We've been adding this to um his apple juice. His bathroom issues got to the point where we had to give him an enema. Tuesday, November 17th, 2020, Harvard, Illinois. Police are notified by DCFS that a young child had been taken to Mercy Hospital in Walworth, Wisconsin, and had been found to be severely malnourished. The situation was extremely sensitive, and authorities needed to act quickly to determine the cause of the child's condition. They had planned to visit the family's home, but never imagined what they would find there. I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime. About a child operating malnourish. Okay. Over overnight. Basically, what happened was they had to transfer him um to the children's hospital in Milwaukee. Okay. And we got updates that his reports are so bad like starving. His child is starving. Okay. To death. um that to a point where the doctor they gave him a little bit of sugar and his reaction was such that if they tried to do it at home he would have died. So apparently there are two other children in the home um and another concern with mom the child's third and um we're afraid that that might be a little Yeah. So, I just thought instead of coming here by myself because the chief is so severe, okay, I was like, I think I need another pair of eyes just to, you know, see what's what's going on because for a child to be 6 years old and that that ill, they couldn't even report a doctor for him. A DCFS agent spoke with an officer about what had happened and how they could proceed. They needed to inspect the home and understand how a child could end up in such a critical state. There were also two other children living in the home, but they needed to proceed carefully and speak to the child's father to gather as much information as possible. Hi. Uh, can Mr. Woodner? This is him. Hi, my name is Rabia. I'm from DCFS here out of Woodstock. We wanted to talk to you in regards to a report that came in regarding your son. Okay. And um, you have two other children. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. So, I would need to see your other children and the home. Okay. They're both sleeping currently. They're both sleeping. Yes. So, if you can wake them up, that would be great. Okay. My oldest son, Dylan, he has severe autism. Okay. He's nonverbal. Sure. He's not going to respond to anything you say. No problem. I just need to put my eyes on him. That's fine. I'm in the house. Sure. Can I ask why this is happening? So, yes, more than happy to tell you. I think your your son is in Milwaukee right now. So based on his condition because the condition is so severe they basically hospitals have to make a call to DCFS. I mean he's at a point where um there was a doctor that was not being able like you guys weren't able to uh report a doctor severe dental decay. His labs are really off the charts. So he's in a severe condition right now. I know he is. I know it's been he has severe autism. We've gone over this everybody. Sure. You know, it's we've been struggling to get him to eat for Okay. He's he's slowly been like taking things out of his diet for years and we haven't been able to get him to eat anything, but he he eats crackers and that's all he'll eat. Okay. But see, again, that's why we're here just to I'm upstairs. Okay. Thank you. Wisner, the child's father answered the door when authorities arrived. He appeared unaware of the situation and was clearly confused by the DCFS visit. He sensed that something was very wrong and seemed genuinely concerned. The officers explained the circumstances and the reason for their visit. Whisner appeared uncomfortable giving answers and gradually became more nervous. He's not going to get up. Just Is it okay? Yes. So, let me explain a few things. Sure. My youngest son is on a really bad schedule. He's been going to sleep at like 7 evening and getting up later in the day. So, we kind of keep everybody on the same schedule. Our kids are homeschooled. It works out for us. So that's why everybody's sleeping right now. Okay. 43 years old, really autistic. And his name is Dylan. Dylan Rogers. Yes. He's my stepson. Yeah. my 13-year-old who's high functioning aspirator. Can you verify anything? Sure. Okay. All right. Is this sufficient? Yeah. Can you come in here? Sure. Do you have to turn the light on? Yes, I do have to speak. Thank you so much. Do you want me to turn off the light? So, um, part of the home we just got here. So, we have running water. over. Everything's good. I'll just take a picture. Thank you. Um, so I guess I'll tell you a little bit. Uh, one of the concerns was that they said that the child didn't have a doctor. Wisner explained that his 23-year-old son has autism and his 13-year-old son has Aspberers. He pointed out that their responses might be somewhat limited because of this. He