Stephanie Duncan, 43, and Robert Duncan, 44, are facing multiple counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and tampering or fabricating evidence while conspiring with one another to commit the crimes.
According to the criminal complaint, the couple's adopted 11-year-old son was rushed to Hershey Medical Care on Jan. 13, requiring immediate medical care after being unresponsive and hypothermic.
An examination of the victim's body revealed bruises on his neck, shoulders, back, abdomen, hip, and genitals.
Through the course of his care, medical staff determined that the victim's injuries were not accidental and only to prolonged exposure to the extreme cold could cause the significant hypothermia he suffered from.
When medical staff spoke to Stephanie Duncan, she told them the victim had gone to bed with a headache the night before, but had no explanation for his weakened state or the issues found within his blood, including an abnormally low pressure and low potassium levels.
Lebanon County Detective Bureau began an investigation and responded to the Duncan residence on the evening of Jan. 13.
Detectives learned that the Duncan's had adopted five children, ranging in age from 6 to 15-years-old, including the hospitalized victim, and they all resided in that home.
According to the criminal complaint, the three oldest children had separate bedrooms in the family's basement, including the victim in the hospital.
The 11-year-old child's room contained a bare, concrete floor and a mattress with bedding. Detectives say that a space heater ran in the middle of the room and directly faced the mattress. They also noted the room had a strong odor of bleach.
A video camera was seen in the middle of the victim's room, and Stephanie Duncan told law enforcement that the cameras were used to livestream the child in the daytime hours. Further investigation found that the couple had video cameras installed in all of their children's bedrooms to monitor their behaviors.
When detectives asked her why her child was hospitalized that morning, Stephanie Duncan had no explanation.
According to the criminal complaint, Stephanie Duncan told investigators she had found the victim unresponsive in the bedroom on Jan. 13.
The victim was unable to walk or speak, and Stephanie Duncan allegedly smacked him, grabbed him by the neck, and drug him upstairs to the bathroom.
The victim was forced into the shower where he was unable to stand.
Stephanie Duncan forced the victim, but he vomited anything he consumed, and a thermometer reading produced a temperature of 'low.'
The criminal complaint states that it took Duncan hours to seek medical attention for the victim after his condition did not improve.
On Jan. 15, Lebanon County's Children and Youth Agency initiated an emergency petition to take custody of the Duncan's children, and after obtaining a court order, they removed the children from the home that day.
The affidavit states that over a period of 10 days, forensic interviews from the Children's Resource Center interviewed all of the children, including the hospitalized victim.
Investigators say that the victims described a caste system within the family, with the Duncan's inflicted the most abuse upon the hospitalized victim. After that, the next targets were typically the two other oldest victims, who are among the only three victims that were forced to sleep in the basement.
The victims told investigators that each of the youngest children have received the least amount of abuse, but each had been physically struck by their adoptive parents.
According to the criminal complaint, each child provided statements during their interviews that depicted graphic punishments, including watching the Duncan's physically attack one of the siblings in front of another.
Prior to the 11-year-old's victim hospitalization, he was kept lock in his bedroom and went for days without water.
The affidavit states that the victim was caught "stealing" water from the sink, and Robert Duncan choked the victim to the point where he fell over and gasped for airs multiple times.
After further investigation, detectives said that the bedroom they had found for the victim with the bedding and space heater had been staged by the Duncan's, and he slept nighty on a concrete floor in a diaper after he was denied clothes.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim was rarely allowed to exit his room to use the bathroom, so he was forced to use to relieve himself in the bedroom, and Stephanie Duncan allegedly made the victim use bleach to clean it.
As the floor drive, the victim was allegedly forced to run in place and if he complained about the bleach, it was dumped on his head.
The children told investigators that the room was kept locked with a hook and eye lock to prevent anyone from freeing the victim. That, too, was removed before investigators arrived.
The criminal complaint states that every evening, the Duncan's forced children to remove all the light bulbs from the oldest three victims' bedrooms, leaving them in complete darkness.
A forensic review of Stephanie Duncan's cell phone showed pictures of the hospitalized victim at nighttime, depicting the victim laying facedown on the concrete floor in only a diaper. That photo was dated only a week before his hospitalization.
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