The Misery Machine - The Case of Emrik Osuna

Starting point is 00:00:00 Emric Osuna was born on October 16, 2010 to parent Cecil Siglali Lucero and Eric Emmanuel Osuna Gutierrez. He was described as a fun-loving, intelligent boy who loved grilled cheese sandwiches, transformers, dinosaurs, and ninjas. Emric was an adorable little boy with brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. According to family members, his personality could light up any room he was in. He also deserved more of a life than the one he got. Eric had been in the U.S. since he was four years old, but was not a citizen. According to family members, Eric was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and was brought across the border to be with his mother and some of his other siblings.

Starting point is 00:00:48 At the tender age of one, he had been abandoned by his mother and never saw her again until he was brought to Anaheim, California. While in California, Eric lived with his mother, stepfather, and some of his sons. siblings. Growing up in a rougher area of Tijuana, this was supposed to be a fairy tale ending for young Eric, but it wasn't. His stepfather was accused of physically abusing him, and it's been alleged that Eric was the victim of S.A. as well, but it's unclear who exactly inflicted this upon him. Eric couldn't even find solace at school, as he was bullied there as well. According to his brother, Julio Osuna Gutierrez, their life was fairly difficult.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Julio was brought over to the states from Mexico when he was in fifth grade. When he finally made it to California, he said that Eric was one of the first people to hug him. He said, it was the first time I ever felt wanted. We tried to find early background information with regards to Emmerich's biological mother, Cecil, but unfortunately there was not much listed. What was listed, however, was shocking. Now, after Cecile and Eric went their separate ways, the mother went on to have more children. This included a set of twins, a boy and a girl.

Starting point is 00:02:05 In 2017, she was arrested for torturing and beating the twins, who were 15 months old at the time. According to reports, Cecile slammed her daughter's head into a metal bed frame until she was rendered unresponsive. She almost killed her. Cecile then asked a friend to take the girl to a hospital, where medical staff called the Santa Ana Police. department. Investigators went to her home to check on the other children, which included then seven-year-old Emmerich and his two-year-old brother, as well as the other twin. It should also be noted that Cecile was pregnant at this time. The twin boy also had injuries consistent with abuse, including skull and rib fractures. According to Cecile, she slammed her daughter's head on the

Starting point is 00:02:50 pole of a bed after her living boyfriend left her a Christmas party. She said she was envious when the twins' father doted on them instead of paying attention to her, claimed that her daughter would dog her with a look that Cecile felt indicated she was unafraid of her mother. For her words, she was also upset about the unplanned pregnancy. She also admitted to kicking and dropping her baby girl. In 2022, Cecile pled guilty to one count of assault resulting in comatose state or paralysis of a child younger than eight and one count of CA and endangerment. both of these are felonies and admitted sentencing enhancements for causing great bodily injury on a child younger than five.

Starting point is 00:03:32 As part of the negotiated plea deal with prosecutors, two felony counts of torture were dismissed. She was sentenced to about four years behind bars, four time already served in jail awaiting trial. Up until this point, Eric had been in and out of Emmerich's life. That was up until Cecile was arrested. After her arrest, Emmerich bounced between foster care and the care of his aunt before Eric was finally awarded full custody of his son. Now, even though Eric hadn't been in his son's life for some time, and several family members offered to take Emmerk in,

Starting point is 00:04:06 the state still pushed for reunification. Emmerk was sent to live with his father now 29, and his stepmother, 27-year-old Monique Desiree Rodriguez-Asuna. The couple lived in Meridian, Idaho, 900 miles away from where Emmerich had grown up in sunny Santa Ana. Monique had two children from a previous relationship, were nine and four years old. This should have been a fairy tale ending for Little Emmerich, but keeping up with his father's own upbringing, it wasn't. The family was homeless for a time, staying in a shelter called Interfaith Sanctuary before settling in at the Rushmore Apartment Complex.

Starting point is 00:04:47 We'll be back in just one minute. Please stick around for the following ad. It not only supports the channel, but it also supports charities in our area. This week's episode has been brought to you by Rocket Money, a personal finance app that helps you cancel subscriptions, lower bills, and manage your money better. We recently found out that we were being charged for a number of newspaper subscriptions we'd use for source information in the past.

