Timothy Richard Ferguson was born on August 6th 2006 in Charlotte North Carolina his parents were Eric Nolan senior and Shanda Margaret Ferguson he was the fourth of Shanda’s five children he had two older brothers Eric Nolan Jr and Paul an older sister Millie and a younger brother named Gabriel in addition to many stepsiblings Millie was particularly close with Timothy in both age and affection she held him the day he was born and said that every picture we have as a family Timothy was always by my side Timothy had blonde hair that

darkened to Brown as he got older light blue eyes and a wide smile he was diagnosed with autism ADHD and had some speech and motor repairments he was very sensitive to loud noises however his disabilities didn’t matter to his siblings because he was just their little brother they loved him and gave him the nickname Tim him his oldest brother said he was a sweet Boy Who Loved hugs and high fives Timothy was well liked by his teachers who described him as caring polite and eager to please they said school was his favorite place

he was smart and performed well in his classes Timothy also liked trains Thomas the Tank Engine and tinkering with things his sister said that he could take anything apart with any tools or none at all she said he was smart and Charming he could look at you with those big baby blue eyes and you could never stay mad at him a picture taken on a fishing trip shows some proudly holding up a fish he had caught with one hand and giving a thumbs up with the other between 2009 and 2012 Timothy and his family were living in Oklahoma when

Child Protective Services became involved in their lives at this time Timothy was listed as malnourished underweight and failing to thrive the agency did not release the records publicly so the details are unknown but Shanda was treating the children in such unusual ways that they substantiated her for CA and threatened to take away her parental rights sometime around November of 2009 the children were taken into CPS custody Millie recounted her memory of being taken away in the casew worker’s car they were young she was less than 5

years old and Timothy was not yet three she said Timothy was right by her side and she held on to his hand they were squashed in the middle of the back seat on the ride to their placement with a temporary Foster family as the big sister she said her job was to protect him according to Shanda’s posts on social media her children had been removed because in her words somebody at our church decided to be an idiot and were paying for it January of 2010 their scheduled visitation was increased from once every 4 weeks to once a week

February she posted that she and Eric had volunteered to take a 12we parenting course because they were only halfway through the classes she said CPS wouldn’t return the children to their home or increased visitation Shanda never admitted any wrongdoing instead saying that the stupidity and idiocy of the case worker and supervisor caused all of these problems she said that seeing the kids more often was important but oring to Shanda saying goodbye sucks especially when several of them cry and don’t want to go people from her church

were praying for the family to finally be reunited that month February of 2010 Shanda Was preparing to celebrate her 11th wedding anniversary and posted several times about her love for Eric she described him as Charming handsome intelligent strong romantic funny everything you want in a guy it’s that she couldn’t imagine not loving him but by June 2010 their marriage was over she posted a Nicholas Sparks quote that read watching you walk out of my life does not make me bitter or cynical about love and claimed I’ve overcome a lot in

my life and this is simply my way of dating and showing that I have overcome this already and in July of 2010 she posted find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot who calls you back when you hang up on him Adam vanderark responded to that post and said I love you she replied that she loved him too not much is known about how she met Adam who was disabled and used a wheelchair since he lived in Michigan it seems only likely that the two met online it’s also possible that Shanda and Adam met through roller derby as

according to her Facebook page she was interested in the sport and Adam often took pictures at bouts it should also be noted that the vast majority of pictures of Timothy in the public domain were taken by Adam who was an avid photographer over the next two years the children remained in CPS custody and Shanda and Eric began what was described as a bitter divorce in custody battle the divorce must have been finalized by August of 2011 when Eric applied for a marriage license to Patricia Renee gillenwater a January 2012 exit order

from Oklahoma juvenal court showed that Shanda stopped fighting for custody and visitation with the children she signed paperwork agreeing to supervise visits with the children for only 3 hours a month she also agreed to pay child support cuz she voluntarily agreed to wave her rights her parental rights were never officially terminated Shandon no longer in the family home CPS gave custody back to Eric they again did not release their records publicly based on customary procedures it is likely that CPS continued to monitor the children

under their father’s care for some months with no new trouble the family’s case would have been closed in September Eric remarried his new wife Patrica known as Trish had several children of her own a new blended family including Timothy lived together in Oklahoma for the next 5 years Shanda rarely saw the children after the divorce Shanda moved around a lot she lived at very ious addresses in Virginia and Oklahoma before finally moving to Michigan she married Adam and changed her last name to Vander Ark late 2014 she gave birth

to Gabriel Timothy’s younger brother June of 2015 the older children visited Shanda and met their new baby brother in 2016 Shanda graduated from Liberty University with a bachelor’s of Science and paralal studies 2018 she applied to three law schools and was accepted at all of them WMU [ __ ] offered her a 100% scholar ship so she enrolled there her academic career was very successful she was interim president of the Delta international legal Honor Society and was one of seven students to receive the school’s leadership award while

attending kie she worked as a teaching assistant back in Oklahoma Shanda’s children were growing up Eric Jr who prefers to go by his middle name Nolan turned 18 and started his life as a young adult but when Paul turned 18 he wasn’t quite ready to grow up he and his dad weren’t getting along and Paul was angry because Eric senior wanted him to work two part-time jobs to get away from his dad’s expectations Paul moved to Michigan to live with his mother in 2020 he got a part-time job at Applebee’s as a dishwasher and helped his mom and Adam

take care of Gabriel he seemed happy in his new living situation and particularly attached to his mother’s dogs Shanda trained service dogs and had one of her own possibly because of her hypoglycemia a few months after Paul joined the household Shanda and Adam moved into a split level house on Marshall Road in Norton Shores a city that bordered the Great Lakes they had a large private backyard and a bedroom downstairs for Gabriel and Paul Adam and Shanda lived in the upper section of the home they installed the camera with an

