The parents of an Edgecombe County boy who died after being tied to a tree and forced to sleep outside are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Monday.
MACCLESFIELD, N.C. -- The life of Tyler Gene McMillan, a 13-year-old boy who died after being tied to a tree and forced to sleep outside, was remembered in two very different settings Monday.
While deputies marched the boy’s parents into the Edgecombe County Courthouse for their first court appearance in his murder, other family and friends gathered to remember Tyler and say goodbye to him.
Brice McMillan, 41, and Sandra McMillan, 36, face charges of first-degree murder and felony child abuse. Deputies said Brice McMillan admitted to them that he chained his son to a tree two nights in a row as punishment for misbehaving.
Brice and Sandra McMillan brought separate attorneys to Monday’s preceding, which was a formal reading of the charges against them. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for July 2, and the couple is being held in the Edgecombe County Detention Center without bond.
Brice and Sandra McMillan
Sandra McMillan, Tyler’s stepmother, was quiet in the courtroom and kept her head down. Brice McMillan, the boy’s father, appeared close to tears, especially when the judge read the charges.
"[It is] alleged that on that date you did intentionally commit an assault, resulting in serious bodily injury, bruising to the wrist, cuts to the entire body, missing flesh from the buttocks, the result from being tied to a tree for approximately 18 hours, resulting in the death of Tyler Gene McMillan,” Edgecombe County District Court Judge Joseph Harper said.
Authorities said Sandra McMillan discovered Tyler limp and unresponsive outside their home Thursday afternoon. She called paramedics for help but the boy was already in cardiac arrest by the time help arrived. He was taken to Heritage Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
When deputies arrived on the scene, Brice McMillan told them he tied his son to a tree outside their home Tuesday night at 1110 Felton Farm Road in Macclesfield when other disciplinary measures failed. He forced him to sleep there overnight and allowed him back in the house Wednesday morning.
McMillan said Tyler continued to misbehave, so he again tied him to the tree on Wednesday night. Tyler stayed tied to that tree through the rising daytime heat until his stepmother found him there and called for help at 4:30 p.m. the next day.
Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said Brice McMillan used plastic ties to keep Tyler attached to the tree.
They are now waiting on the autopsy results to come back.
Meanwhile, neighbors expressed shock over what happened.
"That is not how you discipline your children, by tying them to a tree. In my opinion that's cruel and inhumane to do that to a child,” neighbor Carolyn Pollard said.
If convicted, the McMillans could face life in prison or the death penalty.
Family and friends gathered at the Greenville church where Tyler grew up Monday morning to bury him and bid farewell to a boy they said loved to play outdoors with his cousins and had many hobbies.
He will be buried next to his mother in the family cemetery. She died of cancer a few years ago.
Tyler's family has asked that instead of flowers, donations can be sent to an educational fund set up for Tyler's younger brother, Ryan:
P.O. Box 2483
Winterville, N.C. 28590
Two other children who lived in the McMillan household, ages 7 and 9, were taken into custody by the Department of Social Services.