A judge in Detroit has dismissed torture charges against Charlie Bothuell and Monique Dillard-Bothuell, the father and stepmother of the boy who went missing last year and was found 11 days later in his father's basement.
The decision was made due to the judge not believing the boy's testimony.
"He totally did not tell the truth," Judge Shannon Holmes said, adding that there were inconsistencies in the boy's stories about how he was able to get food and how he used the toilet while he was supposedly being kept in the basement.
The judge said the inconsistencies were not simply a case of the boy "being confused and being afraid," the Detroit Free Press reported.
Holmes also said she doubted the boy's story that he was so paralyzed by fear he couldn't cry out for help when police searched the house. She added that she did not believe the boy stayed in the basement the entire time he went missing.
"He never made himself known. I don't believe he was in the basement," Holmes said, according to the Detroit Free Press.
However, Bothuell and Dillard-Bothuell will still stand trial for child abuse because the judge found the boy's story of his father using a PVC pipe to discipline him in line with the evidence presented in court.
The charge is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison. The couple is scheduled for arraignment in Wayne County court on July 8, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Bothuell and Dillard-Bothuell cried outside the court over the dismissal of the torture charge.
The boy, named Charlie Bothuell, was 12 years old when he disappeared in June of last year, and his father reported him missing. The police, who had searched the house several times, including the basement, found him on June 25, 2014.
Charlie said his stepmother sent him to the basement because he stopped his workout routine. He said he was mandated to accomplish an intense one-hour workout twice a day that included hundreds of push-ups and jumping jacks, plus some weight lifting.
Holmes cited conflicts in the boy's story. The judge also did not believe the testimony of a child abuse expert who only reviewed Charlie's record but did not interview him, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Bothuell did not give any comment about the judge's decision, only saying, "I'm hopefully getting my life back," the Detroit Free Press reported.
