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On June 14, 2014, 12-year-old Charlie Boswell was reported missing by his father, Charles,

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and his stepmother Monique Dillard Boswell. Charlie had been working out and took a break to use the

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restroom, but he never returned. For all accounts, according to his father, this is not the first time

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that Charlie had run away. When he was 11 years old, Charlie had disappeared and was found three

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hours later wandering around his Detroit, Michigan neighborhood. Charlie was returned home that day

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and life went back to normal. That is, until he disappeared for a second time just one year later.

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Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found. Before we get started, I just wanted to say that

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episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.

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Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this

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podcast. Listener discretion is strongly advised. Hi everyone, this is Deb, your host from the True

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Crime Podcast, Dying to be Found and Dying to be Found the Dash. Thanks for joining me today

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where I give you a collection of short true crime events. After you're done listening here,

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be sure to head on over to Dying to be Found wherever you get your podcasts and listen to

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in-depth discussions with my family members. That's right, we have two podcasts, so be sure to check

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both of them out and tell your friends. In the meantime, let's get started where today you're

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going to hear about Charlie Boswell, a 12-year-old boy who for 11 days had gone missing from his home

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in Detroit, Michigan. We have two Charlies in today's storyline. First, we have 12-year-old

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Charlie, whom this story is about, and then we have Charles Boswell IV. To avoid confusion,

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I'm going to reference the elder Boswell as Charles and the younger Boswell as Charlie.

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This story begins two years earlier when Charlie was 11 years old. In November 2011, Charlie had

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moved in with his dad, Charles, and his stepmom, Monique, plus his two siblings. The reason he

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changed households is not clear, but Charlie had voiced his preference to remain with his biological

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mother from the get-go. That didn't happen. Instead, for the next two years, Charlie lived

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with his dad and was homeschooled, but not like you would think. There's not a ton of information

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on the structure of Charlie's education. He simply learned from some textbooks that did come from the

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local elementary school. So by the time he eventually enrolled in public school in grade seven, Charlie

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was very much behind for his age and grade level. Living conditions were not much better. Charlie

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found himself parked on the couch as opposed to his own bedroom, which resulted as punishment for

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receiving poor grades. Later, Charlie would tell authorities that he had often been banished to the

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basement, deprived of food, and isolated from the family. On rare occasions, Charlie was let out of

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the house to help his stepmother with grocery shopping, but that was the only exposure that he

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received to interact with society other than going to school. Other times, Charlie was forced to stand

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in the corner while holding his hands high up in the air. If he dropped his arms, he would be punished.

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Charlie was also forced to participate in rigorous exercise routines. During these encounters,

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Charlie's father, Charles, would ease up just enough to give Charlie a beating, then force the

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young man back into his workout regimen. Beatings continued and even escalated, where Charlie recalls

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being punched and choked even for the smallest things. When Charlie was 11, he simply couldn't

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take this abuse anymore. He left his house, wandered around his neighborhood for around three hours

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before police picked him up and took him home again. Charlie's running away did not go over well

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with Charles and Monique. After he was returned home, Charles forced him to lie down on the dining

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room table to take a beating with a PVC pipe. That was his first beating, because from that moment on,

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Charlie would endure regular beatings in the same manner. According to Detroit News, Charlie later

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told authorities that he had lost count on how many times his father had beaten him with that pipe,

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but recalls being struck all over his entire body over time and to the point where the skin on his

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back had split from the blows. When that wasn't enough for his father, Charlie would be ordered

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to roll over and endure beatings on his front side as well. On June 14, 2014, Charlie finally

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reached his breaking point. He simply disappeared. Charles and Monique reported Charlie missing for

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a second time in one year, stating that he had gone to use the restroom around 9 p.m. that night

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during his daily workout and simply never returned. Police immediately began an investigation.

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They visited the Boswell's home on three different occasions to take a look around,

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but found no evidence of the missing boy. In the early days of the investigation, Charles Boswell

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agreed to take a polygraph to rule himself out as a suspect in Charlie's disappearance. However,

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Monique refused to take one for herself. 11 days later, on June 25, 2014, police had not ruled out

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homicide and served a search warrant at the Boswell home to look for more evidence. It was during this

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search that investigators discovered 12-year-old Charlie alive and well, hiding in his own basement

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of their townhome. The basement was filled with clutter, with storage boxes six feet high. It was

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difficult to sift their way through everything and make any kind of headway. After about one hour,

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police found food squirreled away behind some of the debris. Authorities took out their flashlights

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to take a closer look and imagine their surprise when they found Charlie peering back at them from

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behind a stack of boxes plus a 55-gallon drum. Before his discovery, Charlie had not given any

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indication that he was present in the basement and it even appeared to be hiding when police

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began looking around. It's not clear if Charlie had been there for the past 11 days or not,

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but after he was discovered, Charlie was taken to the hospital and medical staff found positive

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signs of child abuse. It was then that Charlie told his story that he was beaten regularly

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and his stepmother had threatened to murder him in the past. A lot of this case can be considered a

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he said she said situation, but neither side's truth should be discounted here. And I want to

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kind of talk about how when I was researching this case, I found myself understanding both points of

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view. You'll have to decide for yourself here on whose story is most reasonable. So let's start

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with young Charlie's accounts of events. Charles was arrested for this incident when Charlie

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disappeared, which I will explain in just a moment, but I will say that Charlie showed bravery when he

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testified against his own father in court. Charlie testified that Monique had banished him to the