intercom so he could see and talk to the kids whenever they were downstairs since the lower level wasn’t accessible by wheelchair in May of 2021 Timothy moved to Michigan to be with Shanda and him according to Shanda Eric was having trouble with Timothy’s behavior and asked her to take him Shand also said Eric and his new wife had recently separated and Eric had moved to Florida Eric has never spoken publicly so there’s no way to verify if these statements are true or not there must have been some urgency involved in his

decision however because he pulled Timothy out of school two days before the end of the school year at the Norton Shores house a bunk bed was set up for Timothy in the open area of the basement outside the doors to Gabriel and Paul’s rooms Shanda believed that Timothy was faking his special needs he was supposed to be on medicine for his ADHD but Shanda took him off the meds without consulting a doctor she never once took him to the doctor during his time there now Timothy really enjoyed going to school in Oklahoma but Shanda decided to

homeschool him instead she had him complete assignments on a tablet he was only allowed to go outside to walk the dogs and he only walked them in the large private backyard in October of 201 21 Timothy and Paul attended Nolan’s wedding Millie and all their step siblings were there as well by all accounts everyone thought timtim looked fine he didn’t share any complaints about life in Michigan after the wedding Nolan went back to start his married life in a new career in North Carolina 600 miles away he said he thought his

mother had changed and had no reason to suspect that Timothy Paul and little Gabriel were anything but safe in her care Shanda graduated from law school second in her class few months later she took the bar exam Paul posted a picture of her on his social media on October 31st 2021 with the message congratulations Mama for passing the bar exam you had so much else going on yet your 400 plus hours of studying have paid off she passed on her first attempt with a score of 182 a very high score which put her in the top 1% of Michigan

test takers after graduation she got a job as a law clerk for mosan County circuit judge Annette R smidley where she did legal research and wrote memorandums after that position ended she went to work for newo County Circuit Judge Robert Springstead in August there she was paid $19 an hour to draft opinions and other legal documents Next Step would have been to take the lawyer’s oath in front of a court but before that could happen her husband Adam got very sick Adam had a stroke on January 3rd 2022 that day Paul posted

please pray for my stepfather Adam he had a stroke around 4:00 a.m. this morning doctor said the clot is in his aorta so you will need all the prayers we can get Adam survived the medical emergency and on January 10th he went to a rehabilitation center to recover despite his best efforts though he remained in need of constant care instead of returning to his home with Shanda he moved in with his parents who agreed to take care of him after Adam left conditions in the Norton Shores home changed drastically when Timothy

arrived in Michigan Paul said he was a healthy weight maybe even on the chubby side like many kids he had a sweet tooth and liked Cy and other snacks sometimes he would take food without asking like Pop-Tarts that Paul had purchased he would also get into things because he like taking them apart Shanda said Timothy acted out and wasn’t potty trained it seems likely that this truthfully reflected his behavior several of his teachers back in Oklahoma reported that Timothy acted out sometimes because he wanted attention he

would make noises or cause distractions but they said he was never violent he was often hungry and hoarded food he also had bladder accidents either because of previous trauma or medical issues Trish told the teachers that he still wet the bed at night at his old school They dealt with him by letting him shower and giving him clean clothes they’d given him an adult diaper to help prevent accidents and they sent him home with his backpack full of food food and snacks they gave him positive attention and outlets for his tinkering so that he

wouldn’t feel like he had to act out now shando was never a great mother but she didn’t administer severe punishments while Adam was still in the house he seemed to provide some sort of buffer between her and the kids even though he couldn’t get downstairs to directly take care of them after Adam left the behavior enraged Shanda she described him as sneaky and deceitful and she was determined to control him Paul was going to help her Shanda worked for the judge from 

6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and Paul worked as a dishwasher at Applebees from 400 p.m. to close since there were times that neither of them could be home Shandon needed a way to restrain and watch Timothy when she wasn’t there they already had one camera but she soon bought several others she also bought locks with the refrigerator freezer and Pantry as well as large zip ties to bind his wrists she bought motion detectors to set up around the house later she bought a vibration sensor she could attach to his wrists or the back Loop of

his pants when she let him wear pants that is she also placed an Amazon order for handcuffs and leg irons it was a high-tech operation five cameras and multiple sensors communicated with an app that Shanda and Paul installed on their phones they could open the app and watch him as well as get motion alerts sent directly to their phones they also communicated extensively through text mostly Shanda giving orders and poock explaining how he followed them or failed to on February 18th Shanda asked Paul via text why are his hands free and

what did he get into that he felt he needed to brush his teeth to hide it has he not been upstairs Against the Wall Paul replied that he didn’t know Timothy was awake and gave several other excuses Shanda was angry that Paul slept in he was supposed to wake Timothy check his cuffs and make him stand with his nose pressed against the wall she texted Paul find out what he has snuck right the heck now cuz I know he has snuck stuff since you weren’t doing what you’re supposed to what do you mean you didn’t know he was awake you both should have

been awake at 10:30 I’m not happy you know he wasn’t just sitting there check the brownies in the kitchen check everything not locked away check where the flipping Keys have been in another text from February 28th Shanda ordered Paul to check his breath I can almost guarantee he has eaten something he was chewing on something when he walked downstairs you and I will be talking about this on a later date when we are both home Paul responded yeah he grabbed chips I know this obsession with keeping him from eating would have been terrible

by itself but Shanda did not stop there as punishment she restricted his access to water and switched him to a diet of bread covered in hot sauce sometimes if he ate the bread with the hot sauce on it she would let Paul give him a few pieces of plain bread 30 minutes later other times she told Paul to force his mouth open and pour the sauce directly down his throat she claimed Paul came up with the idea based on a video he watched online but she was the one who ordered special hot sauce online because the local stores didn’t sell anything

