Two parents are facing 50 felony charges after police reviewed video surveillance from their home that showed multiple recordings demonstrating a “brutal pattern of child abuse,” according to Volusia police.
Shawn Stone, 32, and Taylor Schaefer, 28, are being charged with a multitude of felonies, including aggravated child abuse, child neglect, false imprisonment, and failure to report child abuse, in connection with severe physical abuse they allegedly inflicted on their children continuously.
The investigation into the couple began on May 9, after Stone was arrested for admittedly punching, kicking, and using a mop stick to beat a 5-year-old child who had peed the bed.
At the time, the child’s mother, Schaefer, said she contacted police because she had a “gut feeling” that Stone was abusing the victim and confirmed it by reviewing home video surveillance footage. Stone was arrested by Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputies on May 9 on charges of aggravated child abuse.
Volusia County Sheriff’s Office detectives began their investigation into the couple that day, executing a search warrant for the in-home video surveillance, and removing the children from the home.
Despite Schaefer reporting the abuse on May 9, during their investigation, authorities reviewed multiple recordings of child victims receiving beatings while both parents were present in the home. In several instances, the victims were visibly limping in the presence of Schaefer and received no medical attention or care.
On May 9, when Schaefer reported the abuse, video shows that she had mopped up the area where the victim was beaten with the mop handle.
Video from the days leading up to the incident showed the 5-year-old victim was not only beaten, but was repeatedly left with his hands bound behind his back for hours at a time. In one incident, his hands were bound behind his back from 6:43 p.m. one night until 2:02 p.m. the following day. On another occasion, his legs, feet, arms, and torso were bound for at least an hour while Stone stood over him.
Videos showed instances of Stone yelling and kicking the injured child, while Schaefer told the victim to stand up straight. Other footage showed beatings with the sounds of abuse heard throughout the house.
Medical personnel say they found 46 visible injuries to one of the victim’s, including internal injuries and a fractured skull.
In addition to the recorded video, during interviews and recovered text messages, detectives discovered that the victim had been tied up and placed in a dog cage on multiple instances. In those cases, the victim was also deprived of food.
Another child in the home was forced to drink boiling water, was sprayed with boiling water, and was beaten with several household objects. That child also witnessed the abuse inflicted on the younger victim.
A third child victim in the house was found to not be receiving the proper nutrition or care for a serious medical condition. That child was also witness to the constant abuse.
During the incident on May 9, the child victim was transported to the hospital, where medical personnel diagnosed him with multiple injuries, including broken ribs, a skull fracture, and multiple other ailments.
During an interview at the time, Stone told police that the child wears diapers and, at times, has “intentionally urinated and defecated on the floor, his bed, and even his older brother’s bed,” according to the arrest report. That morning, Stone discovered that the child had urinated in his bed and says his “anger got the best” of him.
“I admit to it, I slapped him in the mouth…that’s a little further than discipline man, that’s wrong, that’s wrong of me to do, I shouldn’t have done it,” said Stone to police. Stone admitted to grabbing a mop to “scare” the child, but says he never hit him with it.
During that interview, Stone told police that he and the boy’s mother have “had it rough lately,” and had been struggling with bills. He told police that his temper got the best of him, but denied repeatedly striking, kicking, or hitting the child with the mop.
Stone is currently being held at the Volusia County Jail on no bond. He faces two dozen felony charges. Court records show that Stone has been arrested 11 times since 2010.
Schaefer was at large until Sunday, June 4, when she was found in Pasco County and arrested on VSO warrants.
A GoFundMe established to help the children has already reached over $31,000 as of Monday morning.