warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
On July 6th 2022. 15-year-old Timothy Ferguson was discovered dead on his bedroom floor. Investigator’s suspicions were raised when the autopsy revealed his cause of death.
As officers delved deeper into footage retrieved from home security cameras, they uncovered a disturbing secret hidden within the household.
Timothy Ferguson, 15, who had autism with speech and motor impairment, died from malnourishment and hypothermia in July 2022 despite his mother losing custody
July 6, 2022, detectives arrived at Shanda Ramsey’ home in Norton Shores after she made a 911 call reporting that her son, Timothy Ferguson had fallen off the bed and was unresponsive.
What initially seemed like an accident eventually started to look like a horrific plot
When the detectives saw Timothy’s frail body lying on the floor.
And the detectives could never have imagined what they were in for.
Little did the detectives know that soon, sinister clues would start to surface and reveal the true horrors that Timtimothy went through in his last moments.
July 6th , 2022
On the morning of july 6th ,Timothy had fallen out of bed and was not responsive Timoty’s older brother ,Paul, younger brother Gabriel, and Shanda was present at the house when the tragedy occurred.
… at the scene and were directed to the basement.
paramedics got to work immediately,but it was already too late for Timothy he was declared dead at the scene.
But first responder were suspicious of the scene in fron of them, allthough it was possible that Timothy could have died from falling off the bed.
Many things didn’t add up.
The boy looked severely malnourished, and his clothes appeared too large for his tiny frame.
He was also wearing an adult diaper, and his skin had bruises on different part of his body,there was also a strong odor of urine and feces in the basement.
They reported these fidnings to the officers at the scene as Timothy’s body was removed from the house.
Outside,officers spoke to Shanda,who was clearly distraught,she told officers that Timothy had gone on a hunger strike,when her husband,Adam,moved out of their home after suffering a stroke in january.
Shanda explained that Timothy could not handle sudden changes and acted up earlier the same year, with the help of her eldest son,Paul they were able to get his eating back under control,however,this time ,she was not aware how bad his health had deteriorated.
Shanda mentioned to officers that Timothy avoided any physical affection with her ,including hugging, so she had not realizedhis contidion.
it was only when her youngest son ,Gabriel , saw timothy coming out of the bathroom did they realize he was starving himself again.
Police then spole to Paul about the event s leading up to Timothy’s death.
Like Shanda , Paul told officers that Timothy had been known to go on these hunger strikes as a way of acting out against change.
Paul’s story was similar to Shanda’s.
But their claims that he repeatedly went on hunger strikes seemed quite bizarre to the detectives, they knew there was more to the story.
But they couldn”t have ever imagined what it was.
With statements taken from both Shanda and Paul,officers began looking through the house and made some disturbing discoveries.
In the basement, they found two bedrooms.
And a bunk bed in the common area between the rooms.
They quickly surmised that the rooms belonged to Paul and his youngest brother , Gabriel,which meant that Timothy slept on the bunk bed in the common area.
Officers also searched inside a cupboard in the basement which was fitted with an alarm and camera, and were overcome by the stench of urine and feces.
Inside, they found a single blue tarp covering the floor and a cardboard box.
In a desk drawer in the basement, officers found a set of metal handcuffs.
However, this wasn’t eve nthe most disturbing discovery,what the dtectives were about to stumble upon wouldbe even more gruesome.
As shocking as it was to find a bottle of hot sauce among the bath products on the counter,it wasn’t the most disturbing thing the detectives found.
The search of the basement bathroom revealed even more distrubing discoveries.
The floor was littered with used adult diapers.
and another motion sensor camera pointed toward the shower,which did not have a curtain to separate it from the rest of theroom.
These stange discoveries prompted officers to apply for a search warrant to review the camera footage and cellphone records of both Shanda and Paul.
An autopsy was performed on Timothy the following day,given the suspicious nature of his death,on the examination table, Timothy’s tiny frame shocked the medical examiner.
for his height offive foot six inches,Timothy’s weight of just 69 pound was half the average weight of a boy his age,the medical examiner disvoered that Timothy died of dehydration, malnutrition and hypothermia.
Timothy’s death was ruled a homicide.
With this new information , it was evident that Timothy had been neglected and left to waste away, but Shanda and Paul both remained tight -lipped throughout the investigation when asked if Timothy was abused.
They stuck totheir original story claiming that Timothy died because ofhis hunger strike, with Shanda and Paul not uttering a word, detectives had to turn to the only other witness who was present in the house.
Timothy’s step brother ,Gabriel.
And when Gabriel started talking ,detectives finally learned what horrors truly went on in Shanda’s house.
Gabriel had been in the house with Timothy and must have seen what truly happened to Timothy.Gabriel could very well be the key to solving the case.
… was going on inside the home.
And as the interview with gabriel went on ,more and more terrifyingdetails aboutthe horrors Timothy faced at the hands of Shanda and Paul came to light.
The interviewer listened carefully while Gabriel talked about the joy Shanda felt out of abusing Timothy and then watching the recordings of those from the cameras.