spicy enough now it is worth taking a second to explain how the heat level of hot sauce is defined using Scoville heat units Scoville number reflects the number of times you have to dilute something before the spicy heat sensation is no longer detectable the average jalapeno pepper has a Scoville rating of 2,000 to 8,000 a spicier pepper like a Cayenne or Tabasco sauce has a rating of 30,000 to 50,000 that means you have to dilute it up to 50,000 times before the spicy sensation is gone so with this in mind Paul and Chand were

using Elijah’s extreme regret hot sauce this is a blend of Trinidad scorpion peppers and Carolina Reaper Peppers two of the hottest peppers in the world Scoville score of this sauce is 1.4 2.2 million units the text on the bottle describes the experience of eating their sauce and I quote the pain becomes unbearable and you feel like you just ate a burning hot coal that’s when you realize extreme regret Ed with extreme ction or you will regret it day after day if Timothy wanted to eat he had to suffer unbearable pain meanwhile Paul

posted several meals he had cooked himself on social media meal of ground beef and broccoli over rice and a bowl of pulled pork that he made extra Tender by letting it rest covered in tin foil Timothy would have had to smell the food cooking knowing he would not be allowed to eat it in April Timothy got the locks off the doors in the kitchen and Shanda made Paul put them back on Timothy got so hungry that he would eat anything he could get his hands on a few occasions he ate frozen chicken nuggets and uncooked ground beef instead of

realizing this meant her child was starving like any reasonable person would Shandi used it as a reason she was doing the right thing when she locked away all the food she claimed she was only doing it to help him so he didn’t hurt himself by eating raw food the food deprivation wasn’t Shanda’s only punishment Timothy was also forced to stand against the wall either upstairs near the back door or down in the basement on the wall between Gabriel and Paul’s bedrooms according to Paul the standing punishment lasted for hours and

sometimes even overnight they also made him do wall sits he had to lean his back against the wall and lower his body until his knees were bent as if he were sitting on a chair another physical punishment was forced exercise the backyard had a set of concrete stairs hidden from public view Timothy had to run up and down these stairs as punishment when he wasn’t running fast enough Paul would chase him on another occasion when Timothy made a mess in the garage Shanda told Paul to make him clean it up while wearing nothing below

the waist then he had to do walls sits while still wearing no pants she made him earn back the right to wear clothes in late January Tim had an accident overnight and had to wash his bed sheets Shanda decided he didn’t deserve to sleep in a bed anymore she moved him to the small room downstairs which was actually a closet instead of a bed he was given a tarp to sleep on they installed a camera in the closet so they could monitor him while he slept and a motion detector so he had to remain still an alarm installed on the closet

door beeped so loudly it could be heard through the walls several rooms away if Timothy triggered the alarm it would hurt his sensitive ears causing him pain and letting Paul and Shandon know they needed to check the camera in the room he was allowed to wear only an adult diaper if he wanted to go to the bathroom he had to ask for permission his bathroom trips were timed he was allowed 1 minute to urinate and 2 minutes to defecate when trapping him inside the closet wasn’t enough they made him kneel in there with his hands

above his head and his face pressed into the wall they would force him to hold this position for several hours if he shifted he would set off the motion sensor Paul and Chanda would watch him on the video feed that camera also contained a memory card that saved hours of recorded images everything was set up so that Timothy couldn’t avoid punishment they forced him into uncomfortable positions knowing his body would eventually cramp up or he would fall he was so hungry he couldn’t help but steal any crumb of food left

unattended later in April Timothy ate the crust of a burger Shanda wasn’t home so Paul could have pretended he didn’t notice but instead he told her and asked what she wanted him to do she told Paul to stick his finger down Timothy’s throat until he vomited Paul did not just that day but three or four other times as well in March Shanda became convinced that Timothy was setting off the alarms on purpose she said and I quote there were a couple situations when Tim actually intentionally kept everyone in the house awake he would

intentionally set off the motion detectors he would make noise because he interrupted her sleep she decided Timothy wasn’t allowed to sleep at all she had Paul Force his body into uncomfortable positions again to keep him awake if he fell asleep she had Paul Place him in a tub full of cold water and add ice to it to make it even colder at first these cold baths lasted about 30 minutes but they got longer over time Paul said he gave Timothy at least four ice baths Paul had to stay in the bathroom during the bath to make sure

Timothy didn’t turn on the hot water or get out he also had to poke and prod Timothy if the boy rested his head on his shoulder on the rim of the tub camera in the bathroom allowed Shanda to supervise March 27th she texted Paul let him know if he tries to sleep at all he’ll get another ice bath sometime before you leave for work and another when I get home after Adam moved in with his parents Gabriel often visited him there sometimes staying for several days his grandmother picked him up at the house on Norton Shores and Shanda worked

with Paul to make sure granny never entered the house and never saw Timothy she was on the family’s cell phone account so Shanda could use the tracking feature to follow Granny’s route each time Shanda texted Paul and warned him to keep her out she told him to make sure he had Gabriel packed dressed and outside so he could jump in the car when Granny arrived during one of Gabriel’s visits Adam had another setback on June 12th Paul posted his social media prayers are once again needed for Adam he had a seizure a few days back and is

once again hospitalized also pray for Gabriel as he was unfortunate enough to have been there for it and I am concerned for his mental health at this point as he was also there for the stroke I pray that Adam can recover and heal I pray he can come back to us soon the next day on June 13th Paul texted Shanda it read Timothy tried to sneak food I yelled at him and he became momentarily unresponsive and then I saw this Paul sent Shand a picture of Timothy’s emaciated body he said he’s bone thin I honestly think we need to actually feed

him Shonda responded give him bread give him bread with peanut butter the unresponsiveness is probably fake but I see what you mean that day Paul made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and scrambled eggs with cheese this was the first real meal he had had in months although Paul showed some kindness that day the next day he texted sh to say Timothy complained about being hungry over and over all day he said he was so angry he wanted to punch him in the face whatever concerns they had were soon forgotten they returned to feeding him

