A couple in North Carolina was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of murdering their four-year-old son.
Joseph Wilson, 41, and Jodi Wilson, 38, were charged with the murder of four-year-old Skyler Wilson, whom they adopted in 2021, according to their arrest warrants.
The warrants allege that on January 5, Jodi texted Joseph about a problem with Skyler’s swaddling. She also sent her husband a picture of the four-year-old swaddled in a cloth duct-taped to the floor with his face down. Later that evening, they called 911 and reported that Skyler was having a seizure.
Skyler died four days later, on Monday, January 9.
On January 11, investigators spoke to the former foster parent of Skyler and his brother Vance. She told them that Jodi had confided in her that she was swaddling, pouching, and restricting food for the boys and that Vance refused to walk by himself. She also told officers that Jodi locked up Skyler in a room for an excessive amount of time and that both children received exorcisms.
There were no details about the alleged exorcisms on the warrant.
Concerned for the children’s welfare, on December 7, the former foster parent reported the abuse to the Social Services Department in Surry County and was instructed to file a complaint against Jodi and Joseph, which she did on the same day.
The children, Skyler and Vance, started living with the Wilsons in September 2021, with the couple having fostered three other children before taking on the two new kids.
The warrant states that Jodi was using parental techniques taught by Nancy Thomas, a self-proclaimed professional in therapeutic parenting.
The Social Services Department contacted the county sheriff’s office on January 6 while Skyler was still in the hospital. An officer spoke to a doctor at the hospital who told him that the four-year-old had sustained a hypoxic brain injury, which is brought about by the brain not getting enough oxygen.
The doctor told the investigator that Skyler’s brain injuries were consistent with excessive restriction brought about by the swaddling technique.
Swaddling provides babies with comfort and helps them sleep by wrapping a cloth or blanket around their bodies. One of the dangers of swaddling is the increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome, especially in infants too young to roll over on their own.
During a search at the home, officers found wrist and ankle support braces in the basement, which Joseph told officers were used to restrain the boy during swaddling. They also found the camera Jodi allegedly took down and removed the SD card from during the January 5 incident with Skyler.
Police confiscated several items during a second search of their home, including cameras with SD cards, another SD from Wii, a Hitachi laptop, USB drives, three surveillance cameras, and books, among other things.
Police arrested Jodi and Joseph Wilson on January 13 and charged them with Skyler’s murder. Their four other children, including three biological and one adoptive child, were placed in the custody of social services.
Nancy Thomas’s website attaches a disclaimer that she is not a doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist but a mom who has researched and studied challenging children for years and found solutions on how to parent them.