GUILTY NC - Matthew Theurer, 15 mos, starved to death, Wayne County, 15 Feb 2013

An Indiana man was taken into custody in North Carolina Wednesday, accused of killing his 15-month old son.

Matthew Theurer of Portland, Ind., was arrested after the body of his baby was discovered in a bag on the side of a highway about 100 miles away from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Theurer is a senior airman at the base.

He is charged with voluntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and murder.

“He was just very quiet. Very just.. kind of awkward,” said Katy, an Air Force wife living at the same base. She did not want her full name used.

She said she knew Theurer and his family through spending time with them on the base. She recalled Theurer and his estranged wife, Amy, had a rocky marriage and were separated. His wife had moved on, had gotten engaged and was pregnant. She said his wife returned to Indiana and left the baby in Theurer’s care.

She said for weeks, Theurer was telling people on the base that his son was in Indiana.

Authorities said Theurer tried to commit suicide after he claimed he found his son dead in a crib and dumped his body.

“I would never in a million years thought that he would do that to his own child,” said Katy.

Theurer is being held in Sampson County Pre-Confinement Facility.

Read more: http://fox59.com/2013/03/13/indiana...s-body-on-the-side-of-the-road/#ixzz2Npw0jL1C
Read more at http://fox59.com/2013/03/13/indiana...-on-the-side-of-the-road/#5d2KOEMlMt2PTuhU.99

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A military judge early Wednesday sentenced a senior airman to life in prison and a dishonorable discharge in the death of his 14-month-old son at their home on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., a year ago.

But Matthew Theurer, who pleaded guilty Monday to murder and child endangerment, will spend no more than 40 years behind bars under the terms of a pretrial agreement...

Theurer said he would leave the boy in a bedroom — cordoned off with a baby gate — each day when he left for work. He’d give the boy a sippy cup of milk and something to eat, like a piece of toast. He said he’d done a bad job managing his money and couldn’t afford child care. By the end of January 2013, Matthew looked thin and appeared less active than normal, the autopsy said. On Feb. 15, 2013, he was dead.

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