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Starting point is 00:05:25 customer service calls. Rocket Money has helped save its customers an average of $720 a year, with over $500 million in canceled subscriptions. Additionally, Rocket Money can help to analyze your spending habits to create a custom budget that works with your lifestyle. You can automatically monitor your spending by category and get notifications when you've exceeded your limits. That way, you're not blowing your whole paycheck on taking out. Thanks again to Rocket Money for sponsoring today's video. Ready to take control of your finances, then head on over to RocketMoney.com slash the misery machine or click the link in the description. Thanks and back to the episode. Flash forward to 2020, we were at the height of the pandemic and many companies allowed their

Starting point is 00:06:05 employees to work from home. Children were kept out of school and attended classes remotely. Although this was helpful for some kids that learned better outside of the classroom setting, it was not the best outcome for others, especially children living in abusive homes. This was the case for Emmerich's stepmother, Monique. who had recently given birth to another child. Monique, who was a licensed pharmacy technician, who was currently working for Blue Cross Blue Shield, began working from home herself,

Starting point is 00:06:34 and unfortunately for now nine-year-old Emmerich, he became the target of her wrath. Without mandated reporters to protect him, little Emmerich was subjected to months of torture at the hands of a stepmother and even his father. Monique admitted to beating Emric with first a belt, then a dog leash. She switched the dog leash because it was heavier, it would hurt more, in her words.

Starting point is 00:06:58 She also used a backscratcher, a wooden spoon, and a frying pan. She even had the audacity to kick the little boy in his groin. Emmerk wasn't even allowed to sleep in his own bed at night. Instead, he was forced to sleep on the floor of a tiny hallway closet by himself without blankets or a pillow. Food and water were also withheld. When he was allowed to eat, he was only. only given dirty water and rice while the rest of the family ate fast food. Sometimes he would try to eat from the trash, but if he was caught, he would be beaten for it. Much like in many of the

Starting point is 00:07:34 cases we've covered on this show, Monique had a rather cruel way of punishing Little Emirate. She would force the boy to perform strenuous exercises for hours at a time. These included jumping jacks and wall sit, and he was only allowed to stop when she was finished her own work for the day. Imagine having to do a wall sit for hours while your evil stepmothers typing away at her keyboard. Allegedly, neighbors reported hearing yelling coming from the family's apartment, but as you'll soon learn, nothing was ever done about it. At 9.39 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1st, 2020, 9-1-1 dispatchers received a call regarding an unresponsive child. That child was Emric Osuna. Paramedics were dispatched to apartment B-202 of the Rushmore apartment complex,

Starting point is 00:08:27 located at 1001 West Broadway Avenue in Meridian, Idaho. There, they discovered Emmerich in a sorry state, showing signs of extreme abuse. He was severely malnourished and dehydrated. Despite being nine years old, he was wearing a diaper. His frail body was covered in bruises, and he had vomit leaking from his mouth. As he'd been laying on the ground, the vomit had managed to get caked into his brown hair. Even worse, Emrick wasn't breathing, and he had no pulse. Paramedics rushed the little boy to St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center, after which he was ultimately transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at St. Luke's Children's Hospital in nearby Boise. Unfortunately, All efforts to save his life were in vain.

Starting point is 00:09:21 At 1.30 a.m. on September 2nd, 2020, Emmerich Osuna was pronounced dead. When examined, it was found that Emmerk's body was covered with very large bruises. The back of his body was essentially one large bruise, and it appeared that a rubber ban had been wrapped around his private parts. At the time of his death, Emmerk weighed a mere 41 pounds. Due to this, medical personnel knew that his death couldn't have been an accident.

Starting point is 00:09:55 The same day, both Eric and Monique were arrested and appeared in court on video the following day. Monique was booked into the Ada County Jail on one count of first-degree homicide. For failing to intervene in the torture that ultimately cost his nine-year-old son his life, Eric was initially charged with felony injury to a child and felony infliction of greater bodily injury. A misdemeanor charge of concealment of evidence was added to his list of charges. It was discovered that Eric removed a number of nanny cameras from the couple's apartment and gave them to a woman to dispose of. More on who that woman was in a bit.

