Grave of Brian Welker in the foreground.
Brian Welker only lived two years of his life. It was a life of misery. He first came to the attention of the police when his mother clinched his little hand in her teeth and shook him furiously like a dog shaking a rabbit. Brian was crying and screaming in pain. They were in full view in a parking lot outside a grocery store. A passerby called the police.
The county Child Protective Service agency removed Brian from his mother’s custody and placed him in the home of his biological father, Gary, age 27, and his wife, 33 year-old Lillian.
The CPS placement proved to be fatal to Brian. His short life was filled with abuse, physical and mental. Unloved, unwanted he endured continued abuse from his mother. The rejection continued, unabated in his father’s care. Lillian resented Brian’s presence. He was constantly scolded and punished for his crying and whimpering.
A young girl, a cousin of Brian, came to visit one weekend. She described witnessing the treatment of Brian by Gary and Lillian. Lillian dumped a bowl of cold spaghetti over Brian’s head at the dinner table when he refused to eat it and would not stop crying. Gary punched him in his stomach. He was picked up by his ears, tossed up into the ceiling banging his head then falling six feet to the floor. Spanked and then made to stand for hours in a corner of a room for hours lasting into the late night. Brian, defenseless, stood there, alone, whimpering facing the corner of the room. The young girl never saw Brian again; she told her parents who, in turn, notified police.
Brian could not be found. Gary and Lillian gave conflicting statements about his whereabouts.
Gary and Lillian were arrested on suspicion of homicide. Prosecuting a homicide without a body is difficult. Both were charged with the unlawful killing of Brian, a human being, with malice aforethought, first-degree murder on the theory Brian was tortured to death. The search for Brian continued.
Meanwhile I began my legal research to determine the legal requirements of prosecuting a murder case without a body.
Two months passed. Brian’s attorney phoned that Gary wanted to cooperate. He led the Sheriff’s detectives and me to a remote secluded forestry area five miles from his home. We walked up a dirt path to a spot where Gary dropped to his knees and began crying.
Brian’s decomposed body lay, buried three feet down, wrapped in a blanket.
The first day of trial opened with jury selection. When the judge told the jury the defendants were charged with the murder of Gary’s son, two-year-old Brian, the atmosphere of the courtroom instantly became icily dense as the jurors’ shot disgusting looks at the accused. That evening I received phone calls from both defense counsel that they wanted to waive the jury trial and proceed with a court trial.
At trial the pathologist testified attributing the cause of Brian’s death was “multiple trauma to the head and body” and that there was evidence of child abuse. Pinpointing an exact cause of death was hampered by the decomposition of Brian’s body.
I have always felt Brian died from a broken heart. No one will ever know what thoughts may have transpired in his two-year-old mind. He must have felt unwanted, unworthy, rejected, and unloved. I picture him, standing in that room’s corner, slowly dying from the lack of a loving father and mother. In his own way he simply gave up and succumbed to death. Exhausted.
Gary and Lillian were convicted of first-degree murder by torture and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. This is the 25th year of their sentence. I have no idea where Gary and Lillian are today. Wherever Brian is I hope the little fellow is better off than he was during his sad life.
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