CENTENNIAL — Almost four years later, it still haunts him: the abuse he says he endured at the hands of his mother, Shelley Lowe, and former stepfather, Aaron Thompson.
The boy, now 12, has nightmares. And they continue to get worse.
“He wakes up crying,” said Tammy Briseno, the foster mother of Lowe’s son. “He describes being chased by Big A and Shelley. More recently, they caught him.”
Briseno testified Wednesday in Arapahoe County District Court in the trial of Thompson, who faces 60 criminal counts in the death of his daughter, Aarone, and the alleged abuse of the other siblings who lived in the Aurora home.
Thompson reported his daughter missing in November 2005. Aarone would have been 6 at the time, but authorities believe she died two years earlier.
The 12-year-old boy now lives on a small farm with chickens, goats and plenty of room to roam. He has several other children in the home to play with, too, including his sister, now 13.
The boy, now a seventh-grader, testified Wednesday about being hit repeatedly by Lowe and Thompson. Clearly scared, he barely responded to lawyers who asked him to repeat his answers.
He said sometimes Thompson would hold him down while Lowe beat him with an extension cord. Other times, Lowe and Thompson would take turns hitting him with the extension cord, the boy testified.
“It happens all the time,” the boy answered when a prosecutor asked him how often the children in the home were tied to a pole in the basement and beaten.
Briseno said the boy talks about ghosts coming to his room and scaring him.
“We say prayers with him,” Briseno said.
He still soils himself, said his foster mother. School officials also testified that has happened for quite some time.
She said she asked the boy to help her housebreak a new puppy the family had gotten. So he took the puppy to the toilet, then held him over by his legs.
When she asked him why he was doing that, he said, “That’s what they did to me,” Briseno said.
The boy’s brother also lived with the Briseno family for several months. This boy was 14 when Aarone was reported missing. He also had trouble sleeping and had nightmares about Lowe and Thompson, Briseno said.
“He would be up at night walking around,” Briseno said.
The boy would refer to Briseno’s husband, Rudy, as Big A, the name the children called Thompson, then the boy would start yelling and screaming at Rudy, she said.
One time during a family meeting, the boy started acting as if he were 7 years old, Briseno said. He hid behind a plant in the home because he was afraid of something, she said.
“I see him as a very angry child,” she said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
