BANGOR, ME - The parents and grandmother of a 10-year-old boy who was malnourished and beaten have pleaded guilty for their roles in his death.
The father, 35-year-old Joshua Smith, pleaded guilty on Thursday, June 11 to murder in the death of his son Braxtyn Smith. A day later, on Friday, June 12, Braxtyn's grandmother, 63-year-old Mistie Latourette, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, Law & Crime reported.
The boy's mother, 37-year-old Jem Bean, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year. Braxtyn died on February 18, 2024, after his mother and grandmother rushed him to the hospital. He had several bruises on his body. A medical examiner later determined that he had been beaten and ruled his death a homicide.
Braxtyn suffered two years of abuse at his home and weighed just 48 pounds at the time of his death, which was seven pounds below the minimum healthy weight for a boy his age, according to court documents.
When he arrived at the hospital, he was vomiting. Hospital staff noted that the vomit looked and smelled like dog food. Investigators later learned that his parents would withhold food as punishment and the boy ate dog food. Bean tried to blame the injuries on her son, saying he would throw himself to the ground during "temper tantrums."
Text messages, however, said that not only did Smith beat Braxtyn, but he seemed to take joy in doing so. "Little one is super tired and I'm going to slap him already so it should be fun," he said to Latourette in one text message.
Smith also texted Bean about tying down their son. "There some reason you couldn't be bothered to zip tie everything your [sic] supposed to huh?" Smith wrote. Bean responded: "What did I miss? I did his ankles to the tote and his hands together behind his back."
About two years before Braxtyn's death, his father was angry his son wasn't completing his schoolwork. "I'm going to kill him," Smith texted Bean. Smith claimed that the text messages were "sarcasm and stuff like that," according to court documents. State officials said the abuse was not detected because the boy was homeschooled.
Prosecutors are recommending Bean serve 25 years in prison while her attorneys are asking for five to 10 years. Her sentencing date has yet to be set. Smith will be sentenced in September. It is unclear how long of a sentence he will face.
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