also gave reasons why the children were asleep at that time. But none of what the agents observed seemed to alarm Wisner until they brought up the fact that his six-year-old son had apparently never received proper medical care. He has a doctor. It's just it's been uh about 2 years since he's been as the doctor. We had to take him to and I just called him today because I wanted to know if he agreed with like some of the things the hospital were saying as far as like his electrolytes or whatever, which you can call Dr. Geese, a caring family. How do you spell that? Um, GI, it's it's a weird. It's G I E S E or something like that. Uhhuh. But it's it's pronounced Geese. And he's at Caring Family in Crystal Lake. If you just Google Caring Family, Crystal Lake, Dr. Geese. Sure. You'd be able to speak to him. Okay. Um, you can verify that. I called him and spoke with him today. I was very concerned about he's got electrolyte issues. Well, I mean, they were saying his iron, his everything's super low. briefing is if you come downstairs. Sure. I'm just going to document a little bit while I'm up here. That's fine. Go ahead, sir. Okay. No problem. Okay. So, um we've been adding this to um his apple juice. Okay. We keep apples used because this is like the one liquid that he drinks. This is a multivitamin mineral that we've been trying to get him to drink. Sure. This is the pediatric shakes that we've been attempting to get him to drink. Trying to fix his nutritional problem. There's the cup that it's in. Yes. You see we got food in the fridge. We're trying No, no. I know. That's why we come. I don't want I understand. Wner claimed that he was aware of his son's condition and had spoken to doctors. Still, he didn't appear to fully grasp why the boy's health had deteriorated so severely. The agents realized this when Wner showed them what his son actually consumed and what kinds of processed foods he was regularly fed. You know, and just the other thing, okay, this is the only thing he's eating. Yeah, crackers. I've got boxes and boxes. There's more in my pantry because it's the only thing I'm getting to eat. And we go to the store sometimes, there's none there. So, I've always got like 8, 10, 12 of these boxes of crackers cuz it's the only thing I can get him to eat. Okay. Any allergies? Any that, you know, I'm aware. No, he's haven't had any reaction cuz the concern was yesterday that they gave him a little bit of sugar. He had a very severe reaction to the sugar. So, that leads to someone thinking he's being starved. So, that's Yeah, I I know what you're saying. And see, that's another thing. It was like he used to the only other thing that he used to eat was um he he would eat peanut butter M&M's. Yeah. Okay. Um and he would stop eating those and we would keep uh this is his cracker bowl which um is empty cuz we wash the dishes. But that's his cracker bowl. And we keep a small little container out here. This is where he sits most of the time. This is where he likes to play. This is like his area really. And we keep a little container of candy out here because he would like just munch on them or like if he's eating anything else besides crackers, you know, at this point it's worth it. But he won't even eat the little candies anymore. Okay. It's just he's like just cutting everything off. Okay. I mean I love my kid. Oh, of course that's not the question. It's like why is his uh why are his uh levels so off? Apple juice, pediatric shakes, Cheeit crackers, and chocolate were the only things the boy was being fed. That alone explained his extreme reaction to sugar and his severe malnutrition. The DCFS agent was deeply alarmed to see Wisner genuinely did not seem to understand that this kind of diet was destroying his child's health. I we have you take to the doctor, 13-year-old. Okay. I just talked to Gei today. I told him as soon as Sydney's home and we get him settled after he's out of the hospital, I'm going to be calling and making an appointment. Just not even a month, month and a half ago. Okay. We may need you to take him in considering the difference. So, um if I want to talk to myself, I can take them both at the same time if that's Yeah, let me see what my supervisor says. Um, and not even the supervisor, like her boss, our area administrator. Uh, what he says, he may want me to take him to it as if possible, like today or late as tomorrow. I'm just telling you what I know. Um, or if I tell him, hey, when um I mean, I can make an appointment, but I'm not going to take him to like just any doctor. Sure. Uh, and then I'll relay the message to see whatever uh they say, but and if they have any other questions, I'm going to tell them like what I found. when I spoke to your son and uh what the situation is and I'll be right back. Okay. Back to the like right now. Yeah. I'm just stepping outside to my car. Sorry. All right. Thank you. Yeah. So, I don't see anything. I mean, unless they are, you know, great. But I feel like with the exception, I mean, the 23-year-old, I can't do anything about that. He's an adult. 