Twin Boy Dies After Parents Deny Him Water for Wetting His Bed

on August 29, 2011 at 1:07 PM

glass of water If you're having a perfectly nice post-Irene Monday afternoon, then I suggest you don't read any further. Because this disturbing story is gonna stick with you for days.

It's recently been revealed that a 10-year-old Texas boy, Jonathan James, died in July because his father and step-mother deprived him of water for five whole days in the midst of a 100+ degree heat wave.

Told you this would ruin your afternoon.

Michael Ray James and Tina Alberson dealt out this tortuous "punishment" to their son because, apparently, he had wet the bed some time in the weeks prior. In addition to this, they also forced him to stand in an un-air-conditioned room with his twin brother, Joseph -- by the window so the sun would beat down on them. According to Joseph, the day Jonathan died, he had peanut butter stuck in his throat, but their parents "still wouldn't let him have water" to wash it down. Joseph, who was extremely close with his brother, stood there and watched his twin die because he was scared the same thing would happen to him if he tried to help. He heart-breakingly said, "I wanted to do something, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do nothing because I would get in trouble.”

When rescuers picked Jonathan up after he collapsed, Alberson told authorities that he was sick. But they knew she was lying and called investigators while they were trying to revive him. Alberson and James have since been jailed in a Dallas prison, charged with injury to a child.

Who knows what will wind up happening to the parents of poor, little Jonathan. I can only hope and pray that neither one of them sees the light of day for a long, long time -- if ever again. And although I'm glad they're both sitting in jail (hopefully, without water), I'm not so sure that's the proper place for them. Seems like they're more suited to be strapped down somewhere in a mental ward. Because only the sickest of people are capable of doing something like this.

What do you think should happen to Jonathan's parents?

Image via jenny downing/Flickr

About the author Nicole Fabian-Weber

has the world's most gorgeous dog. It's a fact.

Filed Under: crime

Comments (77)

pflip

on Aug 29, 2011 at 1:14 PM

I think they should put on fur coats, sit in a sauna for a few days with no water, then slap em both in jail for the rest of their lives. I cannot believe the evil that people committ on their own children.

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jkm89

on Aug 29, 2011 at 1:16 PM

Injury to a child? How is this not murder? At least manslaughter? Uggghhh I'm so sick of this shit!

Colette923

on Aug 29, 2011 at 1:21 PM

I sincerely hope they're charged with first degree murder.

Nonmember comment from Jason

on Aug 29, 2011 at 1:39 PM

I pray with every fiber of my being that these people are slaughtered in prison. How anybody could treat a child like this is beyond on my comprehension. Burn in hell Michael Ray James and Tina Alberson. You are both slobs. And a pox on the house of anybody in the judiciary whoever lets these slobs see the light of day.

Facebook comment from Michelle Swift Wardwell

on Aug 29, 2011 at 1:40 PM

I believe this was his stepmother. Their father had one month mandatory visitation with them.

babybirch

on Aug 29, 2011 at 1:53 PM

Amazes me that people like this are allowed to reproduce . There should be laws against sickos and idiots procreating .

LikeAVirgin

on Aug 29, 2011 at 2:05 PM

This story breaks my heart. I live in Dallas and the heat this year has been almost unbearable! How could someone deprive a child of something so basic as water??? These two "adults" will rot in hell someday. RIP sweet Jonathan.

mommyIam08

on Aug 29, 2011 at 2:25 PM

Wow...you must be pretty sick in the head to do this to a child. Who the hell did they think they were playing God with a child's life. Un-be-liev-able.

hutchfam2007

on Aug 29, 2011 at 2:27 PM

What do I think should happen to Jonathan's "parents"...... soooooo not going there because my comment would SURELY be reported for foul language......

I feel expecially bad for this boy because it hits kinda close to home for me... my younger was a bedwetter until he was about 7 or so years old. My parents did EVERYTHING to try to help him stop, including getting up a couple times everynight to wake him and take him to the bathroom. They took him to the dr. over and over. Eventually he had to be put on a medication and a strict no drinks after 6pm. It worked and quickly! WHY did this story have to come to this when the parents could have more easily gotten the little boy help for his problem. I just do not understand the cruelty...

Bethsunshine

on Aug 29, 2011 at 2:37 PM

Put their sorry butts out in the desert, tie them to a tree and let them die a slow, painful miserable death the way that poor little boy did. Let the buzzards pick at their rotting corpses. When they are burning in hell, they will know what it's like to beg for a drop of water.