BOISE, Idaho — When Meridian Police Detective Eric Stoffle took the stand on Thursday, he told the courtroom the most significant impact the abuse and murder of nine-year-old Emrik Osuna had on him was that the boy began talking to God in the middle of his torture.
Monique Osuna, 29, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of her stepson, who faced months of emotional, verbal and physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother until he died at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital on Sept. 2, 2020.
“A small child was sent to Idaho to be cared for by the defendants. Instead he was sent to a living hell,” Ada County Prosecutor John Dinger told the judge in his closing statement.
Monique Osuna and her husband, Erik Osuna, Emrik Osuna’s biological father, both pleaded guilty to the boy’s murder as part of an agreement that took the death penalty off the table.
Ada County prosecutors showed autopsy photos of Emrik in the courtroom Thursday, which depicted dark purple bruising covering his body, surrounding his buttocks, genital area, thighs and arms.
He weighed 41 pounds at the time of his death, testified St. Luke’s Pediatrician Dr. Matthew Cox, and starvation was present.
“He was wasted, skin and bones in appearance,” Cox said.
Home videos shown in the courtroom on Thursday from nanny cameras throughout the home of Erik and Monique Osuna depicted the couple relentlessly abusing Emrik Osuna in the week before his murder, around late August 2020.
Throughout the footage, Emrik Osuna becomes visibly thinner, his ribs and spine protruding out of the grainy black and white video.
In the videos, Monique Osuna can be heard yelling profanity at the boy while he does hours upon hours of exercises.
Stoffle testified that one morning Emrik was forced to exercise, around 3 or 4 a.m., he suddenly stopped what he was doing and began to speak to God — and asked why the abuse was happening to him.
“He starts crying. That was one of the most significant instances that affected me,” Stoffle said. “As he's talking to God you can see Monique in the background and sneak up to where she's hiding behind the counter, listening to him. That affected me the most.”
The stepmother is seen in the footage spanking Emrik with a frying pan, where he reacts by crying and pleading for her to stop. She also withholds food from the boy, taunting him as he exercises by letting his siblings eat in front of him while she screams in his face.
“You are on my (expletive) list for the rest of your life,” Monique Osuna said in the video.
She is also seen telling him to eat something off the floor, and teasing him by asking if he is hungry.
“You better (expletive) in your hand and eat it,” Monique Osuna told the nine-year-old.
Emrik is transcribed on video telling his mother, “But mom, I don’t want to starve to death.”
In the courtroom as the video played, Monique Osuna wiped tears from her eyes. The gallery could hear her quiet sobs.
Melanie Yamada-Anderson, an Ada County investigator, said that throughout the nanny camera videos she reviewed, Emrik Osuna was seen exercising for up to 20 hours. The animals were treated better than he was, she said.
“He ate out of the garbage can or dog food,” Yamada-Anderson said, but when he was caught, he was beaten and punished.
He always slept on the floor without pillows or blankets, Yamada-Anderson said, or in the hall closet, where he was often woken up in the early hours of the morning by his stepmother beating him again.
In another video shown by the prosecution, the boy was told by Monique Osuna to scrub the floors with a toothbrush and hot water.
When his stepmother filled the pot with water, she could be heard saying, “Hot water to burn the skin off Emrik.”
Prosecutors brought up how they believe the Osunas gave Emrik dirty water out of a cleaning bowl to drink, which detectives agreed occurred due to more hours of video footage.
In another video, Monique Osuna is seen beating Emrik Osuna with silverware during his forced exercises as he cried and pleaded for her to stop. In a similar video, she repeatedly beat him around his body with the frying pan while he did the same exercises.
The boy never pushed back — but rather responded with “yes mom” and “sorry.”
Erik Osuna was rarely seen in the videos, but when Emrik Osuna was being berated by his stepmother, the father often sat on his phone, watched TV, encouraged the abuse, or participated in it.
Sacil Lucero, Emrik Osuna’s biological mother, gave the prosecutors her remarks for a victim impact statement. She said she will never recover from the loss of her son, that he was loved by her and her family, and the defendants did not care about his well-being.
Julia Yackel, a mitigation specialist, obtained records of Monique Osuna’s life history as part of her work for bio-psycho-social analysis on the woman.
Yackel said that Monique Osuna was removed from her home in California at age two along with her brother and placed in an emergency home, Orangewood, for abused children.
She also testified that there were many abuse allegations in the home around the time that Monique Osuna was placed there, and placing her there at such a young age would have created significant lifelong harm.
Yackel said her investigation found several referrals indicated sexual and physical abuse throughout Monique Osuna’s life, as well as witnessing domestic violence incidents between her parents. Monique Osuna was left untreated as a child for witnessing the abuse, Yackel said, and that she ended up failing school.
When Monique Osuna was 17, she became pregnant, Yackel said. She wanted to break the cycle of her family, so she graduated and attended college.
Monique Osuna worked with Blue Cross, had no criminal history and a long work history.
“Her family viewed her as a success story,” Yackel said.
Monique Osuna met Erik Osuna and the two moved to Boise, where they were homeless and residing at Interfaith Sanctuary with their blended families. They eventually got married and had another child, endured part of the pandemic, and then were sent to jail for their son’s murder.
“This is the most serious crime a person can commit,” Dinger said. “Imprisonment will provide an appropriate punishment.”
Dinger said that Monique Osuna should be locked up, and should never be around a child again.
“I don’t know how you can rehabilitate this,” he said. “She just simply deserves punishment.”
Monique Osuna stood before the court to give a statement, where she said she was sorry, and cannot undo any of her actions.
