MONSTER CAGED
Dad who encased body of his starved seven-year-old son in CONCRETE gets 72 years behind bars
A COLORADO man whose emaciated 7-year-old son’s body was found encased in concrete at Christmas 2018 has been jailed for 72 years.
Caden McWilliams suffered horrific child abuse before he died weighing only 27 pounds at the hands of his 40-year-old father.
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Caden's emaciated, decomposed body was found two days before Christmas 2018, encased in concrete inside a dog carrier hidden in a storage unit.
He had multiple injuries and bone fractures to the head, torso and limbs, including some that showed evidence of healing.
Toxicology results also showed he had cocaine metabolite and methamphetamine in his liver tissue.
Leland Pankey, 40, of Denver, pleaded guilty in January to charges of child abuse resulting in death and tampering with a deceased human body. The 72-year sentence is the maximum the court could pass.
Prosecutors dropped a murder charge under the deal, partly because authorities could not specify how the boy died.
They also said the deal avoided holding a trial that would have featured gruesome evidence and re-traumatized Caden's relatives and those in court.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann called it "one of the most horrific cases ever handled by the Denver DA’s Office."
She added: "Pankey’s offenses were intentional, deliberate, calculated, callous, self-serving and depraved of any sense of humanity or human kindness.
"[The crimes] shock the conscience and are incomprehensible to the people of Denver."
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The Denver Post reported that Pankey sat emotionless Friday as photos of his smiling son flashed across a screen in the courtroom.
The boy’s extended family members pleaded with the judge to not allow Pankey to ever walk free and try to contact or victimize Caden’s sister, who was 4 years old when her brother died.
The little girl, who witnessed the ongoing abuse that led up to Caden’s demise, used to feed her emaciated and starving brother cereal through the bars of the dog kennel in which he was kept.
The girl was so deeply traumatized by her brother’s death that her aunt said she sometimes sits on the floor and rocks herself for comfort.
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Caden’s mother, Elisha McWilliams Pankey, 44, was charged that January with child abuse resulting in death and abuse of a corpse.
She faces 16 to 32 years in prison.
Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones said: “I reject the idea that Caden slipped through the cracks.
“He was dragged through the cracks by the defendant and co-defendant.”
Authorities found Caden's body in December 2018 while investigating allegations of domestic violence that Elisha Pankey made against her husband.
An autopsy found signs that the boy was severely emaciated and evidence of injuries to his head, chest and limbs. Some of the injuries showed signs of healing, but authorities were not able to determine how he died.
Court documents revealed that Elisha Pankey allegedly told investigators that her husband kept their son in a dog kennel "a few days" before he died in July 2018 at a hotel where the family had been living.
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McCann described Caden as a "loved" and "caring" boy who "had an inner light" with a "gentle nature" who “loved to tinker” and would have grown up to become an engineer.
Caden allegedly died in July: Elisha Pankey told a witness Caden was in a dog crate one day in July, at which time Leland put blankets on top of the carrier.
Elisha heard the boy cry out that he was hot and thirsty but said she just stayed in bed.
The next morning she found Caden dead.
The case came to light after Elisha reported a domestic assault, but then was found to have heroin on her and the business card for the storage lot where Caden's body was eventually found.
When Leland was later arrested he had half an ounce of methamphetamine in his BMW.
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