How Could You? Hall of Shame-Ethan Hauschultz case-Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Manitowac County, Wisconsin, guardian Tina McKeever-Hauschultz is “accused in a child abuse death case involving a boy in her care has entered not guilty pleas to the charges against her.

On May 13, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz appeared before a judge for an arraignment hearing in the 2018 death of seven-year-old Ethan Hauschultz.

McKeever-Hauschultz, 37, is charged with Intentionally Contribute/Delinquency (Death); Child Abuse-Fail to Prevent Bodily Harm; and Intentionally Contribute/Delinquency (Felony).

Tina’s husband, Timothy, and son, Damian, are also charged in the death of Ethan.

Timothy and Tina Hauschultz were Ethan’s court-appointed guardians.

Criminal complaints filed in the case state Ethan was hit, kicked, poked, repeatedly shoved to the ground, and a heavy log was rolled across his chest by Damian Hauschultz, who was 14 at the time. The older boy “stood on (Ethan’s) body and head while Ethan was face-down in a puddle. He ultimately buried Ethan completely in snow,” reads the criminal complaint.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Ethan died from hypothermia and blunt force injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.

Ethan and his siblings were put in the Hauschultzes’ care in 2017. The siblings told investigators Timothy Hauschultz frequently punishes them by making them walk laps around the yard carrying heavy logs, which he picks out. The siblings said that week they were required to carry wood every day for two hours a day for not knowing their Bible verses.

Damian Hauschultz, now 16, told investigators he was frustrated because the younger boys were dropping the wood every 5 minutes. When Ethan became unresponsive, he thought the boy was just resisting, so he buried him under packed snow and ice.

Investigators asked Damian how much snow was covering Ethan. Damian replied by saying Ethan “was in his own little coffin of snow.” He then laughed, according to a criminal complaint.

In July 2019, McKeever-Hauschultz was ruled incompetent to stand trial and committed to the Department of Health Services for treatment. On May 1, 2020, the court found that she had regained competency to stand trial and ordered the case to move forward.

A settlement conference is scheduled for June 22.

Damian Hauschultz is charged with 1st Degree Reckless Homicide, Child Abuse-Intentionally Cause Harm, and Substantial Battery-Intend Bodily Harm. On April 13, he was released on bond. His next hearing is scheduled for July 1.

Timothy Hauschultz, 49, is charged with Felony Murder, Intentionally Contribute/Delinquency (Death); Child Abuse-Intentionally Cause Harm; and Battery. His next court hearing is set for June 29.

ETHAN’S LAW

This case has inspired State Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) to introduce a bill called “Ethan’s Law.” The bill would prevent the placement of a child into the care of a non-parent with a criminal record of violence or abuse.

Timothy Hauschultz had a criminal record of violence and abuse when Ethan was placed in his home.

“It basically precludes placement with a non-parent who has a history of child abuse and these violent offenses. It basically says you can’t just say, well gee, we only have so many options, let’s just stick him with a family member that we have a concern with but maybe it will work out because we feel like we’re under pressure to make a placement,” says Jacque.

Ethan’s Law has not yet been passed by the legislature.”

Manitowoc County woman pleads not guilty in child abuse death case

[MSN 5/14/2020 ]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: A search of the Wisconsin court records shows that Timothy will have a hearing on 2/19/21. Tina will have a status hearing on 1/8/21.Damian will have a scheduling conference on 12/17/2020.

Update 2:“Following a tearful plea for forgiveness, Tina McKeever Hauschultz was sentenced Friday to spend nearly three more years behind bars for her role in the agonizing death of a 7-year-old foster child who lived in her town of Newton home.

District Attorney Jaclyn LeBre and the woman’s attorney had agreed to recommend the woman be sentenced to probation, and the jail time she’d already served, in the April 2018 death of Ethan Hauschultz, 7.

But Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Jerilyn Dietz disagreed, saying a longer sentence was needed to send a message that McKeever-Hauschultz, 38, could have done more to prevent harm to Ethan.

Dietz said the abuse likely was committed by McKeever-Hauschultz’s husband, Timothy Hauschultz. He is awaiting trial on felony charges of murder, two counts of intentionally contributing to delinquency, three counts of felony child-abuse as party to a crime, and two counts of battery in Ethan’s killing.

“You were away at school during the week … but you had other people who could have helped,” Dietz told McKeever-Hauschultz. “There’s no reason a comment couldn’t have been made, a cry for help … to prevent this completely senseless tragedy.”

Ethan died of hypothermia, a broken rib and multiple blunt-force injuries. Court documents allege that McKeever-Hauschultz’s son, Damian was directed by Timothy Hauschultz to make Ethan carry a 44.5-pound log around his yard for more than an hour as punishment. Police said Damian, then 14, struck Ethan nearly 100 times, shoveled snow onto the boy and stood on his back during the ordeal.

