Police announced Wednesday they have carried out a search warrant at a “house of horrors” in Fox Lake where prosecutors say a mother tortured her child for years, including punching him and pouring soap down his ears.
The Fox Lake Police Department responded around 9:30 a.m. Friday to a business near Nippersink Boulevard and Grand Avenue for a report of a child found bruised and bloody.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Laughlin said the 11-year-old child ran away from his nearby home.
The child told officers his mother beat and abused him. An employee called 911 and officers arrived and took the child into protective custody.
Fox Lake Police Department Sgt. Rick Howell said the employee reported observing the child with blood on his face and multiple welts, bruises and scratches across his body.
His mother, Priscilla P. Marshall, 34, of Fox Lake, was located by officers at the family’s home in the 30 block of East Grand Avenue in Fox Lake and later arrested after an interview.
Cody R. Marion, 35, of Fox Lake, was also arrested after investigators returned to the home later in the day and found him. Police said he is the boyfriend of Marshall but prosecutors said he is the stepfather of the child.
The victim has two brothers and two sisters, ranging from one to 13 years old, and they were also taken into protective custody, Laughlin said.
The children were brought to the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center in Gurnee for forensic interviews.
The victim told investigators that his brothers go to school but Marshall does not let him go to school. He attended school through fourth grade but was pulled out for his fifth-grade year to be homeschooled.
The 11-year-old had woken up Friday morning to Marshall throwing things around the house and Marion doing the dishes, Laughlin said.
Laughlin said Marshall got mad and began hitting, pushing and punching the 11-year-old while telling him nobody loves him.
His two younger sisters were sitting on the couch crying and asking Marshall to stop. She punched the boy in the face, causing his nose to bleed, Laughlin said.
Marshall also grabbed a bottle of dish soap and poured the soap down the boy’s mouth and into his ear, causing him to cough up blood, Laughlin said.
The 11-year-old ran out of the house wearing nothing but underwear to seek help.
Laughlin said Marshall grabbed a knife and held it to her throat, threatening to harm herself if he left as he ran out of the house to a local flower shop where he asked the employee to call 911.
The 11-year-old boy told investigators the abuse began in approximately 2023 when Marshall smacked him across the face.
He went to school and was asked about the mark but he did not say anything because Marshall told him to lie. She would tell him not to tell anyone at school or she would go to jail, Laughlin said.
The boy was interviewed at the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center in May 2024 for that incident and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
During his most recent interview, he described the ongoing abuse by Marshall, saying she would use extension cords, black metal spatulas and spoons and punches him in the face.
The child said that the abuse got worse whenever police or DCFS were involved.
Marshall would make the boy write “you’re not a loved child, everybody hates you” in a notebook over and over as punishment, Laughlin said.
He would be forced to write in the notebook while kneeling between uneven floorboards in the home, Laughlin said. The boy would also have to take off his clothes when Marshall would hit him so it would hurt more.
Laughlin said Marshall has told the child that she was going to stab him in the back “33 times.”
Marshall would make the older brother beat up the 11-year-old boy by strangling him, punching him in the chest, stomach and face, and slamming him to the ground, Laughlin said.
Laughlin said Marshall threw scissors used to cut hair at the boy one time and they scratched him on the side of the head.
She punched the boy in the face approximately two months ago, causing his tooth to chip, Laughlin said.
Laughlin said Marshall also pours food items and toys all over the floor and makes the child clean it up with his hands.
Marshall would rip up the boy’s clothes and make him put his hands on the kitchen counter so she could strike him and would even spit in his face, the boy told investigators.
Laughlin said Marshall does not abuse the other children — only the 11-year-old boy.
The other children would get food such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut or Domino’s, while the 11-year-old would have to eat ravioli or canned food and would eat separately in the hallway from the rest of the family.
Laughlin said the boy has a bed in his room but is forced to sleep on the floor. He also could not go outside except to take the trash out and get the mail.
Marshall tells the boy he is just the adopted child and that his brothers are her two favorite boys, Laughlin said. She also has allegedly said that he deserves to die and one day she will dump his body.
Marshall previously told a neighbor that the kids were just playing when he asked why he hears so much screaming from their house.
Laughlin said Marion sides with Marshall and witnesses her beating the victim.
He would also tell the boy he was going to get beaten by Marshall if the child did not listen and also tell the victim to “just take it” because he deserved it, Laughlin said.
The boy was treated at Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry and preliminary observations show he had numerous bruises throughout his head, arms and legs along with dried blood in his nose and mouth and red welts across his chest, arms and legs.
He also had a dried, blue-ish soapy substance on his face and chest that was consistent with soap.
Howell said the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) was notified and assisted. The children have been temporarily placed in the care of an extended family member.
Marion and Marshall are each facing charges of aggravated battery to a child under 13, two counts of domestic battery and child endangerment.
Howell said Wednesday that the police department obtained and carried out a search warrant at the family’s home on Tuesday.
Several items were seized as evidence and additional charges are possible in the ongoing investigatio.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed petitions to detain Marion and Marshall pending trial, arguing there are no conditions of release that protect the victim.
The two were transported to First Appearance Court on Saturday morning and Marion appeared for a detention hearing on Monday afternoon, while Marshall appeared for her detention hearing on Tuesday afternoon.
Laughlin said in court that the victim suffered long-term, systematic torture at the hands of his own mother. “It doesn’t get any worse than that.”
Laughlin said the boy was brave enough to run away from the home after not being able to take it anymore. One of his brothers told investigators that the victim is subjected to physical abuse every day.
Marshall admitted to investigators to hitting the 11-year-old with kitchen utensils and hitting him in the face, as well as pouring soap down his mouth, Laughlin said. She has a prior felony conviction for a drug offense and has a dozen prior failure to appear in court warrants.
Six photographs of the boy’s injuries were admitted as evidence at the detention hearing.
Laughlin called the Fox Lake apartment where the family lived a “house of horrors” where the victim was living in a nightmare every day. She also said there is a physical and psychological threat to all five of the children.
A defense attorney for Marshall argued for her release pending trial, saying that she suffers from several mental health issues and conditions of release could mitigate the threat she poses to the victim.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the requests to hold the couple in jail pending trial, saying that prosecutors “clearly” met their burden in the case.
Nerheim said during both detention hearings that the case was “chilling” and the abuse was not an isolated one-time incident but instead spanned years.
“Children must be protected with every tool we have. Our office will seek to detain these offenders while they are awaiting trial, and then we will make sure that we hold them accountable after we secure guilty findings,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
“To think of a child having to flee their own parents is heartbreaking, and I would tell anyone abusing their child that you will face serious consequences when we find you,” Rinehart said.
Marion and Marshall are scheduled to appear in court again on April 2 for a preliminary hearing.