MONSTER

Carer Who Claimed Autistic Boy Slipped in Dog Poop Is Charged With Murder

Robert Bethel eventually admitted that he banged the boy’s head agains the walls and floor, according to police.

When Mason Weston, an 11-year-old autistic boy, was found unresponsive on the couch of his Minnesota home on July 29, his carer Reggie Bethel told police the boy was cleaning dog urine and feces on the floor when he slipped and fell. But Bethel has now been charged with murder after the boy died in the hospital on Aug. 7. A physician found that Mason’s injuries, which included fresh cuts and bruises, weren’t consistent with Bethel’s account. And police say Mason’s mom, who originally corroborated Bethel’s account, eventually admitted that Bethel had repeatedly banged Mason’s head on the floor and wall to discipline him. Police say they confronted Bethel with the physician’s evidence and the mom’s account, and he eventually admitted to hitting Mason in a fit of rage. Mason’s mom, Christina Herren, told police they’d moved in with Bethel in Fergus Falls last November, and Bethel took care of Mason.