Dietz found McKeever-Hauschultz guilty of child abuse-failure to prevent great bodily harm, and failing to prevent mental harm to a child, and sentenced her to five years in prison and five years probation. Dietz acknowledged McKeever-Hauschultz has struggled with a traumatic brain injury suffered several years ago, but she said she doesn’t believe McKeever-Hauschultz is “free of culpability.”

“You were responsible for the care of these children,” Dietz declared. “These children needed you, and you failed them.”

McKeever-Hauschultz will serve about two years and 10 months in state prison because she already has been in jail for more than two years.

McKeever-Hauschultz initially was charged with intentionally contributing to delinquency causing death as party to a crime, a felony, and two counts of child abuse/failure to prevent bodily harm.

She choked back tears and occasionally sobbed in court Friday as she apologized, saying she was abused as a child.

“I wish you could truly know how sorry I am; my heart hurts every day,” she said, reading from notes. “I’m truly sorry for my actions. I wish that day never existed; Ethan would be alive and well. I hope you can forgive me one day, even though I don’t deserve it.”

McKeever-Hauschultz stayed in Green Bay during the week to attend classes at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. During that time, her husband was in charge of the five children living in the home: his daughter from a previous relationship, Damian, Ethan and two of Ethan’s siblings.

Ethan and his siblings had been removed from their mother’s home after human services caseworkers documented three cases of neglect and one of abuse. Ethan and two siblings were placed with Timothy Hauschultz; the fourth was placed elsewhere.

Ethan’s mother, Andrea Everett, also choked back tears as she spoke in court Friday, telling McKeever-Hauschultz, “You call yourself a mother, but I call you a monster.”

“You chose silence,” Everett said. “I ask the court to carry out justice … you stole a piece of my heart.”

Damian Hauschultz is free on bond in connectinon to Ethan’s death. He is charged with first-degree reckless homicide, three felony counts of child abuse and substantial battery.

Timothy Hauschultz ducks his head as he leaves Manitowoc County Circuit Court on Sept. 6, 2019. He is charged with murder and three counts of felony child abuse, all as party to a crime, in connection with the April 2018 killing of 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz, a relative who had been placed in his care by Manitowoc County Human Services workers.

Timothy Hauschultz had previously pleaded no contest to child abuse in an earlier case, and been found guilty. Two years later, a Manitowoc County circuit judge reduced the conviction to disorderly conduct.

The child-abuse conviction would have presented human services workers from placing a child with Hauschultz, but the reduced conviction meant caseworkers couldn’t consider the circumstances of the case when deciding if foster children could be placed in Hauschultz’s home.

A bill known as “Ethan’s Law,” sponsored by Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, is making its way through the state senate after a committee uananimously approved it.”

You chose silence:’ Ethan Hauschultz’s foster mother gets almost 3 more years behind bars
[Green Bay Press Gazette 3/12/21 by Doug Schneider]

Update 3:Ethan’s Law passed the legislature. Gov. Tony Evers plans to sign the bill into law.

“A little more than three years after a savage beating killed a 7-year-old boy, lawmakers are about to close a loophole that placed the child in the home of the people who later would be charged in his killing.

Wisconsin lawmakers have unanimously approved “Ethan’s Law,” which honors the memory of 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz of Manitowoc by making it illegal for human services workers to place a child with a foster parent who has been convicted of any criminal offense that stemmed from an act of child abuse.

Ethan was fatally beaten April 20, 2018. Prosecutors have accused the adopted son of Timothy Hauschultz, now 50 and a distant relative. He had previously admitted in court to acts of child abuse in the beatings of two other children, but a Manitowoc County Circuit Court judge two years later reduced the conviction to disorderly conduct, a nonviolent offense.

That allowed county human services workers to place Ethan and his brother and sister with Hauschultz and his family in a home in rural Manitowoc County.

Ethan and his siblings had been removed from their city of Manitowoc home after county human services workers documented three cases of neglect and one of abuse in the home.

Timothy Hauschultz’s adopted son Damian, then 14, is accused of fatally beating Ethan under what police and prosecutors allege in court papers were instructions from the elder Hauschultz.

Jacque
“Other states have laws like this already,” said the bill’s author, state Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere. “Wisconsin needs to catch up with the times when it comes to protecting its children.”

Previously, Manitowoc County human services workers were barred by law from considering the events that led to Timothy Hauschultz’s conviction, even though it included acts of child abuse that Timothy Hauschultz had pleaded no contest to.

Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, sponsored the Assembly version of the bill. Both passed unanimously. Gov. Tony Evers plans to sign the bill into law, spokeswoman Britt Cudaback said in an email, though a signing date has yet to be scheduled.

Timothy and Damian Hauschultz each face a rash of felony charges in the beating death, which took place over more than an hour as Ethan was being punished in the family’s yard for sassing one of his elementary school teachers.

Timothy, whose first felony conviction was for an armed robbery of a convenience store when he was 19, is awaiting a December trial on a charge of felony murder, five lesser felonies and two misdemeanors. Damian, now 17, is slated to enter a plea in June to first-degree reckless homicide and six other felony charges.