Starting point is 00:10:33 Thankfully, after the couple's arrest, the police were able to recover them. Now, later, Eric would also be charged with felony homicide. The state of Idaho, felony homicide is committed when the act of homicide is committed in conjunction with a laundry list of other heinous felonies. In Eric's case, the felony in question was perpetrating an aggravated battery on a child under 12 years of age. The maximum punishment for felony homicide in the state of Idaho is death. As Eric was undocumented, unemployed, and had no family ties to the state of Idaho, the prosecution argued, that he was a flight risk. However, bail was ultimately set at $2 million each. So even if the couple could manage to post bail, Eric was now also being held by the feds due to his immigration

Starting point is 00:11:24 status, so it wasn't going anywhere. Thankfully, the other three children in the Osuna home appeared to be in reasonable health and were placed in the protective custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Eric and Monique were ordered to have no contact with their surviving children. On February 10th, 2021, a hearing was held in which it was argued that Eric was not competent to stand trial. According to Idaho Code 18-210, a defendant is incompetent to stand trial if they lack the capacity to assist in their own defense. This means that the defendant must have a rational and factual understanding of the charges against them and be able to work with their attorney in building a defense strategy. It is unclear why Eric's defense went for this

Starting point is 00:12:13 strategy, or if Eric had any mental health issues, which would warrant such a defense. The reason we bring this up is that in the state of Idaho, you can't be found guilty by reason of insanity. Idaho is one of four states, including Kansas, Montana, and Utah that do not have insanity defense. In 1982, the Idaho legislature repealed the state's insanity defense statute stating that mental condition shall not be a defense to any charge of criminal conduct. So for example, here in Maine, if you were found incompetent to stand trial, you could end up serving your time in a state-run mental health facility and eventually regain your freedom once you're deemed fit for release. It doesn't work that way in Idaho. If you're found incompetent to stand trial, it would be sent to a state-run mental health facility,

Starting point is 00:13:07 But once you're deemed fit to stand trial, the charges against you would proceed in court. Eric and Monique appeared before Judge Daniel Steckle on March 31st, 2021. Their preliminary hearing lasted over 10 hours. At this hearing, Judge Steckle found Eric competent to stand trial, and their case was sent to the district court. Also during this hearing, the horrors that were recorded on the nanny cameras were discussed, and first responders provided testimony. outlining the abuse that Emrick endured. In addition, Monique's former coworker Hannah Berry testified against her.

Starting point is 00:13:45 Hannah claimed that when discussing Emmerk's behavior with Monique, she suggested that he could be suffering from reactive attachment disorder. Now, reactive attachment disorder, or RAD, is a rare condition that occurs in children who have been neglected or abused by their primary caregivers. RAD is classified as a trauma and source. stressor-related condition in the DSM-5. Hannah was also the one who suggested that Monique installed nanny cameras all over the couple's apartment and also suggested that exercise be used as a form of punishment.

Starting point is 00:14:22 However, not to the extent that Monique was administering it. On September 1st, 2020, at around 5 p.m., the same day that Emmerich was rushed to the hospital, Hannah testified that she received a text from Monique claiming that there was something wrong with her stepson. Hannah eventually went over to the couple's apartment three and a half hours later where she found Emmerich laying on the floor. According to Hannah, the little boy was covered in blankets and appeared to be sleeping, but his skin was cold to the touch and she suggested that Eric and Monique attempt to force feed him pediolite with a syringe. She next suggested that they tried to get the boy onto his feet, and when they did, Hannah claimed that Emmerich took his last

Starting point is 00:15:06 breaths. Monique attempted CPR and according to Hannah, a milky colored liquid sprayed from Emmerk's nose and mouth. At 9.39 p.m., as we mentioned earlier, Eric used Monique's phone to call 911, nearly five hours after the couple first realized that something was wrong with Emric. Before the paramedics arrived, Eric took down all of the security cameras and gave them to Hannah to dispose of. She was the mystery woman we mentioned earlier, but thank you. Thankfully, after the shock of what she had just witnessed, it started to subside, and I thankfully had the foresight to turn the cameras over to the police. Those cameras recorded some of the horrific abuse that Emrick endured in Apartment

Starting point is 00:15:49 B-202. Emrik was so malnourished that his ribs were protruding through his skin, which was visible in the grainy video footage. The hours upon hours of exercises that Emrik was forced to do were all captured on film. In some of the videos, Monique was seen kicking Emrik across the room, screaming profanities at the little boy, telling him she was going to force him to consume his own bodily wastes. In others, Eric beats his son in the head with the belt. In one particularly heart-wrenching video, Monique grabs a sleeping Emmerich by the hair and forces him to do exercises while beating him over the head with a wooden spoon. His offense, Emmerich drank a glass of water that Monique claimed belonged to somebody else. In addition to the beating, she threatened to poison him if he did it again and refused to allow him to go to the bathroom.

