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133: Little Boy Lost (Craig Mulligan)

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Show Notes

In the early morning hours of July 31, 2021, 5-year-old Logan Mwangi was found dead and 13-year-old Craig Mulligan was arrested for his murder, along with with his guardian John Cole and Logan's mother Angharad Williamson, in Bridgend, South Wales.

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Show Transcript

Just so you know, this show is built scary stuff. So don't say I didn't warn you. Guys, I remember, don't be scared. M Episode one thirty three, Little Boy Lost War Baby.

Here with another episode of Murderous Miners. Hey, Leveley's summer break is over and we're back. So let's start with a quick update on episode sixty one, Ethan's Laws. I told you about fourteen year old Damien Hoshels of Wisconsin, who was accused of murdering his seven year old cousin, Ethan Hoscholtz in April two thousand and eighteen.

In February two thousand and nineteen, the teen was charged with first degree reckless homicide, three counts of child abuse, and three counts of substantial battery. Ethan had been home with his older cousin, Damien, who now stands accused of subjecting the boy to hours of physically torturous punishment and abuse that ultimately led to his death, all allegedly at the direction of Damien's father. Ethan's great uncle, Timothy D. Me And is the son of thirty eight year old Tina McKiever Haschultz and fifty year old Timothy Hoschultz, who were seven year old Ethan's court appointed guardians and prosecutors, alleged that they played a part in the boy's ultimate death, even though they weren't home at the time.

Tina mckever Hoscholtz has already been found guilty of felony failure to prevent mental harm to a child and felony child abuse, receiving five years in prison. On March twelfth, two thousand and twenty one, Timothy Hoscholtz was arrested and charged with felony murder, child abuse, battery, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor causing death. In late June two thousand and twenty one, a then seventeen year old Damien Hoscholtz pulled guilty to first degree reckless homicide and had his six remaining charges dropped. In September two thousand and twenty one, he received twenty years in prison for Athen's murder, followed by ten years of extended supervision and an order of no contact with miners or with any of Ethan's siblings.

The team has since appealed, making him unavailable to testify in his father Timothy's trial, which has now been postponed at least until the son's appeal has been resolved. The man had been set to go to trial starting on December sixth, two thousand and twenty one, but his son would have had to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself, as his testimony could go on to be used against him in his own appeals proceedings. After being in custody for more than three years, his bail was reduced, and reports indicate that his bond was posted on May twenty six, two thousand and twenty two, when he was released with an angle monitor. Pre trial motions continue in his case, which will likely resume in full force when Damian's appeal has been resolved.

This week, on Murderous Miners, we're back in Wales's UK and looking at a recent case that brought to my mind, that of Ethan Hoscholtz's the murder of five year old Logan Mwangy in late July two thousand and twenty one. Reports indicate that Logan's was a brutal, violent death inflicted by abuse, so please be advised. As in Ethan's case, some of logan Mwangi's convicted killers are also related to him, but this time it was the boy's very own mother and Harrod Williamson. I drew parallels in my mind because the adults in each case tried to deflect personal responsibility and shift blame solely on to their juvenile code defendants.

In this case, Craig Mulligan. Reports refer to him as Logan's quote step brother, although the third killer, forty year old John J. Cole, was not Mulligan's father but his mother's former boyfriend, while Logan was the son of Cole's current partner, thirty two year old and Harrod Williamson. Extensive in depth report by Whales Online and the BBC, plus the ITV documentary The Murder of Logan Mwangi made this episode possible.

Let's start way back in October two thousand and seven when Craig Mulligan was born in Coventry, England. When he was five, his biological father was killed in a car accident, but by then his biological mother was already in a relationship with John Cole. During their relationship, Cole's rap sheet expanded to include convictions for crimes such as common assault, resisting or obstructing a constable, burglary, theft, handling stolen goods, going equipped for theft, possession of a bladed article, criminal damage, possession of cannabis, resisting a police officer, intimidation of a witness, battery, blackmail and perverting the course of justice. In two thousand and nineteen, after being with Craig Mulligan's mother for more than ten years, Cole met a woman at a pub who was a decade younger than him named ang Herod Williamson and began a relationship with her.

According to Wales Online, Logan's mother was born in London and went to private school as the daughter of two stockbrokers. Following her graduation, she enrolled in film school, but ran afoul with the law after taking her mother's car and also using her credit cards without her permission. One day after turning twenty five, she gave birth to her only child, Logan, in March two thousand and sixteen, a child she'd had with a man named Ben Muwanghi. He later recalled being the first person to hold Logan.

The couple didn't stay together, and he explained later that quote she blocked my number for the past pretty much five years. I've been struggling to try and fight just to see Logan. She made my life an absolute misery. All I've wanted to do, you know, just be a dad.

Williamson went on to marry a soldier who was stationed nearby, though they divorced soon after. She and Logan moved back in with her mother in Bridge End, South Wales, and the two women worked together to raise him up, while Ben Mwanghi, who lived almost four hours away in Essex, England, was only allowed to see his son a couple of times throughout his entire life. In January two thousand and nineteen, Williamson secured public housing and moved into her own two bedroom apartment in Bridge End, and a few months later in April j Cole came to stay. Williamson had non epileptic seizure disorder that began in pregnancy that by then had made it unsafe for her to work, so she collected disability.

Her mother called her her best friend, but also referred to her as a melodramatic person, while teachers at Logan school called her quote overemotional, over familiar, overprotective, and generally volatile. Logan however, was remembered as a quote happy, jolly little kid and a quote loving, kind, polite little boy who was quote good, behaved and listened. It was following a visit to Logan's father in Essex in the spring of two thousand and nineteen that tensions began to rise, according to Williamson, who said that when they returned home, Cole was cold to her and assumed she'd been inappropriate with her ex boyfriend. She said later that quote, he was very cold to me.

I felt like I was being interrogated a lot. Williamson went on to describe Cole repeatedly questioning little Logan about the events of the visit, claiming that he would ask the boy if his parents had been kissing. Later, she would say she was aware that her son was being quote picked on by her boyfriend and admitted she did nothing about it. Meanwhile, Cole continued to be a part of Craig Mulligan's life even after he left the boy's mother for Williamson in two thousand and nineteen.