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basement after he did not complete his two day exercise regimen. According to the Associated

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Press, Charlie was required to complete a list of exercises within one hour or he would face

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consequences. This regimen included 100 pushups, 200 sit ups, 100 jumping jacks, 25 arm curls with

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a 25 pound weight and thousands of revolutions on the elliptical machine. For any of our listeners

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who know how realistic this is for a 12 year old boy, please DM me because this is not the first

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time Charlie could not complete his exercise workout. Monique used threats on Charlie brandishing

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knives and frequently telling him that he could easily disappear. Only this time during that

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nine o'clock workout where Charlie did disappear, Monique ordered him into the basement and told him

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to remain quiet no matter what he heard going on if police were to show up. Young Charlie testified

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that he followed his stepmother's orders to remain in the basement because he simply didn't think

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anyone at this point would even believe his tale of events. Charlie later told investigators that

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Monique was the one who informed Charles that his son had gone missing, but only after she ordered

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Charlie downstairs into the basement. Charlie added that the spot where he had hidden was set up as

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his living quarters where Monique ordered him to remain. Charlie also testified that Monique locked

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him up in the basement on a regular basis and constantly reminded him that he would never be

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missed. During Charles Boswell's trial, Charlie testified that he was too terrified to leave the

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basement and snuck food and bathroom breaks only when nobody was home. Let's move on to the sequence

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of events leading up to Charles and Monique's arrest. During the time of Charlie's disappearance,

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Charles Boswell went on live television to make a plea for his son's return. It was during a syndicated

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interview with Nancy Grace that he was told that Charlie had been found in his own basement.

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Charles did appear to be visibly shocked and upset with this news because I personally saw the video

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and I'm not convinced that he was acting. Charles was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with

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torture plus two counts of felony child abuse. Monique was arrested on a probation violation

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related to a misdemeanor gun charge. Both Charles and Monique were released on a $50,000 bond each

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and required to wear ankle monitors until they went to court. Although he testified during his

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trial that Charlie's accounts were a fabrication of events, Charles denied that he ever beat up his

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son, let alone using a PVC pipe. Charles' argument about the rigorous workout routines was that his

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son Charlie had asked for help to lose weight. Charles' defense team argued that the 11 days

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where Charlie had gone missing, the police and FBI agents had been in his home numerous times.

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They'd even gone into the basement to take a look around. At no point during these visits did Charlie

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call out for help or let investigators know he was present. By contrast, prosecutors argued that

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Charlie had endured so much emotional trauma while under his father's roof that he was too scared to

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let investigators know that he was there. Young Charlie later testified in court that his stepmother

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Monique ordered him to stay hidden in that basement when authorities came to investigate. He also

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insisted that he did not come forward the day the investigators were there because he didn't

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think anybody would believe him that he was banished to the basement. Defense attorneys

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grilled Charlie on his accounts of events stating that he was never locked up in the basement.

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He had free access to bathrooms, the pantry, the refrigerator at any time during the 11 days of his

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alleged confinement. Charlie's weight had come under scrutiny where Charles' defense team insisted

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that Charlie was at one point overweight and even his family doctor expressed a need for him to lose

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a few pounds. During cross-examination, Charles' defense team argued that Charlie's testimony was

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not credible based on the fact that there were no locks on the door leading to the basement, bathroom,

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or refrigerator to show that Charlie had been held captive against his will. They also argued that

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Charlie had a history of running away and that any rigorous exercise regimen was instilled due

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to Charlie's obesity. Charlie did not deny he was overweight when questioned. Additional behavioral

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problems were also brought into question including an incident where Charlie was thought to have

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caught the Boswell's house on fire. Charlie adamantly denied these allegations during court.

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Now the judge had a tough decision to make here because he did voice discrepancies from the

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accounts on both the prosecution and the defense. Ultimately, the judge ordered Charles Boswell the

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fourth and his wife Monique to stand trial for child abuse, not torture, based on photos that

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were taken after Charlie was found. Charlie was severely underweight and also showed signs of

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bodily injury. During his medical examination, hospital staff found a half-circular scar on

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Charlie's chest which Charlie said he received after his father drove that PVC pipe into his skin.

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The original torture charges were dismissed when Charles eventually took a plea deal to fourth

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degree child abuse which is a misdemeanor. During this deal, Charles openly admitted that he had

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indeed hit his 12 year old son Charlie with a PVC pipe. This plea deal was quite fortunate for

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Charles and Monique because they had just escaped a life term behind bars. Charles was facing up to

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10 years behind bars when he made the deal but was eventually sentenced to 18 months on probation.

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He was ordered to take anger management classes and was given a no contact order for Charlie.

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Charlie was returned to his biological mother. Charles and Monique's two other children were

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placed in foster care. And in case you're wondering how Monique made out here, her file was somehow

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lost in the shuffle and prosecutors decided not to pursue any charges against her. So that's the

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story of Charlie Boswell, the 12 year old boy who disappeared for 11 days and was found in his own

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basement. Be sure to write me and let me know what you think of this episode and any of our other

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episodes on Dying to be Found the Dash. You can also head on over to Dying to be Found, our other

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podcast with the newly founded SoundSlice Podcast Production Network where I get together with my

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family members and tell them a tale or two. If you're a true crime podcaster and want a chance

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to highlight your own podcast here on Dying to be Found the Dash, email me at dying the number two,

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the letter B found at gmail.com and I'll send you more information on collaborating.

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