Charlie Bothuell
Updated: 10:35 p.m. Wednesday: Fox 2's Taryn Asher reports that police may charge the father, Charlie Bothuell IV, with child abuse. The stepmother could also face some charges.
Fox 2 reports that the son, Charlie Bothuell, who went missing, claims his stepmother helped him hide and was giving him food. The father says that's absurd.
Investigators say the boy may have had a reason to hide. Fox 2 reports that the boy was homeschooled, was on a strict exercise regiment and allegedly was often beaten with a PVC pipe that has been taken into custody.
The father tells Fox 2 that he disciplines the boy but does not abuse him.
At one point, authorities thought they might be looking at a homicide after they found blood in the boy's bedroom.
Updated: 5:02 p.m. Wednesday: Well, so much for the disappearance of Charlie Bothuell, 12, being investigated as a homicide and the parents being persons of interest.
WXYZ reports that the boy was found in his father's basement.
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The disappearance of 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell nine days ago has become a national story. The father appeared Tuesday on HLN’s “Nancy Grace” to talk about the case.
Meanwhile, George Hunter of the Detroit News reports that police are looking at the father and stepmom as persons of interest, a loosely used term that can also mean "suspect" in some instances. The father took a polygraph test that proved inconclusive, the News reported. The stepmother refused to take the test.
The News, citing a "source,' said detectives have uncovered information that indicates Charlie Bothuell was killed, and that his father, Charlie Bothuell IV, and stepmother, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, were persons of interest in the case.
Before the disappearance, the father said the boy got into an argument with his stepmother, the News reported. Bothuell IV said that was the last time he saw him.