13-year-old is verbal. He's corroborating. What? There's food. Clearly, there's food. This home is immaculate. Yeah. Compared to some I've seen. Yes. Yes. So, and dad is cooperative. Okay. We were fearing that he wasn't. Mhm. So, I think we're good. Actually, I'm just going to do literally uh what I said. I'm going to call my supervisor. Okay. Let him know what's going on. I mean, he gave the doctor's number and you know, we can only go from there. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing. Okay. Awesome. Officers concluded that the main issue was the type of food available in the home and the way the children were being fed. Wisner was fully cooperative with authorities and based on the environment, there was no indication of intentional abuse, nor were there signs of physical or verbal mistreatment. This was a clear case of serious child neglect where the parents had ignored their son's health in favor of giving into his demands without understanding the consequences. Sure. Because there could be a plethora of reasons for that. As I said before, I mean, this is not it's question worthy, but I don't honestly I brought the officer in the first place cuz I was like, "Oh my gosh, what am I going to find?" Sure. You know. Oh, of course. But No, we're happy to do it, you know. I just We got to We got to just take it take a little extra precaution here. Of course. I mean, it's a non-verbal pizza old. He's nonverbal. Yeah. So, it doesn't speak at all. And apparently there's a 23. Okay. Is that's okay? just for a second or two. Is that all right? My name is Kerman Sack. I'm a detective with the city. Um, tell us all get in before the call gets out. Yeah. From what I understand, um, I've been informed about what's occurred or what's what the investigation kind of leading into. Um, just a couple I want to do a meet and greet with you. What is your name, sir? My name is William Wisman. Okay. Nice to meet you. I'm Carmen. Like I said, my first name is Carmen. My name's Sco. Um, just to do a quick meet and greet with you. It shouldn't take more than a couple minutes. couple follow-up questions that I after being informed of what's going on. Um the number one thing that that piqued my interest what I heard. So there was a uh about a 2-year gap between medical visits. Mhm. Is there a reason for that? Um it's just that he was approximately like almost 5 years old the last time he was there. So like all of his vaccinations are up to date at that point. And he's been there there's like a big gap from like four and a half to I think somewhere around six. Okay. Um, and then when we moved in here uh in March, that's when the lockdown happened. And we've just been trying not to do much, especially with kids outside the house. And my wife has been, uh, she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. Okay. So, she's still undergoing treatments. Um, cancer is gone, but it did a lot of damage to her kidneys. Still at risk. I understand. Yeah, she's highly at risk. I haven't worked since April because of it. I understand. Speaking to an investigator, William explained why the youngest child had rarely attended medical checkups since they had moved. He also shared the growing challenges the family had been facing. His wife Margaret had been diagnosed with cancer in 2018. And due to the CO 19 pandemic, her treatment had continued under high-risisk conditions, making things even more difficult at home. As a result, William had become the primary caregiver for the entire household. It was clear that life had not been easy for him, but that did not excuse the mistakes or the neglect of his children. And I'm not coming in here to beat you up over it. I'm not, you know, I'm really not. I know you're just doing your job. And it's, you know, and it's it's something that, you know, like I said, given what's happened in the last 6 to 8 months with everything else in the county as far as things like this kind of go, we have to take a couple extra precautions. That's why I And honestly, if it wouldn't have been for CO, we would have like taken steps much earlier with Sydney because when we moved in here in March, he was still relatively healthy. I mean, he wasn't like really eating any better, but um it was really like somewhere around midepptember and September when like he was really he's autistic, which is the big problem. Okay. So, he's already got like eating issues, bathroom issues. Sure. Um his bathroom issues got to the point where we had to give him an enema to try to get him to go and have a bowel movement. Right. And ever since that point, it's just