Texas couple ‘waterboarded a mentally disabled boy and bound his genitals’

Howell’s boyfriend, 45-year-old Casey Shackelford, was also sought by police in connection with the horrifying and weird incident.

According to the affidavit for the arrest warrant obtained by WFAA, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jimmy Weisbruch was called to observe a forensic interview with the victim at the Kaufman County Children’s Advocacy Center on February 8.

The victim said Shackleford grabbed him by the hair, pinned him down on the ground, and told Howell to get cold water and pour it on the victim’s face while he held a towel over his head and face, a torture technique known as waterboarding, according to the affidavit.

The report says the pair hurt the boy because he had inappropriately touched a dog’s rear end, which the child admitted to because he said he “wanted to do the right thing”.

Howell said Shackleford “came up with the idea and told her to do it”, states the affidavit.

The mentally disabled, 13-year-old victim told investigators that the brutal measures were carried out as a cruel form of punishment, according to the Dallas Morning News.

It was unclear whether Howell or Shackleford had retained an attorney. She then shoved him backward, which caused the rope to pull even more tightly on his anatomy.

Shackleford reportedly then told Howell to tie a rope around the boy’s genitals, which she did.

The boy said he was tied up for approximately five to ten minutes, authorities said.

Howell has been charged with injury to a child, a second degree felony.

Cops say there’s photographic evidence of rope burns on the neck, chest and private area of the boy.

Shackleford’s bond has not yet been set, according to jail records. He said he was struck 20 to 30 times on the back, buttocks and elbows.