But this wasn’t all.
According to Gabriel,Timothy’s death could have been the result of oneof Shanda’s final punishments for Timothy.
With Gabrel’s chilling testimony,the detectives geared up to buiild a case agains Shanda and Paul.but they needed something stronger than Gabriel’s words,and that break came through when the detectives successfully acquired a seatch warrant for Shanda’s home, and began looking through video footage from the basement of the Vander Ark home.
… actually did have a tiny micro SD card in it.
In the video , police watched as Shanda placed Timothy on the ytarp inside the basement cupboard,Timothy was seen wearing only a shirt and an adult diaper.
There was also audio recorded of the interaction between the mother and son.
Police heard Shanda admonish Timothy for his misbehavior, they then watched in horror as Shanda returned fifteen minutes later and scolded Timothy about breathing through his mouth.the boy already appeared to be unresponsive.
Shanda then covered his mouth and called him out for not breathing correctly through his nose. Shanda proceeded to hold her hand over his mouth, and eventually Timothy stopped breathing althogether.
This was enough proof for the police to issue a warrant ofarrest for Shanda.
On the morning of July8th , 2022, Shanda was arrested and charged with first degree murder and child abuse.
A virtual hearing was held at the county court, the judge ordered that Shanda be held without bail as she posed a flight risk.
While Shanda remainedbehind bars, Paul took tosocial media to share his concerns about the investigation, but the investigation was not quite over.
In the week following , Shanda’s arrest,police obtained the family’s phone records and investigated the video footage collected from the house.
The text messages exchanged between Shanda and Paul revealed an alarming series of events, Shanda and paul had ben working together to inflict various forms of punishment on Timothyfor months.
It was revealed through these messages that Paul had carried out much of the mistreatment as directed by Shanda,paul had complained about Timothy’s behavior.
Some messages also showed how Paul asked for direction in punishingTimothy, and even made suggestions for punishments.
Some of these punishments uncluded feeding Timothy bread covered with hot sauce,forcing him to throw up food he wasn’t allowed to eat,
and even pouring hot sauce directly into Timothy’s mouth and on his privates when he didn’t listen to orders.
Armed with new evidence, Paul was arrested about a week later and was interrogated by police,duringhis interrogation, he admitted to lying to police about Timothy’s death on the orders of his mother, Shanda.
And that the hunger strike story was false
Paul also told the officers that he loved Timothy and explained that he had tried to tell his mother that they should consider taking Timothy to a hospital for treatment.
But this sudden emotion for Timothy on Paul’sface seemed like an act.
Detectives were sure Paul was hiding the full truth, and so, they cornered him into revealing some shocking secrets.
During further questioning , Paul explained to officers that Shanda had Installed two -way speakers in the house, and sometimes directed Paul over the speakers about the various punishments that he could enact on Timothy.
Paul then admitted to the officers that the day before Timothy died, the boy was punished and forced to take a nine hour ice bath.
This answered the question of how hypothermia contributed to Timothy’s death.
Paul was charged with first degree child abuse and held on bail of $ 500,000.
He opted to take a plea deal and agreed to testify against Shanda at her hearing for a reduced sentence.
Both Shanda and Paul remained in custody, until the trial began on December 13,2023, as per his plea deal agreement,Paul took the stand asa witness for the prosecution.
Paul testified against Shanda , telling the court how she was the ringleader and he simply followed her orders when to torturing Timothy.
He was asked about Timothy’s health and appearance when he first came to live with them in Michigan.
Paul admitted that Timothy appeared to be healty and perhaps a bit chubby at the beginning.
He then explained that following Adam’s stroke and subsequent move to Florida in January 2022
Shanda had started locking the pentry,and monitoring Timothy’s food intake.
From the moment Paul took the stand more details about the gruesome abuse Timothy faced at the hands of Shanda came to light.
During the testimony , Paul told the court that Shanda had also stopped giving Timothy his medication when he moved in with them in May 2021.
He also mentioned that Shanda had stopped taking Timothy to see a doctor for his regular check-ups and for other illnesses.
Paul testified that Timothy was homeschooled and was not allowed to leave the house or interact with anyone outside the family.
On the stand , Paul denied the alleged hunger strike and admitted it was a fabricated story developed by him and Shanda to explain Timothy’s malnourished appearance.
Paul’s testimony continued as he gave a more detailed account of what punishments he or Shanda would administer to Timothy.
One such type of punishment included making Timothy run up and down the patio area,text messages exchanged between Paul and Shanda were read out in court,revealing that Shanda had wanted Paul to chase Timothy to make the punishment more difficult.
Timothy had also been subjected to cleaning the garage while only wearing a diaper,so he didn’t mess up the floor.
Paul admitted that the cameras were placed in the basement so he and Shanda could monitor Timothy and see if he was completing the punishments given to him by either of them.
These punishments included doing wall sits for hours orkneeling in fron of a wall for hours on end.
If Timothy ever faltered or his position shifted,Shanda would increase the duration of the punishment to make up for braking the rules.
