Kearns man: Woman accused of locking son up abused other children, including him
Aug 29, 2024, 10:53 AM | Updated: 11:22 am
KEARNS — After a couple was arrested for allegedly locking their son in a “makeshift cell” for days on end, one other person says he too was abused under the care of the woman police arrested– and he said he’s not the only one.
Kearns resident Hayden Shewmake told KSL TV that Melissa Gray cared for him as a child. He said she was physically aggressive and violent.
Police indicated they also received information about additional alleged abuse of another child who is now an adult, by the father, Travis Peterson.
Both Peterson, 49, and Gray, 41, are in the Salt Lake County Jail after their August 19 arrests, accused of abusing Peterson’s 13-year-old son.
Court documents state the couple locked up the young teen in their Kearns home in at least two different makeshift cells using a padlock, for anywhere from 24 hours to months.
Investigators stated that the boy told them his stepmother spanked him, and that at one point he had to break out of his cell in order to use the bathroom. He also reported “being hungry, lonely and having to sleep curled up in the makeshift cells.”
Two parents arrested after police found their child in a ‘makeshift cell’
“It just started like, bringing up all the memories of like all the (expletive) that she did,” Shewmake said, of hearing about the abuse case against Gray.
Shewmake, who is now 19, described Gray as his father’s live-in girlfriend for about five years, from around 2012 to 2017 or ’18, in a household that Shewmake said included his three siblings.
He recounted multiple instances that he endured when Gray was home, including being hit, thrown against furniture causing it to break, and being choked by his t-shirt before being dragged down a sidewalk.
Shewmake said he remembered feeling unsafe.
“I just wanted to run out of the front door and not come back,” he said.
He indicated the alleged abuse by Gray also extended to some of his siblings, but none of the incidents were reported to the police.
His father and Gray eventually broke up, Shewmake said, and he hasn’t seen her since.
As soon as he heard about Gray and Peterson’s arrests Wednesday, he said he spoke to one of his siblings about what they went through, as they thought about the 13-year-old boy.
“It wasn’t even just like one of the parents like it was with me,” he said, of the new case. “Both of the parents (Gray and Peterson) were okay with what they were doing.”
The police report alleges further abuse by Peterson against another son who is now an adult. Officers said they received information that Peterson locked that other son up when he was younger, long enough that the son had to use his dresser drawer as a bathroom.
Shewmake described being dumbfounded hearing all of the details of the case.
“I don’t really know what to think about it, other than … I don’t really expect anything different from them,” he said. “I just really feel bad for the kid.”
Peterson and Gray were each arrested for the offense of intentional aggravated child abuse. Gray is also facing an additional charge for intentional child abuse with injury.
