Crime & Safety

Suspect 'Tortured' Little Boy to Death, District Attorney Says

Marcus Johnson, the boyfriend of the victim's mom, is accused of abusing a 3-year-old boy so grievously that the youngster died.

Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete in court Monday described the injuries that led to Hunter Wise's death as "torture."

Marcus Johnson, 26, was charged in Racine County Circuit Court with first-degree intentional homicide for causing the death of 3-year-old Hunter Wise on Friday. Johnson, of Mount Pleasant, appeared via closed circuit TV from the Racine County Jail with Defense Attorney Katie Gutowski.

If convicted, Johnson could face life in prison, plus six years for having faced felony charges at least once before.

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An autopsy conducted by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner lists the cause of death as "shock due to significant trauma."

The injuries found on the little boy are lengthy, and Chiapete accused Johnson of torturing Wise instead of caring for him.

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"Instead of protecting this child, which is what the defendant should have been doing, he tortured this poor child," he told Court Commissioner Alice A. Rudebusch.

The autopsy revealed that the boy suffered from whip marks on his legs and buttocks, swelling to both sides of his head and several contusions to both sides of his face, head and neck. The worst injury discovered, however, was a burn so severe to the boy's buttocks that he lost skin.

"... the child would have had to have been dipped into scalding water in such a way that his buttocks would be scalded and no other parts of his body would be," the complaint reads.

Police say Johnson told them he left Hunter in the bathtub after the boy defecated in his pants. When he left to check on two other children, Johnson said he heard a splash and found the boy under water when he returned to the bathroom. He reportedly called the boy's mother and told her to return home from work, and once she arrived, she called 911.

Police and South Shore Fire Department rescue squads were dispatched at 10:10 a.m. Friday to a home in the 1500 block of Bryn Mawr Avenue in the Lake Park neighborhood for reports of an "unresponsive" 3-year-old boy, police said.

Wise was pronounced dead at 11:06 a.m. after being transported to Wheaton Franciscan St. Mary's Hospital.Β 

Johnson, the boyfriend of the boy's mother, was arrested at 5:15 p.m. Friday and booked into the Racine County Jail.

Chiapete asked for a $500,000 cash bond, and Rudebusch granted it with the condition that Johnson have no contact with the victim's family. His preliminary hearing is May 22.


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