Starting point is 00:16:54 There were countless videos depicting Emmerich being violently beaten with an array of objects, including a frying pan. Although the vast majority of the abuse captured on film was committed, by Monique, Eric did nothing to stop it and occasionally participated. According to detectives that reviewed the footage, Emmerich was forced to exercise between 12 to 20 hours a day. Oftentimes, the little boy would pass out on the floor only to be woken up and forced to start again. At no time did the detectives witness anyone offer Emmerich a single ounce of kindness. However, the detectives did witness Emrick alone, talking to God, asking him through tears why he was being abused. During the hearing, Monique became emotional and cried, while

Starting point is 00:17:48 Eric simply hung his head in shame. Despite all of this, a month later, the couple pled not guilty to the charges against them. On November 4th, 2021, Eric filed for divorce from Monique. However, On February 16, 2022, Monique accepted a plea agreement. In exchange for pleading guilty to first-degree homicide in waiving her right to all appeals, a sentence of death was taken off the table. A month later, Eric took the same plea in order to escape the death penalty. The pair were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A 100-year, no-contact order was also put in place for the surviving children.

Starting point is 00:18:32 not that they deserve contact with their children after what they did to Emmerich. As at the date of this recording, 31-year-old Monique is currently being held at the Pocatello Women's Correctional Center in Pocatello, Idaho. 33-year-old Eric is currently being held at the Saguaro Correctional Center, which is a private prison in Alloy, Arizona, that contracts with both the Idaho and Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In the wake of Emmerick's death, a vigil was held on Friday, September 4th in the parking lot of the Community Council of Idaho building located in Caldwell, just a 33-minute drive west in Boise. According to the vigil organizer, Patsy Garcia Jimenez, we need to be a voice for him. He needs to be heard. He was an innocent child, and there's nobody that wants to speak for him, while us as a community will speak for him. At the same time, Emmerich's family in California held vigils on nine consecutive nights, one for each year of his short life.

Starting point is 00:19:35 Lord God for a child that has fallen, Lord God. They prayed. That little boy had a smile that could light up a room, and that little smile will forever be burned in my head. They shared memories, and they demanded justice for nine-year-old Emmerich Osuna. Emerg was incredibly smart. Some of the people present at Friday night's vigil didn't know Emmerich, but they were touched by what he endured and felt the need to mourn the loss of an innocent life. I think that we have to step up as a community and be a voice for him.

Starting point is 00:20:09 Be a voice for Emmerich. We are going to fight for him. We are going to fight for what's right and make sure that they get the maximum punishment for doing this. Also present Friday, the officers who found Emmerich's lifeless body after being called to the scene. Despite, after sharing tears, stories and heartache one by one, the group released balloons and memory of the boy who some family members say just needed love. In addition, his uncle Francisco Tirado organized a GoFundMe in hopes to raise enough funds to transport his nephew's body back to California to give him a proper burial. The fundraiser is no longer accepting donations and has raised $10,891. A second fundraiser spearheaded by Antoinette Edwards managed to raise $3,591.

Starting point is 00:21:12 Thankfully, Emmerk's family got their wish. Emmerk's funeral was held on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020, at the Waverly Chapel at Fairhaven Memorial Park mortuary in Santa Ana, California. Some mourners dressed as superheroes in honor of the little boy whose life was cut short so tragically. He was laid to rest the same day at the facilities attached cemetery. His black granite headstone displayed a picture of Emmerich in happier times, holding a heart-shaped chunk of snow. The image was flanked by etchings of both praying angels and transformers, as well as the inscription written in Spanish, translated to,

Starting point is 00:21:56 My son, how sad and painful it is to remember that you are not in this world. However, knowing that you are with God in heaven, singing and having fun, I find relief from my sadness.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Emrik Osuna

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