BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WTHR) — The Monroe County Sheriff's Department is now requesting Luis Posso and Dayana Medina-Flores be charged with murder.
They're being accused in the death of Posso's 12-year-old son, Eduardo, who was found to have been abused and starved.
A judge has found probable cause for the new murder charge. They are also facing additional charges including two counts of neglect of a dependent, criminal confinement and battery.
Bond has been revoked for both.
Their initial hearings Friday afternoon lasted just a few minutes.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Eduardo “was found to be severely emaciated” by the hospital staff and “displayed many signs of starvation, neglect and physical abuse.”
Those court documents say he also had "multiple bruises, lacerations and ulcers all over his body.”
According to investigators Posso insisted that Eduardo was normal and healthy but fell in the shower the day before and bumped his head. Police say he later “…admitted spanking Eduardo on multiple occasions with a leather belt, his hand and a flipflop.”
The mother of the 12-year-old, who died last week under the alleged horrific conditions, said she had no idea about the boy's living conditions.
Posso and his family had been in Monroe County for less than a week. After getting a search warrant for their room at the Economy Inn, detectives say they discovered restraints used on the young boy. Chains, shackles, a shock collar for dogs.
“I was just thinking, how could you do that to your own child? How could my son do anything to you to get to this point?” said Aurea Garcia, Eduardo’s biological mother.
Garcia said her son had been in the couple’s care for the past four years. She said finding out how he died was devastating. At the funeral home, his frail body looked a lot different from when she last saw him.
“It was hard to see him the way he was because it was nothing like my son,” said Garcia. “I tried, and I feel like I didn’t do enough so I needed to tell my son I am sorry. I did everything I could, it just wasn’t enough. It just wasn’t enough.”
Detectives say Posso and Medina-Flores, originally from Florida, are contract employees for a traveling circus, passing out flyers for shows in cities across the country. They came to the Economy Inn last Monday to advertise for a circus in Bloomington that opens next month.
While they worked with three other children, ages 9, 5 and 2 in tow, investigators say they left Eduardo chained to the bathtub in the hotel room, without food.
According to court documents, a sibling of Eduardo said the boy just wanted to juggle and be free.
Child protective services has taken custody of the three younger children.
The couple is scheduled to stand trial in November.