hot sauce bread and the other punishments continued on the night of June 27th Shanda texted Paul put the handcuffs behind him again I’ll have to deal with 2 hours of sleep today but I’m not letting him get away with this BS another text from Shanda said please make sure you go downstairs regularly to make sure he is not as sleep before you leave maybe we should leave the light on that way it’ll be hard for him to fall asleep still another said feel free to dump some cold water on him I honestly don’t care if you get a little rough

with him as the months passed Timothy got thinner and thinner after his body consumed all his fat it would have started to feed on his muscle and bone he would have been tired lethargic and would have struggled to maintain his body temperature he would have lost Consciousness or even hallucinated anytime he appeared unresponsive or out of it Shanda was convinced that he was faking it to trick them on July 3rd Paul posted a video to his social media in the video he and Gabriel had a small 4th of July celebration in the backyard Paul set up

several types of small fireworks while Gabriel asked questions and shouted happily after each small explosion Timothy does not appear any time in the video it is chilling to know that he is restrained and suffering inside while his brothers play outside on July 5th Timothy was unresponsive when Paul tried to wake him up Paul yelled and screamed at him but he didn’t move Shanda told Paul to put him in an ice bath Timothy couldn’t stand or walk on his own so Paul dragged him out of the closet and into the bathroom he thought he might have

knocked Timothy’s head against the side of the tub while getting him into the tub he put him in the cold water around 2: p.m. but Timothy didn’t react that day Shanda spent half of her work day watching the camera and sending messages to Paul when Timothy remained unresponsive she told Paul to hold a hot pizza roll in front of his face but to pull it away if he reached for it Timothy did react to the smell of food and Paul yanked it away she texted crazy thought tell him if he actually sits up by himself and stays sitting up he’ll

get some pizza rolls don’t tell him it’s only two and I’m okay if they are frozen rather than cooked when he didn’t respond to the offer of pizza rolls Shanda had another idea she texted I wonder how it would feel to have that hot sauce on your private parts I’m not saying touch him there not at all but dripping a little bit there is that horrible Paul said he refused claiming that action was too cruel for him to do normally Paul would have ridden his ebike to work at 400 p.m.

 but he had a flat tire so he needed to wait for a ride from Shanda when she got home around 6 p.m. they left Timothy in the tub while she drove Paul to Applebee’s for a shift Shanda sent Paul a text at 11:30 p.m. saying that Timothy was still in the tub coworker drove Paul home at around 1: in the morning he got home Timothy was no longer in the tub and Paul didn’t check on him Timothy had been in the cold water for at least 9 hours already struggling to maintain his body temperature because of the starvation he must have been unbearably

cold but somehow he was still alive when Shanda pulled him out of that tub on the morning of July 6th Hall got up early to get a ride to work Shanda was already awake and she told him that Timothy was in the closet and he was not breathing they drag him out of the closet shouted his name and try to wake him up she told Paul they needed to do CPR and ordered him to give rescue breaths Paul gagged and said there was something wet in his mouth but continued following his mother’s orders she kept saying this can’t be

happening Paul said Timothy was stiff and cold Shanda said she couldn’t close Timothy’s eyes and believed that’s usually a sign he’s not gone they try to get him to drink water then continued CPR their compressions Force liquid out of his body Paul said he’s throwing up still and Shanda said that’s good she told Paul to get a towel to clean up the mess and then do more compressions she told Paul guess I’m going to be late for work but we’ve got to get him responsive after several minutes of attempted CPR Paul asked if they should call 911 and

Shanda said not yet Timothy was only wearing an adult diaper so they dressed him in a pair of Paul’s pants and a hoodie Shanda said where’s your belt Paul put it on him I want to make it look like he’s been that way she told Paul she was going to have to lie and say Timothy had gone on a hunger strike she told him to tell the police that Timothy had been sleeping on the loft bed instead of in the closet 18 minutes later Shanda finally called 911 she told the dispatcher I woke up to go to work and my son’s not breathing he’s 15

almost immediately she started telling the madeup story she had concocted she said he’s been on a hunger strike the dispatcher told her to make sure he was on a flat surface to do CPR she said I have to put you on hold I need to get him off his bed she told the dispatcher she checked on him 

at 5 5:30 a.m. and that he had been breathing then which was also a lie she again attempted CPR following the dispatcher’s instructions dispatcher told her to slow down because she was doing the compressions too fast when the First Responders arrived they were unable to revive Timothy he had died overnight in the closet though the exact details of his death wouldn’t be clear until much much later he noted his body was emaciated and they rightfully suspected ca he weighed only 60 9B at the time of his death when police interviewed her at the

house Shanda came up with stories to explain everything she also frequently became emotional and cried or at least pretended to cry she told police he’d been on a hunger strike and she hadn’t realized how thin he was because he wore baggy clothes all the time she said she had been planning to call the doctor that day because she had been worried she also told them that he had done this before he’d gone on a hunger strike in January when Adam had his stroke she claimed she had threatened to take him to the ER then and he resumed eating

inside the home police noticed locks on the fridge freezer and Pantry the rooms were dirty and cluttered when the police asked about the locks Shanda said she installed them because Timothy was always leaving the appliances in the pantry doors open when they asked about the leg shackles she said they belong to Paul and he was using them to make a video the motion alarms were there to make sure the boys didn’t get into any of her sewing stuff she also told them Timothy had fallen out of his bed the night before she thought he might have bumped

his head and might have had some scratches from the fall and the police asked Paul questions Shanda often jumped in and answered them for him with all of her scheming she either forgot or did not realize the cameras were not just transmitting live images to her phone soon the police would have access to the video recorded on the camera’s memory cards and they would know exactly what happened to Timothy overnight Le also questioned 7-year-old Gabriel who actually told the truth information he provided LED in part to Shanda’s arrest

