Brice Bainum (LaPorte County Jail).
A 32-year-old man in Indiana is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son, allegedly beating the boy to death and then coaching his mother on what to say to police. Brice Bainum was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count of murder in the child’s horrific death, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Bainum is also facing an additional count of interfering with the reporting of a crime for allegedly preventing his girlfriend from calling authorities or getting her son medical help.
According to a news release from the Michigan City Police Department, officers at about 7:16 a.m. on Sunday, March 2, 2025, responded to a 911 call in reference to an unresponsive 5-year-old male at a residence in the 2200 block of Normandy Drive, which is about 150 miles north of Indianapolis.
Uniform patrol officers arrived at the scene along with the Michigan City Fire Department and LaPorte County Emergency Medical Services and located the victim inside the home. He was rushed to Franciscan Hospital for treatment.
Due to the severity of his condition, the boy was flown to the University of Chicago Children’s Comer Hospital for more “advanced medical treatment.” Unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead at 7:02 p.m., police said.
The Investigative Division was summoned to the residence and took over this scene. Detectives contacted the LaPorte County Prosecutor’s Office for assistance in obtaining a search warrant for the residence. Once obtained, the scene was processed, and evidence was collected.
A subsequent autopsy determined that the 5-year-old suffered an array of injuries, including a brain bleed as well as visible bruising to his head, back, and buttocks, among other areas. The manner of death was determined to be homicide with the cause of death being injuries sustained due to assault.
Court documents obtained by The Times of Northwest Indiana provided additional and shocking details about what allegedly led to the victim’s brutal death.
(Editor’s note: The following contains graphic allegations of child abuse that some readers may find disturbing.)
According to the report, the boy’s mother initially told investigators that she did not believe Bainum would hurt her son, saying the boy “really looked up to” Bainum. However, that reportedly changed as the interview continued.
The mother said that Bainum felt her son was being “disrespectful” and punished the child by making him take a 15-minute cold shower and continue apologizing for about an hour straight, South Bend, Indiana CBS and Fox affiliate WSBT reported. Sometime later, she witnessed Bainum yelling at the boy, who was crying, scared, and appeared to have been struck “really hard.”
Bainum allegedly claimed that the victim had bit him with enough force to leave a mark. When the mother told Bainum to stop abusing the victim, he allegedly responded by saying, “F— you, he is not going to bite me,” South Bend NBC affiliate WNDU reported.
Several hours later, the victim’s mother said she found her son unresponsive and cold to the touch on the floor in his room. When she tried to call 911, Bainum allegedly took the phone from her and refused to give it back for more than an hour, WSBT reported.
When she finally did call 911, Bainum allegedly “coached” her about the story they would tell police.
“She said Brice [Bainum] told her that we (police) are not her friend,” a charging document says.
The mother also said that Bainum would regularly get “jealous” when she showed her son “too much attention” and punished him in cruel ways, including forcing him to eat hot sauce for crying too much and verbally abusing him.
Bainum is currently being held in LaPorte County Jail on a bond of $1 million. He is scheduled to appear in court for his initial hearing on March 11.
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