Idaho stepmom faces life in prison for ‘sadistic, evil heartless’ murder of 9-year-old
Meridian boy Emrik Osuna weighed 55 pounds in 2018. Doctors had concerns his weight was too low at the time, one physician said, but otherwise, he was healthy.
Two years later, at the age of 9, Emrik died. He was dehydrated, starved and bruised. He weighed 41 pounds.
The Meridian woman who murdered Emrik, her 9-year-old stepson, has been sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, after she repeatedly beat, tortured, mocked and starved him for months.
Ada County Deputy Prosecutor John Steven Dinger said Emrik’s life was a “living hell” with his stepmother, Monique Osuna, and biological father, Erick Osuna, in the months before his death.
“He wasn’t part of the family,” Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler said Thursday. “He wasn’t loved. He was an inconvenience to the family. In the end, Emrik’s body wasted away.”
Hippler said that Monique Osuna was “sadistic, evil, heartless” in her actions shown in the evidence presented in court.
The Osunas pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Emrik earlier this year as part of plea agreements. In exchange for their plea deals, the state didn’t pursue the death penalty, according to court records and Emily Lowe, a spokesperson with the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.
During an over five-hour sentencing Thursday, Monique and Erik Osuna listened as prosecutors made their case as to why Monique should spend the rest of her life in prison. Erik Osuna’s Friday sentencing was canceled, according to online court records. Lowe told the Idaho Statesman by text that Erik Osuna is scheduled for a status conference on June 27 to schedule his sentencing date.
Ada County Deputy prosecutors Dinger and Tamera Brooke Kelly played nearly 20 video clips from nanny cameras that showed the repeated abuse of Emrik within the Osuna household.
As clip after clip of Emrik’s torture played in the silent courtroom for over an hour, Monique Osuna kept her head down with her hair in front of her face and avoided looking at the footage. On occasion, though, Monique would make a small noise, grab a tissue or wipe away her tears.
“You’re on my s--t list for the rest of your life,” Monique Osuna can be heard saying to Emrik during one of the video clips on Aug. 24, 2020.
Emrik’s life only lasted for nine more days.
On Sept. 1, 2020, Meridian police responded to the Osuna home for a medical emergency — Emrik was not breathing. When police arrived, they could not detect a heartbeat and reported that they saw signs of abuse. The boy was transported to St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Boise, where he died early the next day.
“I know what I did was wrong,” Monique Osuna said choking up during Thursday’s sentencing. “I know I can’t bring him back — I can’t undo any of my actions.”
Emrik’s biological mother, Sacil Siglaly Lucero, was expected to give a victim impact statement Thursday but was too emotional. Kelly spoke briefly for her.
“Emrik did not deserve what happened to him,” Kelly said. “She does want the court to know that he was loved very much by her and her family.”
Lucero pleaded guilty to the crime in January to two felonies related to severely beating Emrik’s siblings, who were at that time 15-month-old twins. She has two other children. Lucero was sentenced to four years in prison, a Southern California news outlet reported.
Pediatrician outlines ‘pattern of child torture’
St. Luke’s pediatrician Matthew Cox, who evaluated Emrik’s medical history after his death, testified Thursday that he believed Emrik was tortured to death.
“The clinical picture thus far would indicate severe neglect, severe physical abuse and an overall pattern of child torture,” Cox wrote in his initial report regarding Emrik.
When asked by Dinger if that report still held true upon further evidence, like Emrik’s autopsy, Cox said it “only strengthened my initial assessment.”
Photos presented of Emrik’s body in court on Thursday showed deep bruising to the boy’s body from the middle of his back down to his thighs. One image showed at least 10 bruises — some of the bruises were beginning to heal, while others were new — to Emrik’s buttocks, lower back and upper back thighs.
Aside from the extensive trauma, an evaluation by doctors found that Emrik was anemic, had mild kidney failure, a zinc deficiency, and was starved, Cox said Thursday.
Cox said Emrik’s sodium levels were the highest he’s “ever seen documented in a human.” Elevated sodium levels are a symptom of dehydration.
Emrik’s previous medical history showed in 2018 that doctors had concerns about his height and weight but otherwise had no other medical issues, Cox said. At that point, Emrik weighed 55 pounds. Two years later during his autopsy, Emrik weighed 41 pounds.
Cox testified that a 14-pound weight loss in a child that was two years older was “markedly abnormal,” and that Emrik should have shown a steady increase in weight and height.
Additionally, Cox noted that Emrik was severely hypothermic and said it was “an indication of just how critically ill he was at the time.”
Dinger asked if Emrik’s temperature of 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit was a sign that the Osunas delayed getting Emrik medical help.
Cox responded, “That would definitely be one of the concerns, that he had been ill at home for an extended period, which allowed his body temperature to drop substantially.”
Nanny camera footage details Emrik’s abuse
In most of the nearly 20 videos that were played for over an hour in court Thursday, Emrik can be seen doing an inchworm exercise.
The 9-year-old, whose rib cage was completely visible, would move his hands down to his feet and then stretch out into a plank position before coming back up and repeating it over and over again.
Ada County Investigator Melanie J Yamada-Anderson, who reviewed 251 hours of footage, said that on Aug. 25, 2020 —a week before Emrik died — he was forced to exercise for 19 hours and 26 minutes.
At times Emrik stopped exercising, and Monique Osuna stomped into the kitchen — where Emrik was forced to stay — and hit him. The forced exercise continued throughout the day, even as other children ate. In one video, Erik Osuna stepped over Emrik while he exercised as if he wasn’t there.
Emrik slept on the floor without pillows or blankets, Yamada-Anderson said, and the family would gather up all the pillows and blankets before they went to bed.
In one video, Monique Osuna was seen unloading groceries and teasing Emrik about the food, while he continued to exercise. In footage that wasn’t shownin court, Yamada-Anderson said in that same time frame, Monique Osuna fed the dog a Twinkie.
“I want you to get thirsty. I want you to get hungry,” Monique tauntingly told Emrik. “I want you to starve, to get dehydrated.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 3:04 PM.