In August two thousand and twenty, almost a year before Mulligan came to live with them, he reportedly pushed Logan down a flight of stairs, resulting in the toddler fracturing his arm, an incident that Williamson claimed not to know the truth about for several months. Instead of taking her son to receive medical treatment, she reportedly told police later that quote, I decided I could pop Logan's arm back in place. I took a firm hold of Logan's arm, pulled it straight, and twisted it back. I put it back in place and heard a click.

Logan was in pain when it clicked back in place, but it felt better and he stopped crying. At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing by putting his arm back in place, but I now realized it was a mistake. She changed her story, however, a few months later, in January two thousand and twenty one, now telling police over the phone that it had actually been a push by a then twelve year old Craig Mulligan that had broken her son's arm back in August, not an accidental fall. Mulligan had been living with his mother up until then, but by January two thousand and twenty one, he'd been placed in the care of the Bridge and County Borough Council, reportedly because his mother attacked and assaulted him.

She was consequently involuntarily committed under the Mental Health Act. Other reports revealed that she allegedly faked a cancer diagnosis, and as a result of these incidents, Mulligan was removed from her care. By then, the thirteen year old, who had obtained the level of green Belt and the martial art of muy Thai, was reportedly referred to as quote manipulative and as quote having a desire for violence. He was known to use a baby voice if he got into trouble, and he had a history of attacking other students without cause.

While in foster care, he was said to have constantly talked about his favorite movie series, The Purge, and even told his foster family that he was going to kill them all when the new installment in the film franchise was released. They said he was known to assault little kids in the neighborhood and had even abused their dog by spring deodorant in his eyes and by handling him by his hind legs. The daughter of the foster parents reported that Mulligan had tried to get her little cousins to play quote a murder game in the woods, telling them that he was going to put them into black trash bags, which would eventually be how Logan Muwangi was found. She claimed to have reported such incidents to Mulligan's social worker, but said that the woman quote brushed it off as if it was nothing.

The social workers said that during her banter with Mulligan, he tended to use foul language and would even tell her to f off, though she considered this behavior to be conversational and a result of their friendly relationship. She did, however, end up a meeting that at times the team went quote too far. Though Logan's murder took place only a handful of days after Mulligan joined the family, the little boy's abuse and his quote stepbrother's participation in it had been going on for years. At the time of Logan's murder, Mulligan was only referring to him as quote the five year old, and said repeatedly in the weeks leading up to it that he wanted to kill the little boy.

As far as Logan's abuse is concerned, it speculated that Cole's dislike of his girlfriend's child was racial in nature, as the boy's father is black and Cole is reportedly quote very racist to Asian or Black people, or any people who are different. The man fixated on Logan's stutter and gave him the humiliating nickname of Coco Pop due to his skin tone. Cole is also reportedly a former member of the National Front, a far right fascist political organization in the United Kingdom. The prosecutor would later state that quote Cole didn't like Logan, treated him unkindly and viewed him differently because he held quote longstanding racist beliefs.

The couple's friends, relatives, and others also bore witness to the continual abuse of Logan Mwangi, with a friend of Williamson's testifying that Cole had once told her flat out that he didn't like the boy, but that quote he would always love Ang Harriet even if he didn't love Logan. Another friend recounted seeing Logan being punished at the age of three in two thousand and nineteen. Over time, the friend recalled, Logan had become quote withdrawn, lost visible weight. At the time, his complexion was quite pale, his demeanor was very down and quiet.

He was becoming more withdrawn because he was being punished all the time. Staff at his school even noticed a change both in Logan's demeanor and in his physical appearance, as he'd been quote losing weight and having dark circles around his eyes. His stutter was worsening two, and he had bathroom accidents, after which he requested that his soiled clothes be thrown away at school. These incidents occurred before Logan was pushed down the stairs and fractured his humorous and in the months that followed, neighbors continued to be subjected to all manner of loud outbursts from the home.

There were reports of shouting that neighbors soon came to realize was Logan being yelled at by Cole and Williamson, whose tone was often described as quote aggressive and nasty. In March two thousand and twenty one, four months before Logan was murdered, he was put on the child protection register because people were worried about how Cole and Mulligan were treating him, and a social worker was supposed to show up every week and a half to check on the boy. Logan. Social workers said that his mother seemed to quote a door and only want the best for her s.

Cole, she said, though, was intimidating at first, but over time the relationship got better, he was busy trying to get custody of Mulligan right at this time, as the teen had already been in foster care for a few months. Also in June two thousand and twenty one, Logan was moved from the child Protection register and put on a Child in Kneed plan instead, indicating that he was no longer at immediate risk, but that he continued to need intervention to aid in his development. Cole was granted custody of Craig Mulligan the following month, with the man claiming that he was not forewarned that the teen had been saying that he wanted to kill Logan or that he'd had issues with his foster family. Mulligan moved into Williamson's home permanently on July twenty sixth, the two thousand and twenty one and five year old Logan was last seen alive by someone outside the family the following day.

He was then diagnosed with COVID nineteen and forced to quarantine alone in his room. When I finally reach the end of another crazy day, don't be alarmed if I sneak away and grab a few minutes to play best Fiends, the free to download casual mobile puzzle game that does a great job of clearing my mind. It's the kind of game you can play anywhere, at any time, with no pressure and no WiFi needed. When I'm in the zone.

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You'll even get five dollars worth of in game rewards when you reach level five. That's friends without the art. Best Fiends. Trouble began brewing a few days later when a neighbor reported seeing Mulligan trying to keep a crying Williamson from leaving the property on July twenty ninth, two thousand and twenty one.

The neighbor recalled her being quote hysterical and telling Mulligan that he was making a scene. The teen appeared quote desperate to get his new stepmother back inside of their house. Williamson later explained that she was attempting to flee because Cole and Mulligan were violently abusing her son with punches to the stomach and by sweeping his legs and knocking him to the floor. The following afternoon, on July thirtieth, two thousand and twenty one, Mulligan's social worker stopped by, at which time the teen informed her that she could f off.

