Florida Boy Dies Wrapped In Blanket As Punishment
A Florida boy wrapped in a blanket for punishment suffered a horrible death at the hands of his caretakers.
When one thinks of their blanket, they usually think of security, especially at a young age. If we were scared, we would hide under the covers until the danger went away. It wouldn’t work realistically, but we were really too young to know better, and we thought we were safe.
However, for three-year-old Michael Lee McCullen, the blanket may have been the cause of his death. His caretakers had wrapped him up in said linen and tied the ends, most likely not realizing that he would end up dead in the man-made cocoon. They said they had done it because he was having behavioral problems.
Donella Trainor, a friend of young McMullen’s grandmother, said she disciplined her own grandchildren that way. As such, she and her fellow caretakers thought nothing of it as they used the idea she called “The Wrap.”
Lieutenant Larry King of the Lee County Sheriff‘s Department described the Florida boy wrapped in a blanket, “There were six layers of cloth over this child. The loose ends would be folded over his head and feet and tied into a knot, all in an effort to prevent the child from moving. You could use a mummy reference.”
Sadly, mummies were usually processed like that after they’re dead to preserve them, not wrapped up alive for discipline.
3 ‘Babysitters’ (2 Were Female) Watched 3-YO Die~Tied Him Up In 6 Blankets & Suffocated Him. http://t.co/gdeXGjfmO5 #FemalePredators
— Skunky66613 (@Skunky66613) October 24, 2013
Michael Lee McCullen’s caretakers had wrapped him up, tied the ends of the blanket, and ignored him as he struggled and screamed. Donella Trainor, 45, returned to check on him only to find the knot untied and the blanket loose, so she proceeded to redo the knot and then put pillows around him. The boy was found later unresponsive and covered in sweat. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at Fort Myers of unknown cause.
Donella Trainor and her fellow caretakers Douglas Garrigus, 21, and the boy’s grandmother, Gale Watkins, 56, have all been arrested on charges of aggravated manslaughter for the Florida boy wrapped in the blanket.
Douglas Garrigus admitted that during the cruel punishment he could hear young Michael Lee McMullen crying and hyperventilating.
Other children were in the home at the time, and there have been no comments on their current whereabouts. Gale Watkins had the boy placed in her custody after his mother had been involved in domestic violence.
Bond was set on Wednesday at $300,000 for Donella Trainor, and $250,000 for the other two involved in the death of the Florida boy wrapped in the blanket.
[image via Shutterstock]
