he it it it it's it's starting to concern me. I had I'm not sure if I texted my mom
about it or not. Why would you send a picture to her? Yeah, I probably should have said something about the ER attack
one time. Well, I certainly thought it was stupid. You have to think about it like this,
right? She She She's a grown adult, and if she she sees that, that's not on you, right?
You You made it From what I see, you made numerous attempts to say, "We need to do something with him like
this." Yeah. We We can't keep doing this to him. I know she's a big person, but I
just Paul is speeding himself up because he knows that he assisted in all of this.
But notice how Piske is still trying to reassure Paul and shift the blame away from him. Fortunately, this is about to
pay off massively as he starts to talk more about the punishments that Timothy was put through. I think it's a big deal
because right now I'm not in a time of blaming people. Right now is the time to try to figure out what could we have
changed, what could we have done differently, how did we get to the point we were at
because, you know, clearly we were going to have to do that. You used to do that.
And it wasn't a nice little bath, though, right? It was a cold bath. Right? It's a cold ice cold bath. I
didn't wash that. If you did, you How many times did you ask him did you guys give him cold baths as a punishment for
I don't know, whatever whatever for whatever reason? I don't think For [clears throat] the punishments,
I don't exactly know the number, but it wasn't a lot. Are we talking like 5, 10,
20? Every day, every other day? Do you have any idea of how many times? Whose idea was to give him a cold bath
as a punishment? I mean, it was my mother's. I I wasn't sure if it would do if it would
be a punishment effective or not. Piske actually knows exactly how often these baths occurred because Paul and Shauna
documented every single instance of this over text. And Timothy was subjected to
them constantly. Even worse, they would last up to 9 hours at a time. And remember, Timothy weighed only 69 lb. He
barely had a drop of body fat on him, meaning that he would have felt the effects of the cold considerably more
than the average person. This is why the autopsy turned up the evidence of hypothermia and ruled it as one of his
main causes of death. Do you remember the first time you guys did it and what why? Well, not exactly. What did he do
on that day to deserve the cold bath that made you have to give him a cold bath? Um
I think it was the routine not only that he needed, but also food and water and my mother
wasn't too happy because it absolutely reeks. And we talked about that. My understanding is that also he gets
little messages. Yeah. And what did he sleep most of the nights in that closet? As Piske mentions, Timothy didn't sleep
in a bed. He slept in a small, cramped closet that he couldn't even stand up in. And the punishment that Paul
mentioned, well, that would have actually happened either way. Inside the basement where Timothy slept were
multiple cameras and an alarm on the door. If he'd have gone to the bathroom instead, then he would have been
punished for leaving his room. Timothy was completely trapped. We wanted and we always wanted him to
have that bed and we So you guys decided to move him into the closet. There's an alarm on the door. Is that
so? What's that for? When he would try to sneak food because if you notice there
was also one on the door on the wall sure. That was also because yeah, there's some food in there that he would
try to sneak. And it wasn't just that he was hungry all the time, but at some points for those it was that as he
wanted something sweet. Again, Piske is being extremely nice and agreeing directly with what is said,
trying to make him feel like what he's saying is still fine so he incriminates himself even further.
When he was just eating food he talked about bread. How long long was he eating just bread?
A week or two. What was he having food for then? We do ramen sandwiches and I think at
some points we actually give [clears throat] him like a meal. What What was the reason he didn't have
meals? To me the whole [clears throat] Paul has no idea what to say. He's starting to realize just how [music]
cruel everything he did was and the gravity of the situation has just hit him. He starved his little brother to
death, and he can't even think of a reason why. Regardless of the circumstances or how much influence his
mother had over him, he still did all of these horrifying things, and there's still even more to come. And the hot
sauce, and knowing that it was used as a multiple punishment, and it was put on the bread. Was it always on the bread?
Not always, no. But the thing is, if he still argued with me or did anything for him, there would be times
where it would do something to me because I would accidentally bump my eye off the counter. It was Ow. What What
the things whether or not there's hot sauce. What What was that again? I Whenever my mother told me to put a hot
sauce sign, I did. And when I know the the ghost There's a California Reaper is 2,000 Scoville or 2 million Scoville.
What does that mean? Is it the hot sauce or the hot Is that what it is? Heat index is up.
That's pretty hot. Very. Elijah's extreme regret hot sauce is reviewed as not being something you mess
around with. It measures out to 800,000 Scoville heat units, just shy of what a fresh ghost pepper would be. Paul and
Shonda would routinely feed this to Timothy as a punishment, as well as putting it on the only real food he
would get in the day. Piske also made sure to ask Paul what Scoville units were to make sure he knew exactly how
bad what he was doing was. He confirmed that this was very, very hot, to the point of being painful. Yet, he still
went through with what he did for weeks. So, how long have you guys been using hot sauce for?
Um it's almost a month, maybe. Okay. And was that only on your bread, or was that on other stuff, too? Uh
I think [music] one time we put it in some rice, but after that I don't think we did that again. What was the sport
right? Cuz you were going to try this to be a well-secured instead of hot sauce.
I know it was punishment, but honestly I don't think it was that useful because like I said he had no feeling in his
tongue. He He drilled a hole in it at one point and didn't even feel [music] it. Was he eating the Sprite last time
or was he? Yeah. That was Is that really the only things he ate? He ate those things or did he eat other things too?
Um from the bread and rice other than that not that I know of. Okay. Did you see a decline in him during that
four weeks of Was he losing weight or being less responsive or did what what changed
when you moved into doing that? There would be times where it would take him a moment to respond. At first I thought it
was just him acting, but then I was getting concerned. I think a week or so maybe he developed Okay, is this
is after the latest Yeah. For the hot sauce on bread. If you ever put hot sauce on your
