|
The Mattheys
were arrested and initially charged Nov. 8, 2000, with endangering
the welfare of a child and tampering with witnesses - Bob was
picked up at work, Brenda at home. The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's
Office and the New Jersey State Police notified the state Division
of Youth and Family Services so they could arrange for placement
of the other children while the parents were in jail.
The four oldest children were questioned at length by investigators,
interrogations the Mattheys' lawyers allege were conducted illegally.
The children offered a chilling account of life inside the house
in Union Township.
The Mattheys' oldest son, Robert, who was 16 at the time he was
interviewed by police, said Viktor "was a handful" and
was locked in the pump room in the basement when he would "throw
severe fits," according to court documents.
Robert described the room as wet and muddy with no lights and
no toilet. He told police Viktor would sometimes be locked in
the room for about a half-hour, but occasionally he was left in
there overnight.
"He (Robert) would hear Viktor screaming and banging on the
door to get out," according to a legal brief filed by Assistant
Prosecutor Dawn Solari. "He could also hear him through a
monitor that was in the pump room with the receiver in the parents'
room. He could hear Viktor calling out that he had to go to the
bathroom and crying, sometimes through the night."
Robert said when Viktor would scream loudly, his parents put duct
tape over his mouth to get him to quiet down, and "the tactic
worked." He said all of the children, including Viktor, were
disciplined by being "spanked or whacked" with a belt
or with their hands. He said Viktor had been spanked five to 10
times in the month prior to his death.
Another Matthey son, Richard, 15 at the time he was interviewed,
described the pump room as having "dirt all over the place,
cobwebs and all kinds of bugs in there." He told police his
parents put all three Russian boys in the room at different times
as a means of punishment. If they were screaming, they would be
put in the room to calm down. They were put in there during the
day, or at bedtime and would stay through the night.
"They would never be wearing a coat, but depending on the
weather, they would wear warmer pajamas," Solari wrote in
the brief. "They were never provided with a blanket."
Other punishments included spankings, time-outs and running in
place. The children told the investigator that sometimes they
were punished with a cat-o'-nine-tails, a whip made of nine knotted
cords attached to a handle. It was kept in Brenda's desk, they
said.
Richard described a mixture of beans and barley that was used
to punish Viktor: He was forced to eat the mixture before a buzzer
went off - if he failed to finish, he would not be allowed to
have a drink.
Raymond Matthey, who was 10 when interviewed, and Jonathan, who
was 8, echoed much of what their older brothers had seen and heard,
according to court papers. Jonathan said all the boys were hit
with a whip. The three adopted boys were forced to march in place
or run holding an aluminum bat over their heads, and if they stopped
too soon, they got hit with the bat.
The boys' account appeared to be supported by what investigators
found.
Police discovered blood on the inside of the pump room door, and
DNA testing concluded it was Viktor's, according to pretrial court
testimony.
Investigators who took temperature readings at the Matthey house
found the temperature inside the pump room varied no more than
a few degrees from the temperature outdoors.
And Viktor's autopsy determined his stomach contained "an
excessive quantity of uncooked, dried beans without sufficient
liquid," according to the Mattheys' indictment.
Investigators also talked to Bob Matthey's co-workers and friends
from a Middlesex County church, the Abundant Life Christian Center
Church, in Edison. The Mattheys joined the church in 1992, when
they lived in Edison, and continued to attend when they moved
to Somerset County.
The Mattheys belonged to a Bible study group with two other couples.
The group met one night a week for about two hours, often at the
Mattheys' home.
The two couples, Gary and Gina Starr and Connie and Robert Phillips,
described an incident that occurred one winter night. Richard
Matthey, then about 10, was sitting outside his house wearing
a T-shirt and no coat. He was crying.
Both couples told investigators it was very cold, with snow on
the ground. The Starrs described Richard as "whimpering"
and making a "mournful-like, hopeless kind of cry" that
could be heard through the closed windows. They told the Mattheys
they thought the child had been outside long enough - 45 minutes
to an hour - but Bob Matthey said that was Richard's punishment
for his crime. The Phillipses said they believed the "crime"
was a problem with schoolwork.
Both couples said they reported the incident that night to their
pastor, the Rev. Scott Walsh, who called the Division of Youth
and Family Services. After DYFS investigated, the Mattheys stopped
attending the Bible study group and left the church. No charges
were filed against the Mattheys in connection with the incident.
Gary Starr said he often tried to persuade Bob Matthey not to
be so hard on the children, who were frequently in trouble. Bob
said he "refused to lose." Starr said he told Bob he
was not talking about a game to be won or lost.
The Starrs told investigators they knew the Mattheys beat their
children with belts. Bob Matthey told Gary Starr he put a sock
in his children's mouths because he didn't want the neighbors
to hear them scream.
A co-worker of Bob's, Dave Rivera, said he was at the Mattheys'
house in Edison when he saw Bob hit Robert with a belt several
times because Robert wasn't doing his homework. Rivera and his
wife, Kim, said the Mattheys admitted to them that when they moved
to Raritan Borough, they put their children on the back porch
in the winter, without a coat, as a form of punishment.
Regina Marchello, who met Brenda Matthey when her children were
attending a youth class at the Flemington Assembly of God, said
she was aware the Mattheys had adopted three children from Russia.
During the 2000 New Year's Eve party at the Raritan Township church,
Marchello saw Brenda in a corner of a room screaming at the Russian
children, who had been in the United States less than two weeks.
Brenda yelled so loudly and flailed her arms so wildly, Marchello
thought she should mention it to the pastor's wife.
Marchello said Brenda Matthey later told her she had to hit her
children hard because that was how they were treated in Russia.
|
