Two charged after cracking boy’s skull, taping him to a chair overnight, NC cops say

A 71-year-old North Carolina woman has been charged with felony assault and child abuse after she allegedly duct taped a 12-year-old boy to a chair in her home and left him bound overnight, according to the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators say she also held the boy while another adult living in the home struck the child, causing an “orbital fracture to the face,” a press release said.

Police identified the two adults involved as Frances Kay Campbell Miller, 71, the boy’s guardian, and 20-year-old Dustin Webb Miller, a relative of the boy.

The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office says deputies learned of the alleged abuse Wednesday, after someone reported getting text messages with photos “of a young male juvenile who had been duct taped to a chair in the home,” a press release said.

Those texts had come from someone living at 108 Peacock Hollar Road in Statesville, the witness told deputies.

Deputies and detectives drove “immediately” to the home and found the 12 year old boy who had been in the photos, officials said.

An investigation revealed Frances Miller bound the boy to a chair with duct tape and left him in that condition overnight, officials said. She also “held the child’s hands behind his back while Dustin Miller struck the child in the face with his fist,” police said.

Iredell County Department of Social Services “took temporary custody” of the boy and other children at the home, officials said.

The extent of the boy’s injuries was not released, and deputies did not say how many children in all lived at the home.

Frances Miller was arrested and charged with felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury, two counts of misdemeanor child abuse, and misdemeanor false imprisonment, the sheriff’s office said. Her bond was set at $25,000, officials said.

Dustin Miller was arrested and charged with felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury, and misdemeanor simple assault, according to the sheriff’s office. His bond is $22,500, a release said.

This story was originally published March 29, 2019 at 5:18 PM.