brother or your younger sibling you put hot sauce on them? No. Throughout this interrogation Paul has been consistently
using his mother as a scapegoat for everything he's done, that he was just following her orders, but at the same
time it's obvious that he knows his brother was suffering through all of this. Many people are familiar with the
Stanford Prison Experiment. 24 male college students were split into either guards and prisoners and for two weeks
they were supposed to simulate prison. However, after just six days the experiment had to be terminated due to
extreme behavior. The guards quickly adapted to their position of power and due to their role being enforced and
validated by the event conductors they began to abuse the prisoners to the point of emotional distress. That is to
say Paul was given the opportunity to be in control and he took full advantage of
it abusing his position. At the same time though Paul is an adult and at any point he could have decided to stop or
alert somebody about all of this, but he never did. Pisk is also starting to realize this, so from here on out he's
going to slowly put on the pressure that will eventually break Paul and make him
fully realize the gravity of what he's done. Paul, I know that when we talked yesterday, we talked a lot.
You know, too much about stuff, right? I know that she's a good person. I'm not doubting that at all. I know that we
never wanted any of this. But you you also are you also know that some of the things that
some of the things that she was talking about is the truth, right? About she said she didn't know that it was going
to happen. But the fact of the matter is she asked you Did she send you a text message that
says, "Look, make sure that the camera's in there and and and [clears throat] put the shower curtain down so I can see
him." Didn't she ask you that the day that the day before he passed away? Yeah. I know this pepper spray was for
punishment. And what did she say? She said, "I didn't know anything about that." I
think she's one one to appeal like a bad person. She doesn't want to be the bad guy in that situation. She never wanted
any of this. She wanted to be healthy. I know that for a fact. I should have at least put my foot down on something.
But you [clears throat] Not that I'm afraid of her. I I can't fear her cuz she doesn't She's not the type to
instill fear. I don't know if that's also what caused him to sometimes lie about things as well. Was it he still
has this fear of dad and then he thought she would be the same? She's not She's nothing like him. Which I know she's
not. But she knows that you shouldn't be using hot sauce as a punishment, right?
She knows better than that. The pressure is already starting to cause Paul to resort to cathartic statements for him.
Notice how as soon as Pisk says she was lying, he praises her and makes excuses for her and then immediately puts his
dad down at saying that she's nothing like him. He's scared and he's trying to throw himself back into a world where he
feels safe and comfortable, but that's not the world he lives in and Piske is about to expose that once and for all.
So when you first talked to us and you talked to us about the police, you know, you said he was honest about that,
right? Yeah. But that's not the truth. No. Okay. Who was in that closet that's right there by the bunk? Yeah. You You
told us that you heard him snoring and that Was that a lie? Yeah. And you Did you come up with that
on your own or did somebody ask you to say that you were in the bunk bed? Uh I think both of us
I could have done that at any point in time. You You You think that he wanted us to
do a best friend, right? That's what you were talking to us about. I know she She wants what's best for all
of us. So Yeah. And that's our question. Did somebody ask you to say that you were in the bunk bed?
I came up with that on my own. Piske notices him start to shut down under the pressure, so eases off just a little,
trying to reassure him again that he's not in any trouble and that this isn't his fault. Piske is almost there. He
just needs to get a little more information out of him for the confession and can't risk Paul shutting
down now. So tell me what really happened in the morning then because obviously what was told to us wasn't the truth.
What really What really happened? I woke up and I had been dragging my shoes. It basically all played out like
we said. The whole morning thing was exact. He was He wasn't breathing in the closet. It was the closet, though. We
had to get him out of the closet, too. Try and resuscitate. And you got him out of the closet, too. See if he pulled out
of that. I don't know if he had a diaper or what that stain is. He had a shirt. I think we had put
him in pants or sweatpants. I don't know, maybe sometime in the night he took them off.
No, but you say "we." You weren't there though when we did that, right? No. So all of you know if we put him in
sweatpants. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah. So do you know if he had pants on or not
when we No, he was asleep. But he didn't have them when we got him out. He the diaper on at least. So he had the diaper
on. You're assuming that he has a shirt on? What shirt did he have on? The very same sweatshirt that we found him in.
Cuz obviously we didn't want him to get cold. Or I don't think Mama wanted him to get cold. Did he have pants on or no?
No. No. And when we get there he's going to have pants on. Yes, she had me put them on. She asked me to put pants on
him. Any of that before? I Piescik is asking some very specific questions about when Timothy was found.
What Paul doesn't know is that the cops have an audio recording from one of their cameras from the exact moment they
found Timothy dead. Is he okay? Yeah. He's cold, man. Yeah, I know he's cold, but he's not
He's not sick at all. He's okay. Come on, let's go. I don't understand. I know you're really torn and you're
really upset. I don't understand, buddy. Come on. Get your belt. Okay. You got it. Okay. Put it on the right.
I don't want to make it look like it's an accident. I know. I don't want to make it look like
Piescik knows for certain that both Paul and Shonda have been lying this whole time and tried to cover the death up.
This is Piescik's chance to strike. He's now multiple steps ahead and has Paul on
the back foot. He's now going to start tearing into Paul and his mother, ripping his world view to shreds and
exposing them for what they really are. At that time she decides that she's going to lie to me and say that he
was in the wrong bed. I don't know what she did. I I don't know. He feels She just wants to seem like
she's bad that she We never We weren't neglecting him. What are you saying that I mean if you were the talk writers with
all these things you're like She didn't want to seem like this. She didn't want to seem like this. She didn't want to
seem like this. Did you know that it all seems like that, right? Yes. How do you feel about lying during
this? Does that How does that make you feel? I I just hate it. I I know she doesn't want to be the bad guy. of him.
