TULSA, Okla. — A couple has been arrested by Tulsa Police for repeated child abuse.
Content Warning: The following article contains graphic descriptions of an investigation into child abuse.
Police said John Miles and Camille Lewis are accused of abusing a 13-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother. The boy hasn’t been seen in two years, and police confirmed they are investigating his disappearance as a homicide.
Police said on Jan. 27, the girl’s grandmother — Lewis’ mother — called police and said the boy had been missing for “several years and [was] possibly deceased,” according to Lewis’ arrest report. The grandmother also told police that the girl was “skin and bones from having food withheld as punishment and confinement.’
Miles and Lewis were arrested Wednesday and are facing child abuse by injury and child neglect charges.
The arrest report also indicated that the girl said she and her brother were locked in separate closets for weeks, or even months, at a time. It also said the two children were beaten multiple times with cords and belts. The girl revealed they were forced to use the bathroom in a bag or cup while locked in the closets.
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The report indicated that the girl told police her mother told her the boy had died from a seizure. The girl told police that she heard Lewis and Miles yelling for the boy to wake up, and her mother told her Miles and his cousin buried the boy in a park nearby.
The girl also said Lewis and Miles were worried the grave was too shallow, so Miles dug the boy’s body up and brought him back to their house. Once at the house, the body was burned in a barrel, and the ashes were dumped into a storm drain, according to the arrest report.
Lewis reportedly admitted to withholding food and beating her children, but she denied her son had died. The report also said Lewis told police the boy ran away in the fall 0f 2022. Lewis said after searching for about a week, they stopped looking and never contacted police It said when relatives asked, Lewis and Miles said the boy was at a cousin’s house.
Family members confirmed to police the boy hasn’t been seen in around two years, and he has not been in school.
Detectives said they are treating his case as a homicide.
Lewis is the biological mother of the two children, and Miles was their stepfather. He and Lewis also have three children of their own.
Francisco, one of the couple’s neighbors, told FOX23 he lived right across the street from Miles and Lewis. He said he never noticed anything odd, but he never met the couple.
“I was just coming back from work, and I saw a few police cars over there,” Francisco said. “The police were in the backyard.”
He added that he was shocked, but he thinks neighbors need to be more aware of what’s going on around them.
“If we see anything, we have to tell each other,” Francisco said. “And be aware of what’s going on in the neighborhood.”
This is a developing story. Download the FOX23 News App to receive updates as they happen.
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