Cole and Williamson kept her from entering the house because Logan was quarantined, but she did speak to them for roughly twenty minutes. In regards to the rest of that day, Cole later admitted to quote clipping Logan on the back of his head with his hand that night over an argument about a bath, and said that Williamson had grabbed her son by the collar of his pajama shirt and yelled in his face. Security camera footage from a residence behind their home indicates that several hours later, at two forty three am, j Cole carried the lifeless, dangling body of five year old Logan Mwangi away from the home inside a black trash bag. The light was on in Logan's bedroom and the security camera also showed the curtain being opened one minute after Cole and Mulligan carried Logan's body away into the night.

Their street faces a large open green field divided by some woods that line the trail of the river Ogmore, encompassed by Panty Park, which residents can easily access. In the footage, a figure that is alleged to be thirteen year old Craig Mulligan is seen by Cole's side, their images back lit by the outdoor security lighting. They walked along the river and discarded Logan's body in it, close to the train bridge and near to a sore pipe. The video shows the pair arriving back at the house at two fifty one am, before they're recorded leaving for a second time at three sixteen AM to toss Logan's ripped pajama top into the woods.

They returned home for the final time at three twenty seven AM, and Logan's bedroom lights switched off for the rest of the night at three thirty one. Not too long after, at a round to five am, a neighbor distinctly heard quote bickering and a hysterical woman yelling Logan's name, Amon saying quote, what have you done with my son? Where is my son? The back door is wide open?

About forty five minutes later, at five forty six am on July thirty first, two thousand and twenty one, and Harrod Williamson called police to report that her five year old son, Logan was missing, referencing Mulligan's mother several times, seemingly trying to implicate her in a retaliation kidnapping. Ah you funny and not make a breath? When did you? I don't think it just got lost.

Join Logan. Make a breath. He's fine and he's gone. Can you see it?

He Nogan? Do you to speak to me? Not to shout? He no, it's really full on and it's really what's his name?

Is his name? Logan? Logan? He's fine?

Did he say? Oh? Please say I mean what he looks like? Please given a little meek t ways boys, just police finding the job is on sho okay, is anybody else there with any other adults in the house?

Are any of the doors or windows? Open doors? Windows? What's a poem?

I told where you what takes? And I know that it's fine, right, fine, free so I can get the information I need. My black gate is on my back gas black. Where does the back gate lead at the I don't know what the road is called?

That's fine, leave the road. Does a post for fields or anything like that? Okay, I'll walk. I'm rolling up it now it is.

Don't cree. What's your name? What's him? Now?

What's your name? Your name is Image? I really need you to just take the breath for a second, okay, a hyperventilate. I know that it's very, very scary.

I need what to say in the house. So who's run out after Logan? No? Your partner house?

Okay, So dad's gone out looking? Yeah, what's dad's name? John Cole? He stepp Dad, But virtually police began their search by five fifty five am, and when they arrived, Cole and Mulligan were out searching the tree line and could be heard on security cameras searching and calling out Logan's name.

The officer who located Logan's body said quote, Logan was laying on his right side in an open fetal position. He was submerged under the water. I could see he had an injury to the left side of his face. His eyes were open, his body was stiff, his lips were blue.

Immediately the opinion Logan was deceased. He was transported to the Princess of Wales Hospital and Bridge End, where he was pronounced dead at seven fifteen am. Logan had a laceration on his forehead along with fifty five other identifiable injuries, and there was nothing to indicate that the five year old had drowned. Instead, there was evidence of blunt force trauma and quote a forceful assault made up of a blow or blows, a kick or kicks, or impact or impacts with a weapon.

His injuries were described as catastrophic and included a torn vowel, a lacerated liver, and damage to his small intestine. The pathologists revealed that Logan had widespread contusions to his scalp and head, bleeding inside the skull, and extensive brain trauma, some of which likely came from previous episodes of abuse. The child's collar bone was in the process of improperly healing from a previous fracture. Logan's injuries were so catastrophic that doctors likened to them to quote a fall from a great height or a high speed car crash, and his cause of death was listed as blunt forced abdominal injury, cerebral injury, and traumatic brain injury.

Bodycams worn by the officers captured a distraught and hysterical and herod Williamson, and Cole reported that she'd suffered at least one seizure early on in the day. Investigators who interacted with the trio once Logan went missing had rather interesting observations about the behavior of Mulligan, Williamson, and Cole, who were all dealing with the situation quite differently. One officer said about Williamson that quote, although she did seem to be wailing a lot, making noises of crying or sobbing, there were very little or no tears during the time I was with her. She told police after Logan's body was found that she had quote failed to keep her son safe and therefore should be arrested.

The following day, she told her mother the same thing, and her prophecy would soon be realized. A friend of Cole's later described receiving a phone call from the man on August first, two thousand and twenty one, which he thought was about Logan, where Cole said, quote, I brought him up since he was a baby. What was I supposed to do? But in reality he was talking about Craig Mulligan.

It was the discovery of the neighbor's CCTV footage that helped investigators push back against the trio's accounts of that night, as Coal can be seen carrying what is believed to be Logan's body to the river in a black bag, accompanied by the stepson who wanted the little boy dead. Plus there was the fact that Logan had not drowned, and at six twenty pm on August first, two thousand and twenty one, Mulligan, Cole, and Williamson were arrested at their home. Trona was a tomb for them, and I still on your phone. He's down right, so I visit Dumberlain.

Okay, okay, right? Do you want need to ask a suspicion of me? Okay, you don't have to say anything, but may how many defense if you do not mention one question? Something anything you do say may be given an evidence.

I guess Okay, it's just part of the best. So I haven't anything wrong. Okay, where is Logan? Where is he still?

He's still with us? Some more, he's still he's still in the hospital the d What happened to him? I can't explain anything further at the moment. Why is nobody talking to me?

It's supposed to be helping find out what happened, not risking me when I'm telling him what it's funny? What is your phone with you? Guys helping me? Had I understand you're upset?

I understand dead. Okay, I'm Hannah. We understand you very upset. We've got invested, we got I'm just Cole asked police.

