Background: The Gage County Courthouse in Beatrice, Neb. (Google Maps). Insets (left to right): Timothy Lee Erks and Heather Lorraine Peterson (Gage County Sheriff”s Office).
A Nebraska man will remain behind bars after prosecutors laid out their charges against him in court, describing an allegedly horrific pattern of abuse that resulted in the death of a 5-year-old boy.
Timothy Lee Erks, 31, was arrested in June on charges including felony child abuse after his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son was brought to the hospital unresponsive. The boy passed away a week later after being declared brain dead. His mother, 30-year-old Heather Lorraine Peterson, was also arrested and charged with felony child abuse.
According to a search warrant obtained by local CBS affiliate KOLN, prosecutors revealed a toxic home environment run by Erks and Peterson that allegedly harmed both the 5-year-old boy and Peterson’s 1-year-old daughter.
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Prosecutors stated in the latest search warrant that after Peterson took her son to a hospital in Kansas, he was transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, due to the severity of the injuries found by medical staff. According to the warrant, the boy had suffered “profound” brain injuries, broken ribs, a bloody eye, and several bruises and abrasions all over his body. According to the warrant, authorities also believe the boy was whipped across his back.
After he died, an autopsy revealed a “torn pancreas and severely damaged buttocks,” which authorities believed was a result of violent spanking.
While at the hospital, medical staff also examined Peterson’s 1-year-old and discovered “significant patterned bruising” consistent with harsh spanking, prosecutors said. The infant was taken from Peterson and handed over to the custody of Missouri’s Department of Health and Human Services. Peterson then fled to a homeless shelter while a warrant was issued for her arrest.
As the investigation into the couple’s home in Liberty, Nebraska, progressed, even more evidence of abuse towards the 5-year-old boy was allegedly found. Gage County Sheriff’s deputies reported that Erks had a short temper toward the boy because of issues with incontinence and disobedience. Erks would allegedly punish the boy by forcing him to walk back and forth outside in the severe heat; this punishment was reportedly referred to as “rec time.”
On June 21, a Saturday, the boy allegedly got heatstroke during “rec time” and passed out when the temperature reached more than 100 degrees. According to the warrant, Erks reportedly gave the boy the choice of doing chores or “rec time” the next day — and he refused to do either. Erks then allegedly threw the boy out the door “like a sack of potatoes,” with the boy crying out once before losing consciousness, according to Peterson.
When Peterson told Erks she was going to use his truck to take the boy to the hospital, he refused, reportedly telling her “he needed to use it on Monday.” Peterson took the boy to the hospital anyway.
Other instances of abuse described in the warrant were hourslong “time-outs” for both children that would go from 8 p.m. to sunrise the next day. The boy was also allegedly seen on security cameras at the home tied up with a diaper taped to him.
When sheriff’s deputies went to find Erks at his home on June 23, he was not there. According to the sheriff’s office, he was spotted in a vehicle driving on a highway and pulled over. After being interviewed by deputies and an investigator, Erks was taken into custody on charges of child abuse and assault.
Erks is currently charged with committing intentional child abuse to cause death, two additional counts of child abuse, and false imprisonment. A judge revoked his bond, which had originally been set at $100,000.
Peterson was arrested by U.S. Marshals in early August and is now in custody at the Gage County Detention Center. During her arraignment on Monday, her bail was set at $2,500.
