TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Police Department arrested two people on Wednesday in connection with what they called a disturbing child abuse and homicide investigation.
The police department posted details on its Facebook page on Friday with a timeline of what they say happened.
Tulsa police say a grandmother called them to file a report Jan. 27 about a missing and possibly-dead child, along with another child who'd suffered sexual abuse. The grandmother said her daughter Camille Lewis left her 13-year-old daughter to live with her last September and the girl was "skin and bones from malnourishment."
The grandmother said Lewis told her that her 11-year-old son was dead.
Tulsa police detectives interviewed the 13-year-old girl who said that her mother and stepfather John Miles would lock her and her brother in separate closets for days at a time, denying them food and beating them with belts and cords.
Police say the girl told detectives that Miles would offer her food in exchange for sexual favors, and sometimes she and her brother would be forced to sleep in a doghouse in the backyard and exercise outside in cold weather.
The girl said that the abuse started in November 2020 and ended in September 2022 when she went to live with her grandmother. Within that timespan, she said her brother died.
She told detectives that in March 2021 she heard her mother crying and begging her brother to wake up and that her mother told her that her brother had a seizure and died. She said her mother didn't take him to the hospital because they did not want to get in trouble.
Detectives say the girl told them that her mother said Miles and a cousin buried the brother in a park, but that Miles later dug him back up, brought him back to the house and burned the body in a barrel — throwing the ashes in a drainage system.
Police arrested Lewis on Feb. 7, and they say she admitted to abusing the children and causing the scars all over her daughter's body. However, Lewis told them her son ran away two years ago and hadn't been seen since.
Officers arrested Miles the next day.
Both of them are charged with Child Abuse and Child Neglect. Miles is also charged with Child Sex Abuse. The case is still considered to be a homicide investigation and charges could be added pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Tulsa Police Department reminded people after the details of the case about reporting suspected child abuse:
State law (Title 10A, Section 1-2-101) requires EVERY PERSON who has reason to believe that a child under 18 is a victim of abuse to report the suspicion of abuse immediately to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS).
A report of suspected child abuse is a request for an investigation to gather facts and protect the child from further harm. The person reporting the abuse does not need to prove abuse prior to reporting. Investigation and determination of abuse are the responsibility of DHS, law enforcement, and the judicial system.
To report child abuse, you can call 911, the Tulsa Police Child Crisis Unit at (918) 586-6050, or the following hotlines:
Oklahoma Hotline – 800.522.3511
National Hotline – 800-4ACHILD (800.422.4453)
For more information about reporting child abuse, here's information from the Tulsa Child Abuse Network:
https://www.childabusenetwork.org/.../how-to-report-abuse/
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