the next day Shanda cried when the officer handcuffed her even though he cuffed her hands in front which is more kindness than she gave Timothy she said her blood sugar was crashing because she was hypoglycemic she hyperventilated gagged and she said she was going to vomit but she only spit in the trash can despite her theatrics she was still processed and placed in jail Paul was questioned and released to go back home July 12th he posted a video of himself to social media in this video filmed inside the home on Norton Shore as he

propped himself up on the arm of the couch with one of the dogs beside him he said my little brother passed away and further said that Shanda had been taken into custody buddy uh is it [Music] going just says it live okay yeah I got it I got it uh Hey everybody uh just figured I’d send a quick check for y’all but um we’re doing good right now we I just dozed off on the couch unintentionally I forgot to give a quick check for today but um yeah oh when I can’t actually get in contact with you guys I’ll probably post

a quick check like this for those of you who aren’t aware um my little brother has passed away and my mother is currently in the custody of well I don’t I’m not sure if it’s I don’t know it’s a lot to deal with but right now we’re doing good we’re we’re fine but if I can’t actually like Facebook you guys like with live because I don’t have my phone and I don’t know how to access my Step Brothers I’ll post a quick check to let you guys know everything’s going on if you have any questions or anything just comment them down below and I’ll see if

I can answer them in the next uh quick check just keep supporting and pray PR that the two of us get do this but I guess uh don’t really have much that I can say right now but uh in the comments I’ll leave a little something if you guys want to uh know what’s going on there we go well I got to go and get to back to bed I’ll probably post another quick check tomorrow toodles on July 8th 2022 Shanda was arraigned in charge with open murder in

first deegree CA in Michigan a charge of open murder means prosecutors can decide later on the degree she was held with no bond in the mosan county jail on July 21st Paul was arrested and his bond was set for $500,000 he remained in jail until after Shanda’s trial though he lied in his initial police interview Paul eventually cracked when faced with the thousands of text messages the police recovered from his phone in addition to the punishments Paul told police he had hit Timothy several times in the head in the days

leading up to his death in and he banged his head getting him out of the bath he agreed to plead guilty to first-degree CA and to testify against Shanda at her trial in return Chief trial prosecutor Matt Roberts promised that anything Paul testified about would not be used against him in any subsequent trial that he would ask the judge to remain within the sentencing guidelines Shanda’s trial began on December 13th 2023 with mosan County Circuit Judge Matthew quel presiding Paul testified about all aspects of the abuse of trial the food

and sleep deprivation the hot sauce the restraints the forced exercise making Timothy puke the constant monitoring and the ice baths throughout he made sure to say all his actions were at Shanda’s orders during his testimony he often asked the attorneys to repeat their questions he seemed like he struggled to understand but came across as honest his odd behavior was so pronounced the jury wanted to know if he had a diagnosis on the autism spectrum judge asked Paul who said he had never been diagnosed with autism though he did have ADHD reactive

attachment disorder sensory processing disorder anxiety and depression he also admitted he had a history of anger issues when asked why he followed his mother’s orders he said I’d say it’s something close to Stockholm syndrome I desire to find a role model that due to my own low self-esteem I would do anything to make them proud of me that’s not an excuse I know but I feel like I’m glad I was at least able to realize it so I could correct it Shanda took the stand in her own defense but claimed she didn’t remember anything that happened

to Timothy she blamed her memory loss on PTSD caused by Adam’s stroke she also claimed she had ADHD sensory processing disorder and OCD which all contributed to her poor memory when asked if she had ever tried the hot sauce Shanda said I have a very weak stomach so I didn’t want to throw up she said she couldn’t eat anything spicier than jalapeno Cheetos her attorney Fred Johnson said Shanda was a busy single mother struggling to put herself through school he claimed she didn’t intend for Timothy to come to any harm prosecutor Roberts

found this baffling he said no rational person no person who can score 182 on the bar exam no parent could not understand the consequences of what she was doing Mr robbit you can continue thank you uh just to C of put a bow on this and clarify things Miss Vander Arc is it true that the last custody order from Oklahoma that involved Timothy indicated that you are only to be allowed supervised parenting time that is correct now uh Mr Johnson was uh talk to you about the fact that after Adam had his stroke tragically in January and was

out of the home that that it was a was a significant financial hit for you is that fair to say yes sir and uh as a result of that you didn’t have a lot of income coming in um were you working in noo at that time I was yes sir um so you when you worked here it was not a paid internship you were working in newo for paid internship at that time is that correct for paid clerk ship yes sir right clerk sh and then what were your other um what were your other sources of income at that time um which time well in January right after the stroke right

after the stroke um the rental income that I received from my brother from Oklahoma and then I had I was down to one dog training client um now you’re not suggesting to this jury that you could afford to have food for your kids are you no sir in fact you’re we’ve seen the pictures and you don’t need to show you the pictures of your freezer your refrigerator your pantry all pretty well stock with food wouldn’t you agree yes sir so you so so there certainly was a financial ability for you to provide for your children at

least in the food sense correct yes sir bought food first and you’re you’re highly intelligent woman and I’m sure you’re aware of multiple resources available in the community if that ever became an issue right yes sir United Way food pantries anything of that nature but you never felt the need to reach out to any of those resources did you no sir because we had groceries covered um you talked about Mr Johnson asked you about the motion sensors and I’m not sure we got like any real sense of clarity about the motion sensors um

when we’re talking about motion sensors we’re talking about ones that would um not only go off if if there was motion that’s what a motion sensor is obviously but would give some type of audio alarm right uh some of them did yes sir and um Timothy had very sensitive hearing didn’t he I was not aware of that no sir that’s when Paul said that yesterday that puzzled me you didn’t know about that he didn’t know he had surgery to put tubes in his ear I was there for the surgery for his tubes but no I mean it was at least my experience with Timothy

