Neighbors accused of killing 4-year-old after torturing family, Missouri sheriff says

The neighbors of a Missouri family are accused of torturing them for weeks and killing a young girl, authorities say.

Ethan Mast, 35, and Kourtney Aumen, 21, are charged with murder of a 4-year-old in rural Cole Camp, according to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

The girl’s father reported early Sunday morning his daughter died after she was beaten, held underwater in a pond and left to freeze along the shore before being returned to the home, authorities say. The girl’s mother and a 2-year-old child also had been beaten and went to a hospital, authorities say.

“They found a deceased 4-year-old girl up in her bedroom,” Sheriff Eric Knox told KYTV. “She was beaten from head to toe.”

The father told investigators that Mast and Aumen tortured his family for about two weeks, according to court documents obtained by KOLR. Asked why he stood by as they beat his family, the father said he was told a “demon” was inside his wife and the children would end up the same way if it wasn’t “taken care of,” the news outlet reported.

The father said Mast threatened to shoot him if he tried to stop the beatings, KRCG reported. Aumen reportedly told the father that Satan would come if he tried to comfort his family, the news outlet reported.

The girl’s parents also were forced to perform sex acts on the 4-year-old daughter, KRCG reported.

Mast and Aumen are charged with second-degree murder, assault and sexual abuse, according to court records.

The sheriff’s office said more people could be arrested when the investigation is complete.

”To see a child in any kind of distress is terrible for first responders,” Knox told KYTV. “In something to this magnitude, with a severe beating the child went through and the trauma she went through, it is very traumatic for everyone involved.”

Cole Camp is about 100 miles southeast of Kansas City.

This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 6:30 PM.