So am I solely being charged with murder? Just me? While Mulligan was combative and cursed the arresting officers as he was taken into custody. At a different point, he told an employee that quote, I ain't letting my dad take the blame.

No way. I might just plead guilty next week. My solicitor knows all about my mental state, and I forget stuff. Mulligan said that he had nothing to do with Logan's death, and that he'd only gone out with coal that night because he thought the man was illicitly getting rid of bags full of fly addled garbage.

In his second interview, he said that Williamson had been awake all night and acting erratically, and that she kept him out of Logan's room when he'd tried to enter. He explained that he hadn't mentioned this before because quote, I thought it was a dream. I was trying to see because I heard her say he's dead, and I wanted to see if he was okay, and he wasn't. Mulligan was adamant that Williamson was saying whatever she could come up with to get herself at a jail.

Cole told police that the jail that quote, the thing is, I didn't kill Logan. I heard Craig reciting a rap song saying I like kids, I want to punch and kick them. I've got a moral dilemma. Do I go down for murder or protect my son.

When further interrogated, he claimed that he woke up to Williamson's screaming that Logan was dead, going on to describe the cause as quote a freak accident. He went on to say that quote. He was lying on his back with his head to the side in a weird position, and Harod was frantic and hyperventilating. I was desperate to save him.

Eventually I stopped and she said, he's dead. He's dead. There's nothing I could do. And Harod said she heard him take his last breath.

I didn't hit him in the tummy and didn't see ang Harod hit him in the stomach. He had been jumping around all day and it had been a cult day. I carried him to the river. There's a little steep kind of drop.

I put him on the edge. I put him there, and then I went back up and Harrod, when I went back up, handed me the dinosaur top. She said, we have to get rid of this. I went out and threw it in the bushes.

I didn't really hang about. I was panicking. When she was interviewed for the first time the day after her arrest, Williamson had just learned that there was security camera footage from her neighbor's house that had captured video of her boyfriend and his stepson taking her son's dead body to the river, prompting her to tell police that quote, I feel conned, so conned. I wish I had never met him.

They've ruined my life. I don't want him anywhere near me again. She maintained that she had slept through the night. Over her first four interviews, Williamson claimed that she had no idea that her son had been so badly injured, but during her fifth interview, she claimed that her boyfriend had quote punched him in the stomach.

He hit him a couple of times in the stomach because he wouldn't talk, and he said, quothe, the only way this boy understands is pain. He called Craig over and said, if he flinches one more time while I'm talking to him, have him and said sweep and punch, explaining that they had these skills from their martial arts background. She told police that she'd been asleep that night, but they already knew that she'd been awake because of Logan's bedroom light turning off in his curtain being closed in the security video while she was the only one in the home. The revelation was also made that had Logan received medical attention, he was likely to have survived, and probably did survive his injuries for up to seven hours prior to his death.

Logan's father wonders why more wasn't done to make sure that his only child lived in a safe environment. Six months after their arrests, the trio went to trial at Cardiff Crown Court, with Mulligan's identities still anonymous. Each were charged with murder and with perverting the course of justice, which Coal pled guilty to before their trial began. Prosecutors opened by saying, in part quote, it is the prosecutions case that Logan was murdered and each of the defendants in the dock played their part in the killing of the five year old child, who would not have stood a chance against any one of the defendants, let alone three of them together.

The prosecutions say that having killed Logan behind closed doors in the family home in Bridge End, each of the defendants played their part in the cover up of the true circumstances of his death. Each was desperate to cover up their involvement in his killing and prioritize their own self preservation over everything else, and particularly over the needs of Logan. Over eight weeks a trial, all three of them were convicted of killing Logan and of perverting the course of justice. On June thirtieth two and twenty two.

John Cole received twenty nine years to life and Harrod Williamson was sentenced to twenty eight years to life, and Craig Mulligan, now fourteen years old, received fifteen years to life in a youth offenders institute and his anonymity restriction was lifted. At sentencing, the judge said, quote to see these injuries on a small, defenseless five year old as nothing short of horrifying. What happened to Logan must have involved appalling mental and physical suffering. It's impossible to imagine the terror of a five year old child as these injuries were inflicted on him in the presence of his own mother.

You had an opportunity to protect your son from any further injury, and you did nothing. Some have now called for the release of the documents explaining why Mulligan was placed in the custody of j Cole, to be released when Logan and his younger sibling had just been on the Child Protection Registry and had social workers assigned to them specifically because Cole was considered a potential threat. Not only that, but as the prosecutors said at trial, quote by the time Mulligan was taken from his mother, he was already a complex, troubled and violent boy who had reportedly stated on numerous occasions that he wanted to kill Logan Mwangi, whom he never referred to by name. One former politician stated that quote, the public have a right to know what family court judges had and why decisions were made.

The most important thing is that lessons are learned, and lessons can't be learned if information isn't available so it can be properly discussed. At the time of Logan's death, his father hadn't been allowed to speak to him for more than a year and a half. Regarding the magnitude of hiss, he said, quote, my dreams of Logan are so vivid. He runs into my arms and I hold him tight, but he then slowly disappears until he's no longer in my arms.

The past months have been hell for me. I shouldn't have to bury my son. My family has been a massive support for me. However, they are also grieving.

My father was already unwell, but as soon as he heard of Logan's death, he told me that he had given up and he was ready to go. My father's health quickly deteriorated, and he also passed away in December twenty twenty one. My social group has also been impacted to the point of collapse. Everyone knows of Logan's death, and I find that people are always looking at me but don't know how to treat me or what to say, so I'd rather not go out.

I can't see a future in another relationship or in having more children, because I don't want something like this to ever happen to me again. I've accepted that this is my life now. Logan was the sweetest and most beautiful boy whose life has been tragically cut short. The world is a colder and darker place without his warm smile and the happy energy with which he lived his life.

The whole that has been left in the hearts of all who knew him will never be filled. No amounts of time can heal the wounds that have been inflicted. The wonderful memories I have of my son will never be tarnished. They will forever be in my heart and soul.