was half the time he didn’t hear what you were saying um did you know that he found it discomforting when that when those noises happened did you know that that was you know for lack of a better way of putting it that was that was a punishment too for those noises to be going on no sir I did not um um something he was autistic right he was on the autism yes he was on the Spectrum loud noises disturbances things like that those are troubling for folks with autism aren’t they for some of them but he never I mean he he liked to

listen to his tablet Extremely Loud um and I remember um because little man sorry I’m trying not to say his name um you know when we’d have thunderstorms it sometimes it would freak came out and it didn’t things like that didn’t bother Timothy at all and Timothy sat with me okay go ahead and judge me or laugh at me but when I before the PTSD I used to watch when I watched college football I would scream at the television every play offense and defense that’s just who I am and um and Timothy was right there with me hollering at the

TV so so the the alarms didn’t bother him at all I mean I wouldn’t say they I mean they they bother people probably some everybody but I but they didn’t it wasn’t he wasn’t overly sensitive to it right because it begs a question if the alarms don’t bother him what’s the point in having them right yes sir you said that you would the the punishments and I guess this 3:00 in the morning one about not letting him sleep or he gets an ice bath so he’s got to be awake at 3:00 in the morning you said that was because he would keep you guys

up in the middle of the night or wake you up in the middle of the night yes yes sir can you and again you did really well on the logic and reason Port reasoning portion of the the elsat exam can you explain the reasoning behind keeping somebody awake when they’re keeping you awake to show them how it feels but they’re already awake aren’t they it made sense to me sir that’s now that you ask it but it it doesn’t seem to make sense but it made sense to me at the time you didn’t actually mean that as punishment that that was just out of

spite you were just angry with Timothy for keeping you awake weren’t you no it was meant as a punishment sir but it’s also a punishment for yourself because you have to stay awake as well don’t you I don’t sleep much anyway yes sir well Paul has to stay awake right yes sir Paul in nomnc as well you testified that you gave Paul you gave Timothy a warm bath the night before he passed away that last night July 5th do you recall that yes sir that was the first time you’ve told anybody connected to this case that you’ve done

that isn’t it yes sir you never told the police officers you did that did you no sir when the prosecutor showed her a picture of Timothy’s emaciated body and N her did he look like that when you put him in the bathtub she gagged ducked beneath the Wht Fitness stand and vomited into a trash can or at least pretended to vomit I imagine warm bath just like it’s just what it sounds like right you you got him you took them to the bath you grew warm bath for him and you put them in the bathtub right yes sir this is hours before he dies right

yes sir you look like that when you put them in bathtu sorry got to maybe have a moment uh yes s do we have a right please rise recess after this display her attorney

asked for a break and Court ended for the day the next day Shandon didn’t return to court allegedly she told jail staff she wanted to self- cancel the judge told the jury she was suffering from a medical issue would not return for the remainder of the trial video footage of Timothy’s last night alive was recovered from the memory card of the camera installed in the closet where he slept the video was so disturbing that judge quel wouldn’t show it to the jury but instead asked the detective to describe what he saw when he watched it

said Anda dragged Timothy by the arms and pulled him onto a tarp on the floor of the closet she moved him Timothy let out several weak moans she called him pathetic and added but I already knew that he didn’t respond likely because he was no longer able to speak his eyes were open but he couldn’t focus and he seemed unresponsive were only an adult diaper so the detective could see how very thin he was his hipbones and knee joints protruded through his skin 15 minutes minutes later she returned to the closet to reposition him in front of

the camera she ordered the dog to lick his face and try to get a reaction the detective said Timothy was taking short shallow breaths through his mouth kind of picture how a fish out of water would Breathe she clamps his mouth shut and tells him he doesn’t need to breathe like that she holds his mouth shut for a period of time and tells him see you didn’t need to breathe through your mouth like that you’re being a dummy those were the last words anyone ever said to him you’re being a dummy later in that video the detective believed he

could pinpoint the moment of his death he said he can be seen his chest Rising lowering very slightly small little movements and there’s a point in time where you stop seeing that his body just relaxes it appears to me he dies at that point medical examiner Dr Joyce D young ruled Timothy’s death a homicide which means it was caused by the actions of another with the intent to harm she found a hematoma on his head and other bruises and scratches on his body along with areas where the skin was so thin she could see through it to the tissue

below an examination of the fluid in his eye showed that he was severely dehydrated he had no body fat left in his body and he was so bony she could see and count all of his ribs he was developing pressure sores along his spine because he had no padding between his bones and his skin internally he had no fat inside his abdomen and a few of his ligaments remained attached she found winki spots in his stomach which are dark brown lesions found in people who suffered extreme hypothermia she explained that his emaciation made the

ice baths even more dangerous because he had no fat left to insulate his body he wasn’t strong enough to shiver and his body had no way to generate more heat she said signs of his failing condition would be clearly visible to anyone who looked at him Timothy was 5’6 and weighed only 69 lb well below the average weight of 132 lb he was a little taller than average but his weight was so low it was off the bottom of the chart Dr D young ruled his cause of death as severe dehydration and extreme malnutrition and starvation she also

found that exogenous hypothermia caused by something outside the body like an ice bath was the significant contributing cause of his death after 2 hours of deliberation Shand was found guilty of first-degree murder and first deegree CA at the sentencing hearing judge quel called Shanda’s actions absolute systemic consistent torture he said the ca guidelines of 11 to 19 years weren’t enough to cover Timothy’s long-term suffering and decided to exceed the guidelines all right thank you Mr Johnson uh Miss vanderark do you wish to

say anything prior to senten well first and foremost um for the individuals here to speak on Timothy’s behalf I appreciate you being here uh it kind of struck me throughout the trial you know who who was here for Timothy and uh at one point in time I worry that we may not have anyone to give a victim impact statement and uh that to me was made me very uh sad quite frankly horrified more than anything but quite sad and I’m happy uh that two individuals took time to be here uh from miles across the country and uh out of the horrible situation uh that

makes me feel a little bit better not much but a little bit better uh you know Mr Johnson makes the same argument today that he made at the trial uh that that this was just negligence this was her not understanding what was going on she was really trying to do the punishment uh she was trying to be a good parent and she just didn’t realize that Timothy was in such a horrible condition and uh I find myself I found myself especially during closing argument quite frankly finding myself almost believing that and uh afterwards I after the trial

