Pennsylvania Couple Kept 12-Year-Old In A Dungeon Where He Died Weighing 48 Pounds

Pennsylvania Couple Kept 12-Year-Old In A Dungeon Where He Died Weighing 48 Pounds

A Pennsylvania couple has been jailed, charged with killing their 12-year-old son by beating and starving him for years. Maxwell Schollenberger was found dead weighing only 48 pounds in a room filled with feces, Fox 43 reports. His father Scott Schollenberger Jr, 42, and fiancée Kimberly Maurer, 35, are now behind bars.

  1. The details of this case are gruesome. According to investigators, the room Maxwell was kept in was locked from the outside so that he couldn’t escape. The blinds were taped shut and the shutters nailed closed as well so he got no sunlight. His siblings, who also live in the house, were told to ignore him and one even said they had no idea Maxwell was there.
  2. The elder Schollenberger and Maurer killed Maxwell, there is no doubt. They beat and starved the boy until he was so weak that he couldn’t stand or walk. He wasn’t enrolled in school, he wasn’t given any clothes, and he wasn’t even allowed out of the room to use the bathroom, creating the filthy conditions he was found living in.
  3. Even the authorities were horrified at the scene. When police were called to the residence on S. White Oak St. in Annville Township upon receiving reports of a dead body, they immediately had to call in the Lebanon County Detective Bureau to help due to the horrific nature of what they had discovered.
  4. Maxwell Schollenberger suffered so terribly. As Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf told reporters, “This tiny 12-year-old boy never knew the unconditional love from a family. Max Schollenberger existed, I will not call this living. He existed in a state of perpetual suffering.” He hadn’t even been to the doctors in over a decade, it was reported.
  5. The autopsy revealed just how badly Maxwell had been abused. Dr. Michael W. Johnson, MD, PhD, on June 1 at Lehigh Valley Hospital uncovered extreme signs of malnutrition and starvation, with the child weighing in at 47.5 pounds, in the 1st percentile for his age group. His bones were weakened and he had close to zero muscle mass. “In my medical opinion, this 12-year-old child died as the result of blunt force head trauma complicating starvation/malnutrition. In the context of the Lebanon County investigation, it is my medical opinion that this child’s death was a homicide,” Johnson said in a press conference.
  6. Here’s hoping Scott Schollenberger Jr. and Kimberly Maurer rot in prison. And even that would be a mercy for what they did to Maxwell.

Maxwell Schollenberger

Bolde has been a source of dating and relationship advice for single women around the world since 2014. We combine scientific data, experiential wisdom, and personal anecdotes to provide help and encouragement to those frustrated by the journey to find love. Follow us on Instagram @bolde_media or on Facebook @BoldeMedia
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