Lansing, MI– Footage from an interrogation, acquired by Stranger Stories and shared on the Law&Crime Network’s YouTube channel, reveals authorities questioning a young man involved in the tragic abuse of his younger brother at the hands of his mother.
Paul Byron Ferguson, 22, is presently incarcerated at the Oaks Correctional Facility, serving a sentence ranging from 30 to 100 years. He admitted to child abuse, but as noted in February, Judge Matthew Kacel chose to impose a sentence beyond the recommended guidelines due to the appalling treatment of the victim, Timothy Ferguson, 15.
Shanda Margaret Vander Ark is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of a teenager, with Paul Ferguson acting as her enforcer during the time they all resided together.
“I think you’re just as bad, if not worse,” Kacel told him at his sentencing.
During the trial, it was revealed that Timothy passed away in a cramped closet beneath the basement stairs, which served as his living space, while his mother referred to him as “pathetic” in his last moments.
Authorities reported that Timothy Ferguson, who faced challenges due to autism and was both speech- and motor-impaired, tragically passed away in July 2022 at his family’s home in Norton Shores, Michigan, weighing just 69 pounds (31.3 kilograms).
A 44-year-old woman from Norton Shores, Shanda Vander Ark, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole in January after being found guilty by a jury of murder and child abuse related to her teenage son’s death.
“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Kacel told her in her sentencing hearing in January.
He recounted the series of mistreatments that Timothy endured at the hands of Vander Ark. The experience involved a range of extreme measures, such as lack of sleep, cold water immersion, inducing vomiting after meals, imposing tight schedules for bathroom access, confinement to a small space for rest, consumption of bread with extremely spicy sauce, application of hot sauce directly, enduring prolonged wall sits, and constant surveillance.