I sat in my car after leaving that day trying to understand uh you know why I could feel that way and what I realized is that I wanted to feel that way because I didn’t want to accept the reality of the situation here and the reality of the situation here is that this person miss vanderark you intentionally engage in these acts this wasn’t negligence this is not understanding uh why but you intentionally did this with a goal and uh I think Mr Johnson’s correct I don’t believe there was an intent to kill here because you would have lost

the very thing that you wanted to torture without him you have no one to torture except maybe the younger children so I don’t believe you intended to kill him I I think you intended to continue on torturing him uh for as long as you possibly could why I don’t know but all the information that I have in front of me and I sat down I really thought thought about this and I looked over my notes from The Trial demonstrate that this wasn’t negligence this wasn’t you not understanding what was going on you look through I I read through every

single text message of the exhibit 2,000 plus pages to try to understand what the heck was going through your mind and what became entirely clear to me is that you knew exactly what you were doing immediately afterwards when police live at the home you you immediately you know con [ __ ] this lie about he’s been on a hunger strike he’s you know he was in the bed and I checked on him and I gave him some food and all this stuff you got Paul involved in it uh you know at one point in time uh you know you’re you’re

you know put baggy clothes on him um you know put clothes on him to make sure you know to make sure I guess that he he looks like he was actually wearing him that he was hiding his his uh his poor condition even though you already received text messages you know weeks earlier of how bad he looked uh you know you you testified yourself how highly intelligent were in fact that’s the only thing that uh you testified to that I think was actually true you quite proud of that boastingly boasting how intelligent you were uh and

not only that but your actions in hiding this child you you HIIT him from uh his Grand grandparents you made sure that uh your other son G or or little man as you call him didn’t see him you know those text messages talk about not wanting uh anyone to see him I want to see him in that condition uh you made sure that the garage was closed when he was when you sent him out there with no pants on to clean out the garage I don’t want to believe it because I don’t understand I can’t wrap my mind up been trying now for this

entire case to wrap my mind about how somebody could do something so horrific not only to another human being but to their own child uh I’m a father myself I love my kids I love them with with unconditionally uh but quite frankly there’s a mother’s love that I’ve seen that is striking and anybody who’s a parent who’s married most mothers not all but most mothers have such a strong love for their children and to to ex to see what you did to your own child I I I don’t know if there’s a word in the English language to describe how how how

to describe it can come up was just horrific you intentionally and systematically tortured this child and let’s call it what it is it’s torture you tortured this child this wasn’t punishment this wasn’t trying to to curb his behavior you tortured him you monitored him obsessively you you all the things you did I look through every one of the messages bread with hot sauce wall sits up and down the stairs sleep deprivation ice baths making him puke up food monitoring his bathroom time giving 60 seconds in the bathroom if he went to urinated or or

five minutes if you had a bowel movement you made him sleep in the closet you to to to make him sleep in the garage you put Tobasco directly in his mouth you made him put his hands over the head made him made him work in the garage with no pants and you know there’s two other things that that I that didn’t come out in the trial that were in the in the messages one that there was talk of blindfolding him depriving him of his physical sight as a punishment and the last thing that struck me is is just absolutely horrific in terms of

your thinking there was mentioning of giving him saltwater as a punishment one of the text messages talks about hey tell Paul or tell Tim that I’m not going to do the saltwater punishment and you’re reasoning for not punishing him not was that oh my God we can’t get him salt water that could hurt him that could kill him but it was because you didn’t want to give him another excuse to sit down on the toilet because he’d have diarrhea that he’d have diarrhea and so he would have an excuse to sit down for a few

more minutes while he was diarrhea from saltwater that was your excuse that was your justification not that it would hurt him and and you did so for what because of some punishment you wanted to regulate his food even though you yourself testified that he didn’t really gain a lot of weight uh you know toward the end of these text messages you and Paul are talking about not wanting him to win he’s not going to win I didn’t allow pictures to be shown in open court of Timothy as he was uh when he died because I didn’t want

people to remember him like that of all the things you took away from me one thing I didn’t want you to take away from him was at least some shred of dignity uh and then I also thought well I’m a judge I’m a human being I don’t know how to I don’t know how to write this wrong we try to do that I try to do that from the bench every day there’s no way to write this wrong except impose the sentence uh that that that essentially takes away your freedom and I thought to myself what do I do he said and I quote I I will tell you this I am choosing not

to remember your son dead looking like a holocaust victim but I’m choosing to remember him like that and this is when the judge points to a picture of Timothy when he was younger and you can’t even look at him that’s how he was a beautiful child with a lot of life in his eyes that’s who your son was and you took that from him I’m choosing to remember him as a happy individual with life and that is the picture I want people to remember of your son Timothy 1 and he won because we know what you did to him now it’s not hidden anymore we

know who you are that’s the way that I’m going to honor him Shanda was sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole for Timothy’s murder an additional 50 to 100 years for first degree CA the hearing she remained silent after feedback from Shanda’s jury prosecutor Roberts decided not to file additional charges against Paul Randy myam a Wisconsin father saw Paul’s testimony on TV Paul’s speech and mannerisms reminded Randy of his own son who has asger syndrome much as the jury had Randy thought Paul might be on the