I loved him so much, and somehow I have to live my life knowing that I will never get to see him grow up to be the wonderful man he would have been before I go. I just wanted to let you know that our friend of the show, Antonio is Free, has just published his first book. It's called More Than My Memoir and you can get it on Amazon dot com. I already got my copy, and I hope you guys do too.

As always, thanks for listening. I'll be bad back in a week with another new episode, so until then, lovelies, don't be scared.

Also In Season 5

Transcript

Just so you know, this show is built scary stuff. So don't say I didn't warn you. Guys, I remember, don't be scared. M Episode one thirty three, Little Boy Lost War Baby.

Here with another episode of Murderous Miners. Hey, Leveley's summer break is over and we're back. So let's start with a quick update on episode sixty one, Ethan's Laws. I told you about fourteen year old Damien Hoshels of Wisconsin, who was accused of murdering his seven year old cousin, Ethan Hoscholtz in April two thousand and eighteen.

In February two thousand and nineteen, the teen was charged with first degree reckless homicide, three counts of child abuse, and three counts of substantial battery. Ethan had been home with his older cousin, Damien, who now stands accused of subjecting the boy to hours of physically torturous punishment and abuse that ultimately led to his death, all allegedly at the direction of Damien's father. Ethan's great uncle, Timothy D. Me And is the son of thirty eight year old Tina McKiever Haschultz and fifty year old Timothy Hoschultz, who were seven year old Ethan's court appointed guardians and prosecutors, alleged that they played a part in the boy's ultimate death, even though they weren't home at the time.

Tina mckever Hoscholtz has already been found guilty of felony failure to prevent mental harm to a child and felony child abuse, receiving five years in prison. On March twelfth, two thousand and twenty one, Timothy Hoscholtz was arrested and charged with felony murder, child abuse, battery, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor causing death. In late June two thousand and twenty one, a then seventeen year old Damien Hoscholtz pulled guilty to first degree reckless homicide and had his six remaining charges dropped. In September two thousand and twenty one, he received twenty years in prison for Athen's murder, followed by ten years of extended supervision and an order of no contact with miners or with any of Ethan's siblings.

The team has since appealed, making him unavailable to testify in his father Timothy's trial, which has now been postponed at least until the son's appeal has been resolved. The man had been set to go to trial starting on December sixth, two thousand and twenty one, but his son would have had to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself, as his testimony could go on to be used against him in his own appeals proceedings. After being in custody for more than three years, his bail was reduced, and reports indicate that his bond was posted on May twenty six, two thousand and twenty two, when he was released with an angle monitor. Pre trial motions continue in his case, which will likely resume in full force when Damian's appeal has been resolved.

This week, on Murderous Miners, we're back in Wales's UK and looking at a recent case that brought to my mind, that of Ethan Hoscholtz's the murder of five year old Logan Mwangy in late July two thousand and twenty one. Reports indicate that Logan's was a brutal, violent death inflicted by abuse, so please be advised. As in Ethan's case, some of logan Mwangi's convicted killers are also related to him, but this time it was the boy's very own mother and Harrod Williamson. I drew parallels in my mind because the adults in each case tried to deflect personal responsibility and shift blame solely on to their juvenile code defendants.

In this case, Craig Mulligan. Reports refer to him as Logan's quote step brother, although the third killer, forty year old John J. Cole, was not Mulligan's father but his mother's former boyfriend, while Logan was the son of Cole's current partner, thirty two year old and Harrod Williamson. Extensive in depth report by Whales Online and the BBC, plus the ITV documentary The Murder of Logan Mwangi made this episode possible.

Let's start way back in October two thousand and seven when Craig Mulligan was born in Coventry, England. When he was five, his biological father was killed in a car accident, but by then his biological mother was already in a relationship with John Cole. During their relationship, Cole's rap sheet expanded to include convictions for crimes such as common assault, resisting or obstructing a constable, burglary, theft, handling stolen goods, going equipped for theft, possession of a bladed article, criminal damage, possession of cannabis, resisting a police officer, intimidation of a witness, battery, blackmail and perverting the course of justice. In two thousand and nineteen, after being with Craig Mulligan's mother for more than ten years, Cole met a woman at a pub who was a decade younger than him named ang Herod Williamson and began a relationship with her.

According to Wales Online, Logan's mother was born in London and went to private school as the daughter of two stockbrokers. Following her graduation, she enrolled in film school, but ran afoul with the law after taking her mother's car and also using her credit cards without her permission. One day after turning twenty five, she gave birth to her only child, Logan, in March two thousand and sixteen, a child she'd had with a man named Ben Muwanghi. He later recalled being the first person to hold Logan.

The couple didn't stay together, and he explained later that quote she blocked my number for the past pretty much five years. I've been struggling to try and fight just to see Logan. She made my life an absolute misery. All I've wanted to do, you know, just be a dad.

Williamson went on to marry a soldier who was stationed nearby, though they divorced soon after. She and Logan moved back in with her mother in Bridge End, South Wales, and the two women worked together to raise him up, while Ben Mwanghi, who lived almost four hours away in Essex, England, was only allowed to see his son a couple of times throughout his entire life. In January two thousand and nineteen, Williamson secured public housing and moved into her own two bedroom apartment in Bridge End, and a few months later in April j Cole came to stay. Williamson had non epileptic seizure disorder that began in pregnancy that by then had made it unsafe for her to work, so she collected disability.

Her mother called her her best friend, but also referred to her as a melodramatic person, while teachers at Logan school called her quote overemotional, over familiar, overprotective, and generally volatile. Logan however, was remembered as a quote happy, jolly little kid and a quote loving, kind, polite little boy who was quote good, behaved and listened. It was following a visit to Logan's father in Essex in the spring of two thousand and nineteen that tensions began to rise, according to Williamson, who said that when they returned home, Cole was cold to her and assumed she'd been inappropriate with her ex boyfriend. She said later that quote, he was very cold to me.

I felt like I was being interrogated a lot. Williamson went on to describe Cole repeatedly questioning little Logan about the events of the visit, claiming that he would ask the boy if his parents had been kissing. Later, she would say she was aware that her son was being quote picked on by her boyfriend and admitted she did nothing about it. Meanwhile, Cole continued to be a part of Craig Mulligan's life even after he left the boy's mother for Williamson in two thousand and nineteen.