She never wanted this. We We loved him so much. I don't think this is about love because I don't think it's about
that. I don't know what to do and not knowing how to handle the situation. We think For the good of the night, I
didn't do anything. Just look at how uncomfortable Paul is now. He can't sit still. He's covering
his face and body as often as he can, and he's almost always hunched over. He's really starting to panic now, and
Piske has barely even started ripping into him. Do you need a lot of greed? Tell me what this means.
Did he do the bunk better? How does that happen? He couldn't have possibly made it up. This is a true story. No, so what
happened? She told you that. She told you what to say. Does it look bad to you yet?
It's not just that. We loved [music] him. Can I ask you this but straight up? You keep saying you love him. Do you Do
you like this was love that he's dead on the floor and can't eat food? Does that
feel like love to you? No. He's dead because he couldn't eat. No. And I don't know anybody who thinks that's love.
What I think's happening is your mom convinced you that she's this perfect person, and she's asking you to do all
these things that are literally killing your brother. I know she's not perfect. How is love ice baths? How is love
handcuffing? And how is love restricting movement? And how is love hot sauce in the mouth and only eating bread? What if
you're What if you only got to eat bread? How would you feel? What if you only got to eat bread with hot sauce?
Would you eat? No. She's not perfect, but she's not a bad person. Do you know how many people
starve to death? Tell me one that you know. That's a child who has a lot of problems, right? That's not a child
that's taking care of themselves. How is that a loving person? How is that a loving mother? You know what that sounds
like to me? And honestly, the worst mother that I've ever met in my entire life. That's what it sounds
like to me. Well, maybe he's taking food because he wants to live. Have you ever thought about that? Yes.
Maybe he's taking food so that he can survive. Paul has fully collapsed in on himself at this point. His worldview is
starting to break into pieces. The person he looked up to, respected, and loved is now being painted as a monster
that's going to prison for the rest of her life. The worst part, he hasn't even realized that he might be facing the
exact same consequences. She put you right in the middle of this where it looks like some of the stuff was your
idea. And it actually looks like in some of these things that you kind of enjoyed
it. Did you kind of enjoy punishing him for doing wrong? Guys, do you feel like you kind of enjoyed punishing him in the
past? No. Maybe not that he was in pain, but like you were you were in charge and
you got to tell him, "You can't do that. Go do this. This is your punishment." Did you like some of that?
No. How come you guys were laughing and joking about it sometimes? With smiley faces. There's no way that you can look
at yourself and think that's okay. Why couldn't we eat a piece of chicken like this, Scott? Why couldn't you eat that?
Why does it have to be bread with hot sauce? I think that way more of it has to do with my being evil. This is
actually the defense that Paul would use in court, and the trial would turn out to be even more interesting than the
interrogation. He would try to claim that he wasn't the one in control at all. He was just following his mother's
orders, doing what she was telling him. But unfortunately for him, there were messages like these, along with much
more evidence yet to be discovered, that made it hard to believe that this was the truth. I don't want to live a life
where I regret that I hid something. I told you everything I know. How do you feel about living a life
where you hid that your brother wasn't eating from society? That you hid that your
brother was dying? How do you feel about that? I hate myself, okay? I'm just asking you if my stepmom made you guys
do anything up to it. Did she want him to sleep in the tub? That's what I read. Did that happen? Did he sleep in the
tub? No. He didn't? No, he didn't. That bathtub and you guys dragged him into that closet and waited
for the morning to call the police? That's not what No. You think that message is just a
little bit suspicious that she sent you at just about midnight that says, "He's He's in the closet. I had to drag him in
there." You don't think he was already dying or dead at that point? Doesn't it seem like maybe he was already dead?
That she put him in there so that he could wake up and not die in his sleep? Cuz she can't call the police when he's
in an ice bath and he freezes and he dies. Whether this was true or not will remain a mystery for a while. But
whatever the case, there was certainly a large attempted cover-up by both Shanda
and Paul to try and make it seem like this was somehow, someway natural causes. Timothy was treated like dirt
until the very end, and Detective Pisk has had enough. Can you live with my fault? But you How do you feel about
over and over and over again telling your mother about how good she is? Do you feel that that's the truth anymore?
Cuz I'm quite disgusted by her. I'm disgusted by her. He never wanted this. He was living How How smart is your mom?
She's an intelligent lawyer, right? Very cool. Right? Have you ever thought, "How come a woman that's this smart,
this intelligent, graduated from law school, how could she not know what's happening?
[clears throat] How could she think this is fake? How does she not know she's How does she not
see that he's wasting away? And you here, you're telling me that you got some some knowledge that she just
graduated from law school, and it's very obvious to you that he's He's got malnutrition, right? It's very
obvious to you. But your mom has not seen that? And she's a She's a law school graduate, and she's very smart.
Do you see what I'm looking at here? She's a liar. What did she think was going to happen? I don't know. I don't
know. Exactly what happened to what she thought was going to happen. She never wanted him dead. She loved him. That's
love to you? Everything that we talked about is love? I mean, you're joking, right? Even through the
shouts of an enraged Detective Pisk, Paul still defends his mother to the very end, trying to come up with excuses
for her and even take the blame. But, that would all come to an end on trial. In the meantime though, just 5 days
after his interrogation, Paul decided to go live on Facebook to update his friends and family on everything that
had happened. Given what we know now, the surviving video is probably one of the most eerie pieces of footage we've
ever shown on this channel. Is it going? Everybody, uh I just figured I'd send a
quick check. We're doing good right now. We I just dozed off on the couch unintentionally and I
For those of you who aren't aware, um my little brother has passed away and it's a lot to deal with, but we're we're
fine. But, just keep supporting me [music] Listen, I don't know what I'm trying to
say right now.

A teen would livestream to his Facebook page, announcing the sad news of his brothers death. However, his viewers would have no clue of the dark secrets that led to his passing..

This video was made for educational purposes only. The video is presented to provide genuine footage of police incidents to promote transparency in government while providing educational, informative and newsworthy content allowing viewers to examine and assess public safety material. This is a fact-checked documentary using authoritative sources. The individuals shown in this video have not been convicted of any crime and are legally presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law. This material is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and represents personal analysis and commentary. Nothing presented should be interpreted as legal counsel, and the observations provided may not include all circumstances or reflect the final charges in each case. This video features real police-related footage shared to support public awareness and government transparency. The content is designed to inform and educate viewers on public safety matters and is presented as a documentary relying on verified and credible sources. All materials used were lawfully obtained through public records requests and are available to the public. The footage is utilized strictly for journalistic, documentary, and educational purposes under the Fair Use doctrine outlined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.**

Brief Summary

Paul Ferguson's brother Timothy died under suspicious circumstances, revealing a disturbing case of abuse and neglect by family members.

Key points

Tragic Loss. Paul Ferguson shares the heartbreaking news of his brother's passing during a live stream.
A Disturbing Discovery. Police find Timothy in horrifying conditions, raising immediate concerns about his treatment.
Uncovering the Truth. Detectives begin to unravel the disturbing circumstances surrounding Timothy's death.
Timothy's Suffering. Timothy was trapped in a closet, punished and starved by his brother and mother.
Paul's Realization. Paul begins to understand the gravity of his actions and the suffering he caused.
The Use of Hot Sauce. Hot sauce was used as a punishment, highlighting the cruelty of Timothy's treatment.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He was lying in a small closet that reeked of urine and feces.

Description of the conditions Timothy was found in.

1:23WatchAug 3, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Dr Insanity

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.