Spectrum concerned he called him in jail and befriended him he also made several deposits into Paul’s commissary account and talked to him regularly on the phone Randy and his son even drove to Michigan for a sentencing on February 26th that day Paul pled guilty to first-degree Act aggravated CA in December judge quel also presided over Paul’s sentencing hearing as promised prosecutor Roberts asked him to stay within the sentencing guidelines he said by a long shot this case is the most difficult case I’ve ever worked on he

said he was struggling to find a balance he wanted to acknowledge the help Paul had provided but he was deeply concerned that Paul would be a threat to the public if he didn’t get the mental health treat M while incarcerated Randy had written a letter asking the judge to be lenient and to consider letting Paul Go free many other people who had watched the trial on tv wrote letters saying the opposite the judge said he was not going to consider the opinion of anyone who only knew about the case from the media coverage

he said it wouldn’t be fair to Paul if he did Paul’s brother Nolan wrote a letter on his behalf which the judge did consider in it he wrote I Will Not sugarcoat and say that I am not deeply unhappy with Paul for not finding the courage to say something to anyone about what was happening in that home but I have to take one last stand for him he had issues since we were very young issues that our parents never cared to address or have compassion for he asked the judge to consider an alternative to prison and said he was willing to help

Paul he wrote even if your decision is that he does need to spend time behind bars for the sake of Justice I am prepared to take him in at any time unlike Shanda there is still hope for Paul during the hearing judge quel read relevant portions of two psychological evaluations alow he said he understood why observers including members of the jury thought Paul might be on the autism spectrum but neither doctor found any evidence to support an Autism diagnosis or any other intellectual disability instead they attributed his overall

demeanor and presentation to factors such as lack of socialization normalization of abnormal Dynamics and experiences poor interpersonal skills and emotion disregulation the judge elaborated saying Paul was the product of neglect trauma and ca he had been moved around a lot and never got any help for his issues but there was no indication he was more susceptible to manipulation than anyone else in fact the judge found evidence in the evaluations that made him believe Paul would have been predisposed to abuse his brother

independent of his mother’s influence in his evaluation sessions Paul said he felt a sense of power and pleasure when punishing Timothy he liked getting praise from Shanda and said having power over someone was good evidence from his past revealed he had been observed being physically aggressive with his younger siblings and tried to lock Timothy in a closet because he wasn’t listening to them one of his stepsisters told detectives Paul was the biggest bully she has ever met in her life and that he found genuine joy in tormenting Timothy

whenever possible she claimed that is one of the reasons Paul was asked to leave Eric’s house though that raises the the question of why Eric would drop Timothy off with his Tormentor when he was younger Paul was cruel to animals stole things like to boss the other kids around and had trouble controlling his anger when Randy asked him about this on a prison phone call he said he didn’t know any better when he was younger but eventually learned how to treat animals one of the doctors asked if he thought what he was doing to Timothy was wrong

he said that thought never even crossed my mind after reading the evaluations and rereading the thousands of texts chanded and Timothy sent to each other judge quel concluded that Paul was happy to be her enforcer he said the court believes Mr Ferguson is one step away from becoming a psychopath like his mother and sentenced Paul to 30 to 100 years in prison exceeding the guidelines there was no public funeral for Timothy but it seems likely that the family held a small private ceremony for him his body was cremated in his impact

statement Nolan said because of Shanda van ark’s actions he didn’t get to hug his brother again I instead got to cradle the bag of his ashes in my arms just like I did the day he was born Timothy was buried at the sunset memory garden cemetery in Mint Hill North Carolina The Boy Who Loved Thomas the Tank Engine when he was young was buried under a headstone engraved with the image of a train after Shanda was accused of Timothy’s murder Adam filed for divorce from her and got custody of Gabriel a few months later he was

diagnosed with leukemia and died in February of 2023 Gabriel is now living with his grandparents Steven and Martha vanderark Shanda’s parental rights were terminated after her conviction though she is currently appealing that decision she’s also appealing her murder conviction she would have to win both appeals in order to get custody of Gabriel and that seems very unlikely according to testimony at the termination hearing Gabriel wants nothing to do with his mother Paul can’t appeal his conviction because he plad

guilty but he is allowed to appeal the length of his sentence his attorney will likely argue that the judge handed down an overly harsh sentence the attorney might say the judge should have given more weight to the mitigating factors like the CA and neglect Paul experience as a child and the extent of his cooperation if we hear any news about Shand or Paul’s appeals we will post an update at a later date also let us know what you feel about Paul’s sentence in the comment section Down Below on recorded calls from the jail both Paul

and Shanda have complained about the food they’re being served Paul said he is always hungry and Shanda said the food makes her sick this is not even close to what Timothy suffered but we hope that they’re both hungry forever Millie loved her little brother deeply in her impact statement she said I want the world to know that Timothy was wanted if not by her than by me he was loved by me Nolan said the world’s a darker place without him and people need to know that both of them are forever changed by Timothy’s short life and his

tragic loss nly said I like to say I don’t regret things in my life that every mistake I’ve made has made me who I am today when Timothy died I couldn’t stop regretting I regret not hugging him more I regret not dancing with him at my brother’s weddding the last time I saw him I regret not putting aside my differences with Shanda and Paul just to check on him these are the things that I can’t remedy now there’s no fixing what’s been done that’s my regret that I couldn’t protect him when he needed me most Nolan still wonders if he in his

words told Tim Tim I loved him enough times to remember up until the very end he said Timothy was so loving he probably still loved Shanda and Paul even though they tortured him he said the only thing his brother hated was saying goodbye he said in all of my life I only knew one thing my brother didn’t like he hated goodbyes if he had to say goodbye to anyone he would cry and he would hold you and he would say don’t go but now I’m the one crying but I never got to say goodbye