In August two thousand and twenty, almost a year before Mulligan came to live with them, he reportedly pushed Logan down a flight of stairs, resulting in the toddler fracturing his arm, an incident that Williamson claimed not to know the truth about for several months. Instead of taking her son to receive medical treatment, she reportedly told police later that quote, I decided I could pop Logan's arm back in place. I took a firm hold of Logan's arm, pulled it straight, and twisted it back. I put it back in place and heard a click.

Logan was in pain when it clicked back in place, but it felt better and he stopped crying. At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing by putting his arm back in place, but I now realized it was a mistake. She changed her story, however, a few months later, in January two thousand and twenty one, now telling police over the phone that it had actually been a push by a then twelve year old Craig Mulligan that had broken her son's arm back in August, not an accidental fall. Mulligan had been living with his mother up until then, but by January two thousand and twenty one, he'd been placed in the care of the Bridge and County Borough Council, reportedly because his mother attacked and assaulted him.

She was consequently involuntarily committed under the Mental Health Act. Other reports revealed that she allegedly faked a cancer diagnosis, and as a result of these incidents, Mulligan was removed from her care. By then, the thirteen year old, who had obtained the level of green Belt and the martial art of muy Thai, was reportedly referred to as quote manipulative and as quote having a desire for violence. He was known to use a baby voice if he got into trouble, and he had a history of attacking other students without cause.

While in foster care, he was said to have constantly talked about his favorite movie series, The Purge, and even told his foster family that he was going to kill them all when the new installment in the film franchise was released. They said he was known to assault little kids in the neighborhood and had even abused their dog by spring deodorant in his eyes and by handling him by his hind legs. The daughter of the foster parents reported that Mulligan had tried to get her little cousins to play quote a murder game in the woods, telling them that he was going to put them into black trash bags, which would eventually be how Logan Muwangi was found. She claimed to have reported such incidents to Mulligan's social worker, but said that the woman quote brushed it off as if it was nothing.

The social workers said that during her banter with Mulligan, he tended to use foul language and would even tell her to f off, though she considered this behavior to be conversational and a result of their friendly relationship. She did, however, end up a meeting that at times the team went quote too far. Though Logan's murder took place only a handful of days after Mulligan joined the family, the little boy's abuse and his quote stepbrother's participation in it had been going on for years. At the time of Logan's murder, Mulligan was only referring to him as quote the five year old, and said repeatedly in the weeks leading up to it that he wanted to kill the little boy.

As far as Logan's abuse is concerned, it speculated that Cole's dislike of his girlfriend's child was racial in nature, as the boy's father is black and Cole is reportedly quote very racist to Asian or Black people, or any people who are different. The man fixated on Logan's stutter and gave him the humiliating nickname of Coco Pop due to his skin tone. Cole is also reportedly a former member of the National Front, a far right fascist political organization in the United Kingdom. The prosecutor would later state that quote Cole didn't like Logan, treated him unkindly and viewed him differently because he held quote longstanding racist beliefs.

The couple's friends, relatives, and others also bore witness to the continual abuse of Logan Mwangi, with a friend of Williamson's testifying that Cole had once told her flat out that he didn't like the boy, but that quote he would always love Ang Harriet even if he didn't love Logan. Another friend recounted seeing Logan being punished at the age of three in two thousand and nineteen. Over time, the friend recalled, Logan had become quote withdrawn, lost visible weight. At the time, his complexion was quite pale, his demeanor was very down and quiet.

He was becoming more withdrawn because he was being punished all the time. Staff at his school even noticed a change both in Logan's demeanor and in his physical appearance, as he'd been quote losing weight and having dark circles around his eyes. His stutter was worsening two, and he had bathroom accidents, after which he requested that his soiled clothes be thrown away at school. These incidents occurred before Logan was pushed down the stairs and fractured his humorous and in the months that followed, neighbors continued to be subjected to all manner of loud outbursts from the home.

There were reports of shouting that neighbors soon came to realize was Logan being yelled at by Cole and Williamson, whose tone was often described as quote aggressive and nasty. In March two thousand and twenty one, four months before Logan was murdered, he was put on the child protection register because people were worried about how Cole and Mulligan were treating him, and a social worker was supposed to show up every week and a half to check on the boy. Logan. Social workers said that his mother seemed to quote a door and only want the best for her s.

Cole, she said, though, was intimidating at first, but over time the relationship got better, he was busy trying to get custody of Mulligan right at this time, as the teen had already been in foster care for a few months. Also in June two thousand and twenty one, Logan was moved from the child Protection register and put on a Child in Kneed plan instead, indicating that he was no longer at immediate risk, but that he continued to need intervention to aid in his development. Cole was granted custody of Craig Mulligan the following month, with the man claiming that he was not forewarned that the teen had been saying that he wanted to kill Logan or that he'd had issues with his foster family. Mulligan moved into Williamson's home permanently on July twenty sixth, the two thousand and twenty one and five year old Logan was last seen alive by someone outside the family the following day.

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You'll even get five dollars worth of in game rewards when you reach level five. That's friends without the art. Best Fiends. Trouble began brewing a few days later when a neighbor reported seeing Mulligan trying to keep a crying Williamson from leaving the property on July twenty ninth, two thousand and twenty one.

The neighbor recalled her being quote hysterical and telling Mulligan that he was making a scene. The teen appeared quote desperate to get his new stepmother back inside of their house. Williamson later explained that she was attempting to flee because Cole and Mulligan were violently abusing her son with punches to the stomach and by sweeping his legs and knocking him to the floor. The following afternoon, on July thirtieth, two thousand and twenty one, Mulligan's social worker stopped by, at which time the teen informed her that she could f off.