Timothy Hauschultz ducks his head as he leaves Manitowoc County Circuit Court on Sept. 6, 2019. He is charged with murder and three counts of felony child abuse, all as party to a crime, in connection with the April 2018 killing of 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz, a relative who had been placed in his care by Manitowoc County Human Services workers.
Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, Timothy’s wife and Damian’s mother, was convicted of two felonies in connection with the case. McKeever-Hauschultz is in state prison for failure to prevent mental harm to a child, and child abuse involving failure to prevent great harm, both as party to a crime, because she failed to notify authorities that child abuse was occurring in the family.

At her sentencing in March, prosecutors and her defense attorney agreed that she had served sufficient time in jail since her February 2019 arrest. Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Jerilyn Dietz disagreed, extending her time behind bars by roughly three years.

This is the second time Jacque had attempted to pass a law in response to Ethan’s killing. An earlier “Ethan’s Law” bill received some support in Madison last year, but the Legislature’s session ended before action on the bill was complete.”

Wisconsin Legislature adopts ‘Ethan’s Law,’ a foster home restriction named for 7-year-old slain while in foster care
[Green Bay Press Gazette 6/4/21 by Doug Schneider]

Update 4:“Damian Hauschultz was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for killing his foster brother in 2018, but people in the courtroom struggled to understand the level of violence Damian had unleashed on 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz.

“Ethan was tortured to death,” Manitowoc County Circuit Court Judge Jerilyn Dietz said before sentencing the 17-year-old Damian to two decades of imprisonment and 10 years probation. “This is an extremely serious offense.”

Court files show Damian, who was 14 at the time of the April 2018 killing, struck, hit and kicked Ethan, beat him with a belt until the buckle broke, rolled a heavy log across the boy and buried him, face down, in what Damian would later say was Ethan’s “own little coffin of snow.”

Damian had told police that his father, Timothy Hauschultz, had put him in charge of carrying out Ethan’s punishment for having talked back to a schoolteacher. Timothy called the punishment “carrying wood” — a 44½-pound section of tree trunk — around the yard of the Hauschultz family home in rural Newton for two hours a day.

In court Thursday, Ethan’s mother struggled to understand why her son was given such a heavy punishment for mouthing off to a teacher, and how it was left to a 14-year-old to ensure it was carried out. Ethan suffered head trauma, a broken rib and other injuries, and hypothermia, his autopsy showed.

“I don’t understand how you beat a child for that long, how you ignore his cries and screams,” Andrea Everett said in court.

Addressing Damian, Everett said: “You beat him and beat him, and when you were done, you buried him in your ‘snow coffin.’ You had the ability to reach out for help, and you didn’t.”

Ethan’s twin brother and older sister witnessed the beating. The three children had been placed in foster care after Manitowoc County Social Services had confirmed three cases of child neglect in the family home, and one of abuse, court files show.

Damian Hauschultz, now living in Mishicot, had pleaded guilty in Manitowoc County Circuit Court on June 25 to reckless homicide. Six other felony counts against him — three of child abuse/intentionally causing harm and three of substantial battery intending bodily harm — were dismissed.

“Damian made an adult decision that day,” Everett said. “The only way I can visit my son is look at a box with his ashes.”

Damian becomes the second member of his family that Dietz sentenced to prison in connection with Ethan’s death. The killing inspired a change in state law to prevent anyone who’s ever been convicted of child abuse from becoming a foster parent. Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill called Ethan’s Law in July.

Everett fought back tears in court as she called for the judge to impose a maximum sentence on Damian. District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre had recommended 12 to 17 years in prison, saying that Damian Hauschultz describing the day Ethan was killed as “not a very eventful day” was evidence Damian didn’t understand he had ended a life.

Defense Attorney Russell Jones suggested eight to 10 years for his client.

Damian’s mother, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, pleaded guilty in March to two felonies: child-abuse/failure to prevent great harm — Dietz said the woman had multiple opportunities to seek help for the boy — and failure to prevent mental harm to a child. Two other charges were dismissed.

Dietz sentenced McKeever-Hauschultz to five years in prison, with credit for the 770 days she had already served in a local jail. After release, she will serve five years on probation.

Damian declined to speak for himself in court Thursday.

His uncle, Robert Echlin, spoke on his behalf and said Damian’s life was like “living under Hitler” once his mother married Timothy Hauschultz, who goes to trial in December in his own case related to Ethan’s death.

Timothy Hauschultz

Timothy Hauschultz, 51, faces trial on charges of felony murder, five other felonies and two misdemeanor battery charges. He is being held in the Door County Jail and has turned down multiple plea offers, court records show.

Timothy and Tina McKeever-Hauschultz went shopping in Manitowoc while Ethan’s punishment took place, according to court files.

Timothy Hauschultz’s criminal record includes a 2009 conviction for child abuse that was later reduced to disorderly conduct, a Herald Times Reporter investigation revealed in 2019.”

Manitowoc County foster brother sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing boy, 7, in Ethan’s Law case
[Wisconsin Rapids Tribune 9/2/21 by Doug Schneider]