ATGLEN, Pa. (AP) ? The mother of a 23-year-old man accused of killing a 3-year-old said Friday that her son is a good kid and she doesn't believe he beat the boy to death.
"I believe he's being railroaded," Paula Fellenbaum said. "He liked kids. He never had an issue. I don't understand it at all."
Authorities say her son, Gary Fellenbaum, and his girlfriend Jillian Tait repeatedly beat and tortured Tait's young son in a mobile home outside Philadelphia. They're charged with murder.
The Chester County district attorney described the case as "an American horror story," saying weeks of escalating abuse ended in three days of systematic torture.
Investigators said the couple repeatedly struck Scott McMillan with a frying pan, laughed as they hung him upside down and hit him, and whipped him with a metal rod.
Fellenbaum severely beat the boy for refusing to eat toast both Monday and Tuesday morning, authorities said. The "discipline" included throwing him against a wall, knocking him off a chair with a punch and then taping him to the chair to keep him upright for more beatings, police said.
When Scott died Tuesday, officials say, his body was covered with bruises and other injuries.
The boy's father, Loren McMillan, has been living out of state but is now traveling back to the area, according to officials and relatives.
Loren McMillan's sister, Tera Kluxen, said Friday that her family had no idea the boy was in danger. They now want custody of Scott's older brother, who authorities say also showed signs of abuse.
"We're going to do everything we can to get him back into our family and get him safe," said Kluxen, who lives in Lancaster.
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