Cole and Williamson kept her from entering the house because Logan was quarantined, but she did speak to them for roughly twenty minutes. In regards to the rest of that day, Cole later admitted to quote clipping Logan on the back of his head with his hand that night over an argument about a bath, and said that Williamson had grabbed her son by the collar of his pajama shirt and yelled in his face. Security camera footage from a residence behind their home indicates that several hours later, at two forty three am, j Cole carried the lifeless, dangling body of five year old Logan Mwangi away from the home inside a black trash bag. The light was on in Logan's bedroom and the security camera also showed the curtain being opened one minute after Cole and Mulligan carried Logan's body away into the night.

Their street faces a large open green field divided by some woods that line the trail of the river Ogmore, encompassed by Panty Park, which residents can easily access. In the footage, a figure that is alleged to be thirteen year old Craig Mulligan is seen by Cole's side, their images back lit by the outdoor security lighting. They walked along the river and discarded Logan's body in it, close to the train bridge and near to a sore pipe. The video shows the pair arriving back at the house at two fifty one am, before they're recorded leaving for a second time at three sixteen AM to toss Logan's ripped pajama top into the woods.

They returned home for the final time at three twenty seven AM, and Logan's bedroom lights switched off for the rest of the night at three thirty one. Not too long after, at a round to five am, a neighbor distinctly heard quote bickering and a hysterical woman yelling Logan's name, Amon saying quote, what have you done with my son? Where is my son? The back door is wide open?

About forty five minutes later, at five forty six am on July thirty first, two thousand and twenty one, and Harrod Williamson called police to report that her five year old son, Logan was missing, referencing Mulligan's mother several times, seemingly trying to implicate her in a retaliation kidnapping. Ah you funny and not make a breath? When did you? I don't think it just got lost.

Join Logan. Make a breath. He's fine and he's gone. Can you see it?

He Nogan? Do you to speak to me? Not to shout? He no, it's really full on and it's really what's his name?

Is his name? Logan? Logan? He's fine?

Did he say? Oh? Please say I mean what he looks like? Please given a little meek t ways boys, just police finding the job is on sho okay, is anybody else there with any other adults in the house?

Are any of the doors or windows? Open doors? Windows? What's a poem?

I told where you what takes? And I know that it's fine, right, fine, free so I can get the information I need. My black gate is on my back gas black. Where does the back gate lead at the I don't know what the road is called?

That's fine, leave the road. Does a post for fields or anything like that? Okay, I'll walk. I'm rolling up it now it is.

Don't cree. What's your name? What's him? Now?

What's your name? Your name is Image? I really need you to just take the breath for a second, okay, a hyperventilate. I know that it's very, very scary.

I need what to say in the house. So who's run out after Logan? No? Your partner house?

Okay, So dad's gone out looking? Yeah, what's dad's name? John Cole? He stepp Dad, But virtually police began their search by five fifty five am, and when they arrived, Cole and Mulligan were out searching the tree line and could be heard on security cameras searching and calling out Logan's name.

The officer who located Logan's body said quote, Logan was laying on his right side in an open fetal position. He was submerged under the water. I could see he had an injury to the left side of his face. His eyes were open, his body was stiff, his lips were blue.

Immediately the opinion Logan was deceased. He was transported to the Princess of Wales Hospital and Bridge End, where he was pronounced dead at seven fifteen am. Logan had a laceration on his forehead along with fifty five other identifiable injuries, and there was nothing to indicate that the five year old had drowned. Instead, there was evidence of blunt force trauma and quote a forceful assault made up of a blow or blows, a kick or kicks, or impact or impacts with a weapon.

His injuries were described as catastrophic and included a torn vowel, a lacerated liver, and damage to his small intestine. The pathologists revealed that Logan had widespread contusions to his scalp and head, bleeding inside the skull, and extensive brain trauma, some of which likely came from previous episodes of abuse. The child's collar bone was in the process of improperly healing from a previous fracture. Logan's injuries were so catastrophic that doctors likened to them to quote a fall from a great height or a high speed car crash, and his cause of death was listed as blunt forced abdominal injury, cerebral injury, and traumatic brain injury.

Bodycams worn by the officers captured a distraught and hysterical and herod Williamson, and Cole reported that she'd suffered at least one seizure early on in the day. Investigators who interacted with the trio once Logan went missing had rather interesting observations about the behavior of Mulligan, Williamson, and Cole, who were all dealing with the situation quite differently. One officer said about Williamson that quote, although she did seem to be wailing a lot, making noises of crying or sobbing, there were very little or no tears during the time I was with her. She told police after Logan's body was found that she had quote failed to keep her son safe and therefore should be arrested.

The following day, she told her mother the same thing, and her prophecy would soon be realized. A friend of Cole's later described receiving a phone call from the man on August first, two thousand and twenty one, which he thought was about Logan, where Cole said, quote, I brought him up since he was a baby. What was I supposed to do? But in reality he was talking about Craig Mulligan.

It was the discovery of the neighbor's CCTV footage that helped investigators push back against the trio's accounts of that night, as Coal can be seen carrying what is believed to be Logan's body to the river in a black bag, accompanied by the stepson who wanted the little boy dead. Plus there was the fact that Logan had not drowned, and at six twenty pm on August first, two thousand and twenty one, Mulligan, Cole, and Williamson were arrested at their home. Trona was a tomb for them, and I still on your phone. He's down right, so I visit Dumberlain.

Okay, okay, right? Do you want need to ask a suspicion of me? Okay, you don't have to say anything, but may how many defense if you do not mention one question? Something anything you do say may be given an evidence.

I guess Okay, it's just part of the best. So I haven't anything wrong. Okay, where is Logan? Where is he still?

He's still with us? Some more, he's still he's still in the hospital the d What happened to him? I can't explain anything further at the moment. Why is nobody talking to me?

It's supposed to be helping find out what happened, not risking me when I'm telling him what it's funny? What is your phone with you? Guys helping me? Had I understand you're upset?

I understand dead. Okay, I'm Hannah. We understand you very upset. We've got invested, we got I'm just Cole asked police.

So am I solely being charged with murder? Just me? While Mulligan was combative and cursed the arresting officers as he was taken into custody. At a different point, he told an employee that quote, I ain't letting my dad take the blame.

No way. I might just plead guilty next week. My solicitor knows all about my mental state, and I forget stuff. Mulligan said that he had nothing to do with Logan's death, and that he'd only gone out with coal that night because he thought the man was illicitly getting rid of bags full of fly addled garbage.

