Indianapolis, Indiana – Indiana man was ordered to serve 38 years in prison after jury found him guilty of multiple charges, including neglect of a dependent resulting in death in connection with his partner’s child’s death two years ago. The defendant was sentenced on Tuesday for the November 2022 fatal incident which left the 8-year-old child, Theodor, dead. Prosecutors said the victim’s mom and the defendant met several months before the fatal incident. The defendant, 34-year-old Mathew, reportedly moved into the woman’s home, while family members told authorities that he gave the victim’s mom a choice – to leave the child in a mental institution or he will leave her. The victim’s mom, who was not identified, was not charged in connection with her child’s death.

The investigation process began on November 2022 after the victim’s mom found her child unresponsive in his room and called 911. The woman reportedly told investigators that her child was not breathing and her boyfriend tried to remove zlp ties around the child’s neck. First responders rushed the 8-year-old boy to the hospital where staff pronounced him dead. The medical told investigators that the child’s manner of death was unknown, but couldn’t rule out homicide, local news outlet WANE reported. He noted that research concerning suicide shows it would be difficult for a small child to apply adequate tension, saying it appears a pulling force was applied from the back of his neck.

During the investigation process, authorities in Indiana discovered that the mom’s boyfriend picked the child from a youth club and drove him home. During an interview with investigators, the defendant reportedly told investigators that the child was very aggresive when they arrived home, so he decided to lock him in his room.

But, authorities in Indiana discovered that the child was calm whey they arrived home after looking through a surveillance video. After leaving the child in his room, the defendant reportedly said he left the child for two hours because he lost track of time while playing on his consoIe. The defendant also told authorities the child was emotionally disturbed and had threatened suicide a number of times.

But, family members told them the boy had threatened to harm himself in the past but never acted on it. They also said the boy had been acting better lately thanks to medication. Prosecutors also said that the defendant didn’t check on the child even after the victim’s mom messaged him and asked him about her son. Nearly 1 hour later, the mother returned home and found her child unresponsive. The woman reportedly said that her son was not breathing and had big zlp ties around his neck.

The defendant reportedly told investigators that the child played with the zlp ties, but authorities didn’t believe the 8-year-old would have been strong enough to pull the zip ties tight enough to cause suffocation. Authorities in Indiana also said that they searched the mom’s bedroom and found her boyfriend’s leather jacket with what appeared to be fresh scratch marks consistent with defensive scratching from finger nails. They say they also found a pair of rubber medical gloves in the jacket’s pocket.