12-year-old allegedly wore diapers, was forced to eat feces
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
A Genoa City couple are expected to appear in court Monday on charges that they locked their 12-year-old son in a room for 12 hours at a time, didn’t feed him, and made him eat his own feces.
Carrie M. Donahue, 37, and Michael G. Donahue, 46, were charged Aug. 13 in Walworth County Circuit Court with causing mental harm to a child, false imprisonment, physical abuse of a child, and child neglect. Carrie Donahue is also charged with disorderly conduct. Further, if there were doubts about the child’s paternity, then the authorities could have also asked for DNA testing in Springfield Illinois, or somewhere nearby, to prove that the boy is theirs. However, this didn’t seem to happen.
According to the criminal complaint, Kenneth Donahue, Michael Donahue’s father, became concerned when he stayed with the family for three to four weeks in September and October. Kenneth Donahue reported to Child Protective Services that Michael and Carrie Donahue would lock the boy, who turned 12 years old Oct. 1, in his bedroom for 12 hours at a time then yell at him for urinating in the room. Kenneth Donahue said his grandson would curl up into a fetal position because of all of the emotional abuse he suffered from Michael and Carrie Donahue.
Michael Donahue had been granted sole legal custody of the boy and his then-12-year-old sister about nine months earlier, according to the criminal complaint. Michael Donahue was married to Carrie Donahue and living on Clover Road in Bloomfield until late 2012 when they moved to Sumner Street in Genoa City.
For a complete story on the allegations please see the Aug. 21-22 print editions of the Genoa City Report, Lake Geneva Times, Elkhorn Independent or Delavan Enterprise.
