The boy told a CPS worker that his parents made him perform physical labor with little food or water, forced him to sleep on the floor and tasked his sister with keeping watch over him so he didn't misbehave, according to the criminal complaint charging Marthaler.
The boy cried as he told the social worker that his parents wouldn't feed him breakfast if he didn't finish his chores by a certain time. He would have to do chores such as cutting the lawn by hand, weeding the lawn, and cutting firewood, according to the complaint. He said he would sometimes be given water if he worked very hard.
He also was responsible for feeding livestock, cleaning the bathroom every day and sweeping the house, according to the complaint.
If the boy did something like bending his knees while he was weeding the lawn, Gabriel Gutenberger, his father, would hit him with a belt, according to the complaint. The boy's parents would also punish him by making him run laps around the driveway or withholding food and water.
The boy also told the social worker that he had to sleep on the floor of a guest bedroom. His parents put a camera and alarm in the room so they would know if he tried to leave. His sister slept in the same room so she could watch him as well because he was caught sneaking food in the past, the complaint says.
The boy also told authorities that he was not allowed to eat meals with the rest of the family and not allowed to talk to other family members except to thank them or tell them he finished his chores.
After the social worker visit, a foster parent took the boy to the doctor the next day for a checkup. The doctor said the boy was underweight, malnourished and "his blood levels were all off," according to the complaint. He had difficulty eating food at the foster home and was diagnosed with refeeding syndrome, meaning his body could not handle eating normal amounts of food due to his history of malnutrition at his parents' house. He had to be hospitalized.
The boy's sister did not want to talk with the social worker at first because she was scared she would be punished, according to the complaint.
A few days later, she told authorities that she and the other children in the house had to monitor her brother all the time and tell their parents if he misbehaved. She had to sleep in the guest bedroom with her brother and cook meals for the two of them, which they then had to eat by themselves in the guest room, the complaint states.
The boy told authorities that his sister would get similar punishments as him, but the other children at the house did not. In addition to Marthaler, three other children lived at the house, too. The criminal complaint does not mention any abuse against them, and doctors said they were in good health.
The girl was also placed in foster care and had similar health problems as her brother, though not as severe. Doctors found her physical development was three to four years behind what it should have been, according to the complaint.
The boy was able to get help for him and his sister by dropping a note into his aunt's purse during church. In the note, he told his aunt about how his parents didn't feed him or give him bathroom breaks and how he is monitored with a camera and alarms. He told authorities that he had to pretend he was writing a Father's Day card because his sister was watching him.
He said he wrote the note for help because "I didn't know if I could make it anymore," according to the complaint.
When CPS workers and police officers came to the Gutenbergers' house in June to talk to the boy and girl outside, Marthaler called his mother, Lisa Gutenberger, who told him and the other children to hide the cameras and alarms from the guest bedroom in the basement, where Shawano County sheriff's deputies later found them, according to the complaint.
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