In his second interview, he said that Williamson had been awake all night and acting erratically, and that she kept him out of Logan's room when he'd tried to enter. He explained that he hadn't mentioned this before because quote, I thought it was a dream. I was trying to see because I heard her say he's dead, and I wanted to see if he was okay, and he wasn't. Mulligan was adamant that Williamson was saying whatever she could come up with to get herself at a jail.

Cole told police that the jail that quote, the thing is, I didn't kill Logan. I heard Craig reciting a rap song saying I like kids, I want to punch and kick them. I've got a moral dilemma. Do I go down for murder or protect my son.

When further interrogated, he claimed that he woke up to Williamson's screaming that Logan was dead, going on to describe the cause as quote a freak accident. He went on to say that quote. He was lying on his back with his head to the side in a weird position, and Harod was frantic and hyperventilating. I was desperate to save him.

Eventually I stopped and she said, he's dead. He's dead. There's nothing I could do. And Harod said she heard him take his last breath.

I didn't hit him in the tummy and didn't see ang Harod hit him in the stomach. He had been jumping around all day and it had been a cult day. I carried him to the river. There's a little steep kind of drop.

I put him on the edge. I put him there, and then I went back up and Harrod, when I went back up, handed me the dinosaur top. She said, we have to get rid of this. I went out and threw it in the bushes.

I didn't really hang about. I was panicking. When she was interviewed for the first time the day after her arrest, Williamson had just learned that there was security camera footage from her neighbor's house that had captured video of her boyfriend and his stepson taking her son's dead body to the river, prompting her to tell police that quote, I feel conned, so conned. I wish I had never met him.

They've ruined my life. I don't want him anywhere near me again. She maintained that she had slept through the night. Over her first four interviews, Williamson claimed that she had no idea that her son had been so badly injured, but during her fifth interview, she claimed that her boyfriend had quote punched him in the stomach.

He hit him a couple of times in the stomach because he wouldn't talk, and he said, quothe, the only way this boy understands is pain. He called Craig over and said, if he flinches one more time while I'm talking to him, have him and said sweep and punch, explaining that they had these skills from their martial arts background. She told police that she'd been asleep that night, but they already knew that she'd been awake because of Logan's bedroom light turning off in his curtain being closed in the security video while she was the only one in the home. The revelation was also made that had Logan received medical attention, he was likely to have survived, and probably did survive his injuries for up to seven hours prior to his death.

Logan's father wonders why more wasn't done to make sure that his only child lived in a safe environment. Six months after their arrests, the trio went to trial at Cardiff Crown Court, with Mulligan's identities still anonymous. Each were charged with murder and with perverting the course of justice, which Coal pled guilty to before their trial began. Prosecutors opened by saying, in part quote, it is the prosecutions case that Logan was murdered and each of the defendants in the dock played their part in the killing of the five year old child, who would not have stood a chance against any one of the defendants, let alone three of them together.

The prosecutions say that having killed Logan behind closed doors in the family home in Bridge End, each of the defendants played their part in the cover up of the true circumstances of his death. Each was desperate to cover up their involvement in his killing and prioritize their own self preservation over everything else, and particularly over the needs of Logan. Over eight weeks a trial, all three of them were convicted of killing Logan and of perverting the course of justice. On June thirtieth two and twenty two.

John Cole received twenty nine years to life and Harrod Williamson was sentenced to twenty eight years to life, and Craig Mulligan, now fourteen years old, received fifteen years to life in a youth offenders institute and his anonymity restriction was lifted. At sentencing, the judge said, quote to see these injuries on a small, defenseless five year old as nothing short of horrifying. What happened to Logan must have involved appalling mental and physical suffering. It's impossible to imagine the terror of a five year old child as these injuries were inflicted on him in the presence of his own mother.

You had an opportunity to protect your son from any further injury, and you did nothing. Some have now called for the release of the documents explaining why Mulligan was placed in the custody of j Cole, to be released when Logan and his younger sibling had just been on the Child Protection Registry and had social workers assigned to them specifically because Cole was considered a potential threat. Not only that, but as the prosecutors said at trial, quote by the time Mulligan was taken from his mother, he was already a complex, troubled and violent boy who had reportedly stated on numerous occasions that he wanted to kill Logan Mwangi, whom he never referred to by name. One former politician stated that quote, the public have a right to know what family court judges had and why decisions were made.

The most important thing is that lessons are learned, and lessons can't be learned if information isn't available so it can be properly discussed. At the time of Logan's death, his father hadn't been allowed to speak to him for more than a year and a half. Regarding the magnitude of hiss, he said, quote, my dreams of Logan are so vivid. He runs into my arms and I hold him tight, but he then slowly disappears until he's no longer in my arms.

The past months have been hell for me. I shouldn't have to bury my son. My family has been a massive support for me. However, they are also grieving.

My father was already unwell, but as soon as he heard of Logan's death, he told me that he had given up and he was ready to go. My father's health quickly deteriorated, and he also passed away in December twenty twenty one. My social group has also been impacted to the point of collapse. Everyone knows of Logan's death, and I find that people are always looking at me but don't know how to treat me or what to say, so I'd rather not go out.

I can't see a future in another relationship or in having more children, because I don't want something like this to ever happen to me again. I've accepted that this is my life now. Logan was the sweetest and most beautiful boy whose life has been tragically cut short. The world is a colder and darker place without his warm smile and the happy energy with which he lived his life.

The whole that has been left in the hearts of all who knew him will never be filled. No amounts of time can heal the wounds that have been inflicted. The wonderful memories I have of my son will never be tarnished. They will forever be in my heart and soul.

I loved him so much, and somehow I have to live my life knowing that I will never get to see him grow up to be the wonderful man he would have been before I go. I just wanted to let you know that our friend of the show, Antonio is Free, has just published his first book. It's called More Than My Memoir and you can get it on Amazon dot com. I already got my copy, and I hope you guys do too.

As always, thanks for listening. I'll be bad back in a week with another new episode, so until then, lovelies, don't be scared.