“He didn't deserve any of that. He deserves so much more, and I hope for the rest of my life I'll be sorry for my wrongful actions,” Monique Osuna said.
When presiding Judge Steven Hippler handed down his sentence, he said that he hopes those in the courtroom go home and hug a child, and show them they love them. Hippler said in the end, Emrik’s body was wasted away.
“Emrik was completely abandoned and he turned to God. He tried to speak to God. Why? Why?” asked Hippler. “She co-opted God. His last refuge.”
Erik Osuna’s status conference to schedule his sentencing date is scheduled for June 27.
Courtroom updates from Thursday's hearing are below.
Live updates:
2:27 p.m. - Monique Osuna is now giving a statement: "I know what I did was wrong," she said. "I can't undo any of my actions." "Everything we saw today was even hard for me to watch. I'm sorry. And I know that sorry's not going to be enough.
"I know that Emrik is not my biological son, but I wouldn't even have to think about it to switch places with him." "He didn't deserve any of that. He deserves so much more, and I hope for the rest of my life I'll be sorry for my wrongful actions."
1:43 p.m. - “A small child was sent to Idaho to be cared for by the defendants. Instead he was sent to a living hell,” Ada County deputy prosecutor John Dinger told the judge in his closing statement.
1:29 p.m. - Yackel said Monique became pregnant at 17, but went on to graduate and go to college, hold a steady job. "Her family viewed her as a success story," Yackel said.
1:17 p.m. - Monique was doing poorly academic-wise in her childhood, Yackel said. She talked about how there was violence in the home and how Monique was sexually assaulted. "She's very much at risk."
1:07 p.m. - Julia Yackel, the mitigation specialist, said that Monique as a child was abused and witnessed abuse within her own home with her brother, Robert. She was left untreated, Yackel said.
1:02 p.m. - Julia Yackel says Monique has had many CPS referrals with sexual and physical abuse.
11:47 a.m. - Yamada-Anderson said Emrik would try to eat trash or dog food, and be punished for it.
11:43 a.m. - Emrik asks for food in this video as he exercises while his sibling eats in front of him. Monique is heard saying "I want you to starve."
11:40 a.m. - Yamada-Anderson: Emrik often slept on the living room floor or in hall closet. Feedings became less frequent. Emrik would plead for food, and Monique would taunt him.
11:30 a.m. - Ada County investigator Melanie Yamada-Anderson watched 251 hours of video, she said. Both parents contributed to the abuse, and said that other children in the home did not acknowledge Emrik.
11:18 a.m. - Monique is filling a pot with hot water to make Emrik clean the floor with a toothbrush. "Hot water to burn the skin off Emrik," she says in the video.
11:11 a.m. - In video played in courtroom, Emrik can be heard pleading with Monique. He is crying. When he doesn't adhere to Monique's demands, she begins hitting him in the head with an object. She is now making him do pushups. His spine is sticking out of his back. She made him eat something off the floor.
11:06 a.m. - "You are on my s*** list for the rest of your life," Monique can be heard saying.
11:05 a.m. - Monique is heard in the video telling Emrik to do jumping jacks in the next video after he was sleeping on the living room floor and rummaging through cups to find something to drink. She is heard cussing at him. Emrik can be heard saying "sorry."
10:56 a.m. - Detective Stoffle: "The morning of the 24th, (Emrik) stands in the kitchen around 3 or 4 in the morning... He stops exercising, began talking to God and asking why. And he starts crying. That was one of the most significant instances that affected me."
10:19 a.m. - Nanny camera video of Monique yelling at Emrick. Full tweet (warning: abusive, graphic language in quote).
10:03 a.m. - Detective Eric Stoffle for the Meridian Police Department is up next on the stand.
10:02 a.m. - John Dinger, for the state: "As you sit here today, do you believe that Emrik was tortured to death?" Dr. Cox: "Yes."
9:32 a.m. - First on the stand for the state: Dr. Matthew Cox, a pediatrician at St. Luke's.
9:26 a.m. - The state is seeking $20,083.45 in restitution.
9:24 a.m. - Monique Osuna and the state agreed to a guilty plea so the state would take the death penalty off the table. She could still face up to life in prison.
8:54 a.m. - The sentencing hearing is scheduled for two days.
8:52 a.m. - On Sept. 1, 2020, paramedics found Emrik Osuna lying motionless on the family's floor covered in bruises and vomit. He was transported to St. Luke's Children's Hospital where he later died. Medical reports showed he weighed just 44 pounds at the time of his death.
8:47 a.m. - KTVB's Alexandra Duggan is in court for the sentencing Thursday. We will have live updates from her throughout the hearing.
Background:
Nanny cameras inside the apartment recorded weeks of abuse showing Monique Osuna kicking and hitting Emrik, forcing him to sleep in a closet, doing hours of exercise and dragging him by his hair, detectives testified.
Erik Osuna was less involved in the torture of his son, said prosecutors, but did not get him help or medical attention.
Emrik initially came to live with his father and stepmother in Idaho in February 2018, after his biological mother was sent to prison for severely abusing his younger siblings.
The morning of September 1, Erik Osuna texted his wife they should take their son to the emergency room, but they ultimately did not seek medical help. Instead, the couple called a friend to come over to the apartment, and tried to put Pedialyte in the unresponsive boy's mouth.
Emrik later stopped breathing and his father called 911, where he instructed someone in the apartment to get rid of the cameras before police arrived.
Emrik later died at the St. Luke's Children's Hospital in downtown Boise.
Watch more crime news:
See the latest Treasure Valley crime news in our YouTube playlist: