SAPULPA, Okla. — A Sapulpa couple is found guilty of child abuse after a boy was discovered hiding behind a dumpster with a black eye and burn marks.

Court records say an officer found the 11-year-old boy at a gas station wearing only shorts and weighing less than 60 pounds in May of 2023.

Shawn Deatherage and Stephanie Denton were then arrested.

The boy told investigators he was confined to his bedroom and forced to sleep in his closet.

He said he was only allowed to urinate into a two-liter bottle.

Court documents said Denton, the boy’s mother, filed a missing persons report for the boy later that day after she saw the boy was gone when she went to get him ready for school.

Police asked Denton about the boy’s injuries, to which she said she didn’t know how he got the bruises.

She said he got scars that looked like cigarette burns from rubbing his arms on the carpet.

On Friday, a jury recommended life in prison for both of them.

Sentencing is set for December.