12-Year-Old Boy Found Dead Weighing 48 Pounds After Years of Basement Abuse

A Canadian couple has been convicted in one of the most disturbing child abuse cases to shock the country after a 12-year-old boy they were trying to adopt died weighing only 48 pounds following years of alleged confinement, starvation, and abuse.

Becky Hamber, 46, and Brandy Cooney, 44, were both found guilty of first-degree murder along with additional charges tied to the treatment of the boy’s younger brother.

The shocking verdict was delivered May 5 by Ontario Justice Clayton Conlan after a lengthy bench trial that began last September.

The couple had been accused of locking the 12-year-old boy in a basement bedroom for up to 18 hours a day, where he slowly wasted away from severe malnutrition before dying in December 2024.

According to reports, the child weighed just 48 pounds at the time of his death.

In his massive 300-page ruling, Judge Conlan said the women’s actions showed a clear intention to kill the boy.

“The decision to isolate and confine the victim in his basement bedroom while depriving him of food demonstrated an intention to kill the boy,” the judge wrote.

The case became even more horrifying as prosecutors detailed what they described as years of abuse involving both brothers, who were reportedly only allowed out of their locked rooms once each night to use the bathroom.

According to prosecutors, the boys were forced to wear wetsuits that were zip-tied shut so they could not remove them without help from one of the women.

At times, the boys were also allegedly forced to wear helmets.

While confined inside their rooms, prosecutors said the children were monitored through video cameras and ordered to exercise.

The court also heard allegations that exercise was used as punishment.

One text message introduced during the trial reportedly showed Cooney telling Hamber: “Tell them good luck figuring out burpees in the shower when they bitch about never having food.”

The surviving younger brother eventually took the stand and delivered heartbreaking testimony about watching his older brother slowly die from starvation.

He described seeing his brother become dangerously thin in the weeks leading up to his death.

At one point, the boy reportedly weighed as little as 43 pounds.

Even one defense attorney allegedly remarked during trial that the child looked like a “Holocaust survivor.”

Throughout the trial, Cooney attempted to portray herself and Hamber as overwhelmed parents struggling to care for children with severe trauma and developmental issues.

She claimed the boys often became violent and said the restraints and wetsuits were used to stop them from harming themselves or attacking the women.

“There were a lot of injuries over the years,” Cooney testified. “We were often hit, punched, kicked, stuff thrown at us.”

She even claimed one of the boys once pushed Hamber hard enough to break her arm.

But prosecutors challenged those statements and pointed out there were reportedly no medical records supporting the alleged injury.

Judge Conlan ultimately said he believed the testimony of the surviving child far more than the women’s explanations.

“Overall, I found each of the accused’s evidence at trial to be replete with contradictions, inconsistencies and things lacking in basic common sense,” he wrote.

One of the most chilling moments of the trial centered around a text message Cooney allegedly sent just one month before the child died.

“Unfortunately my thoughts [are] he is suddenly going to die and im going to jail,” the message read.

Judge Conlan pointed directly to that text while explaining his verdict.

“I cannot be persuaded that an innocent mother would ever text that to her spouse in those circumstances,” he wrote.

The couple will return to court later this year for sentencing.