3 accused in death of boy who was beaten, forced to carry log, buried in snow, appear in court

MANITOWOC -- Almost 10 months after 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz's death, his three family members made another court appearance Monday, Feb. 11 in Manitowoc County.

Charges are as follows:

Damian Hauschultz, 15:


    Timothy Hauschultz, 48:


      Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, 35:




        Timothy Hauschultz and Tina McKeever-Hauschultz were Ethan Hauschultz's great uncle and great aunt -- his guardians at the time of his death.

        In court Monday, a preliminary hearing was set for Timothy and Damian Hauschultz on Feb. 18 and for Tina McKeever-Hauschultz on Feb. 20. Monday's court appearances were scheduled to talk about bail. However, that discussion was moved to next week, according to WLUK.

        The prosecutor, Jacalyn LaBre, told the judge she'd also like to talk about Timothy Hauschultz's phone conversations in jail. LaBre didn't go into any further detail.

        Timothy Hauschultz, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz



        Prosecutors said the 7-year-old boy was beaten, forced to carry a 44-pound log and was buried in the snow -- all before he died in April 2018.

        According to prosecutors, Ethan Hauschultz was taken to a hospital on April 20, 2018 by his court-appointed guardian. The boy was unresponsive, had an extremely low body temperature and had multiple bruises and injuries. Medical staff performed life-saving measures, but the child died later that evening.

        Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office investigators determined earlier on April 20, Ethan had been performing a punishment ordered by Timothy Hauschultz. It required Ethan to carry a heavy wooden log weighing approximately two-thirds his body weight. All the while, the 7-year-old boy was being monitoring by Timothy Hauschultz's teenage son, Damian. The sheriff said in a news release, over the course of about one-and-a-half hours, the teen hit, kicked, struck and poked Ethan numerous times. The sheriff said the teen repeatedly shoved Ethan to the ground and rolled the heavy log across Ethan's chest. The teen allegedly stood on the 7-year-old's body and head while Ethan was face down in a puddle. The release said Damian ultimately buried Ethan completely in snow.

        Ethan Hauschultz



        Ethan Hauschultz



        The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Officer noted that Ethan's cause of death was hypothermia and other blunt force injuries to the head, chest and abdomen.