Paul then told the court that Timothy was sometimes handcuffed or zip tied torestrict his movements.
and an alarm was placed on his belt in case he moved without permission.
Timothy’s use of the bathroom was also monitored by both Paul and Shanda and was dealt severely with if he ovestayed his turn.
Paul revealed that Timothy was punished if he’d had an accident before using the bathroom.
Despite using a diaper at all times.
When asked about the hot sauce punishment, Paul told the court that Timothy was regularly forced to eat hot sauce without being given any water.
Sometimes he would be fed bread soaked in hot sauce before being allowed to eat normal bread thirty minutes later.there were alos times that Paul ws instructed to feed Timothy hot sauce directly.
Paul admitted that during a text conversation with Shanda she had toyed with the idea of dropping hot suace over Timothy’s privates.
At the end of the testimony the prosecution team questioned Paul about his change of heart,he admitted to being concerned after seeing Timothy getting weak.
Paul had sent Shanda picutres of Timothy and suggested that they take him to a doctor, Paul confessed to feeling sorry for Timothy and making him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some scrambled eggs with cheese.
He’d hid this from Shanda so that he wouldn’t get into trouble, he admitted that he only followed his mother’s instructions because he looked up to her as a role model in his life, he worshiped her to an extent.
In order to keep himself from getting convicted, Paul not only put the whole blame on Shanda, but he also portrayed himself as another victim of hers.
But, was this going to work? Sanda was the next to take the stand.
Her defense team argued that Shanda showed signs of disassociation due the post- traumatic stress she suffered after husband Adam’s stroke.
Her attorney also told the court that Shanda suffered from blackouts and memory loss and would most probably not fully remember some of the information presented during her testimony.
The prosecution, though ,did not believe this tactic.
When asked about why a doctor had not seen Timothy,Shanda said thar her ex-huband had not given her Timothy’s medical card in order for him to receive medication and treatment.
It seemed Shanda had an answer for every question posed to her.
When cross examined ,Shanda claimed to have no memory of sending many of the texts that investigators had found.
She refused to acknowledge responsiblity for Timothy’s death.
While on the stand , though , Shanda admitted to lying about feeding Timothy the night before he died,or threatening him with a hospital visit if he didn’t start eating again.
When confronted about the hot sauce punishment, Shanda told the prosecutor that she couldn’t imagine having sent such a message to Paul.
When asked about her reasoning and logic behind keeping Timothy awake as a form of punishment, Shanda said that she wanted him to know how it felt to be kept awake when he wanted to sleep.
The prosecutor then questioned Shanda aboout her claim of giving Timothy a hot bath the night before he died, to prove that Shanda was lying about knowing Timothy’s condition, the prosecutor presented her with his autopsy images.
After looking at the images before, Shanda held her hand to her mouth and proceeded to get sick while on the stand.
The judge then called for an end to the day’s proceedings following the incident.
The next day ,the trial continued without Shanda as her defense team explained that she had fallen ill the day before.
The judge allowed for the trial to continute as the ivnestigation team presented their evidence to the jury.
While Shanda’s emotional response to those images might have helped her score some sympathy points from the jury,the next and the strongest piece of evidence presented bt the prosecution wiped all of Shanda’s hopes away.
A detective took the stand and described a recorded footage of Shanda torturing Timothy in his final moments.
The video had not been shown in court due to it creating a biased or prejudiced opinion of the defendant.
Investigators told the court of the video evidence that showed Timothy’s final moments and the role Shanda played in ending his life.
It was described in detail how, how Shanda dragged Timothy into the cupboard and laid him on the tarp hours before he died,investigators also told the Jury how, eighteen minutes before the police were called.
audio recordings picked up the conversation between Shanda and Paul.
The entire audio captured the exact plan that hatched between the pair to explain Timothy’s poor health,due to his recent hunger strike.
Investigators reiterated that it was both Paul and Shanda who created an elaborate plan to hide the suffering that Timothy endured at their hands.
December 15 th , 2023
even though Shanda was not present, the jury deliberated for only an hour before finding Shanda guilty of open murder at first degree child abuse.
December 21st ,2023
Paul pleaded guilty to first degree child abuse.
January 24th, 2024
Shanda was sentenced to lifde in prison for the murder of Timothy Ferguson.
And will serve her sentence at the women’s huron valley correctional facility.
At shanda’s sentencing , Timothy ‘s other siblings, Nolan and Millie, spoke out about how they felt about Shanda and her disgusting actions.
February 26th,2024
Paul Ferguson was set to learn his fate, Judge Matthew Kacel presided over his hearing, Paul asked the Judge to show mercy and told him that he would never feel better because Timothy was gone.
Judge Kacel remarked that Paul only felt sorry because he got caught.
Paul was sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison for first degree child abuse and will start his sentence at the Charles E.Egeler Reception and Guidance Center while awaiting prison placement.
How did no one recognize the danger in Shanda?How does a mother watch her child waste away without remorse……?