been like a downhill spiral. It like messed his stomach up so bad he didn't eat for quite a few days. He lost like eight pounds. That was like around the end of September. Um and then uh we tried to do like a multitude of other things to try to help him go to the bathroom. None of which worked. And then it seemed like he got better for a little bit. And then uh that's when like we we were trying to like add something else to like replace like nutrients and stuff with pediatric shakes. And we've been giving him the multivitamin for a couple years as a supplement to try to give him the stuff that he's not getting from normal food. But after the past couple months of what's been going on with him, it's it's really been hard. Okay. So what prompted was it last night that he went up to the hospital? Um not last night. It was actually It was yesterday morning. Okay. And what prompted the trip up there yesterday? Because he hadn't urinated in 13 hours. Wner revealed that his six-year-old son has autism and frequently struggles with eating and using the bathroom. It appeared that both parents had previously tried several treatments and therapies to help the boy with his challenges. However, in recent months, his condition had worsened, eventually leading to the emergency hospital visit. By the time they arrived, the child had already been suffering for 13 hours. Well, it had been like 10. It started like so two days ago he didn't didn't go to the bathroom for like it was like 8 10 hours and it took a lot of coaching and Sydney come on you got to go to the bathroom. He finally let go and he went to sleep. So then he got up he urinated like he normally does. Um and then he didn't pee again for like 8 10 hours and we're like come on buddy you got to go to the bathroom we have to take you to the hospital. And he just wouldn't go. Wouldn't go. So we we took him to um we started in uh Lake Geneva, the hospital in Lake Geneva, and then they transferred him from there in an ambulance to Milwaukee because by the time we got there, it had been 13 hours without any urination at all. I knew that was an issue. We've been googling trying to like figure out what to do and I'm just I'm I'll be honest, I'm like scared of CO with his health and not having nutrients. I know is immune compromised just as my wife is and it's like terrifying to think to have to take a kid out and your wife out and this now they're both sitting in a hospital together and that's why I don't want to be here very long. I want to you know that that risk is always a thing you know to mitigate as much as we can. Like I said, you know, I'll probably I'll probably reach out to you here in the future in a day or so. Um moving forward from this I understand. Um so Sydney's still up at the hospital, correct? With your wife. Um he may get released tomorrow or the next day. So I'm not sure yet. Okay. Is your um is there any other exams or anything been done with 13-y old with Clark? What do you mean by examp with you about that? Um well she said something about I told her I've already spoke with uh the kid's pediatrician earlier today because I was concerned about some of the things the hospital was telling us about Cindy's electrolyte levels and whatever. Yeah. So, I called and uh I left a message with a secretary or a nurse or somebody and they marked it as urgent. Um and he gave me a call back, but we pretty much already had everything like figured out by then. Um I and I told him on the phone, right? I told her she could call and verify this that after we got Sydney home and things were settled that I needed to get Clark in there for uh he's he's passed due for a checkup also because of co Sure. you know, we just haven't been I took Dylan because Dylan was having like a a cough issue. Um, like when he laid down, he was like coughing a lot. Um, we didn't know what was going on. It had gone on for like about two months. So, I took Dylan in to see him. Um, and then he ordered X-ray. We went to the Harvard Hospital and they did an X-ray on him. Uh, they couldn't find any reason why he was coughing and now it pretty much seems to just gone away on its own. Okay. But I mean, it's Yeah, she said, we may have to take them both to the doctor and I said, "If that's what you need, I'll call and make an appointment." Okay. It's not a big deal. I'll do whatever you guys need me to do. Cool. I appreciate that. Yeah, we we appreciate it. Um, as anything else comes to mind, uh, like I said, call the station. I'm the only detective that we have, so call the station, ask the detective. If you can't remember my name, just say, "Let me talk to the detective, that's fine." Um, they'll put you through. I'm usually here Tuesday through Tuesday through Saturday. Of cards. Margaret A. Wisner, age 51, and William S. Wizzner, age 43, were charged in December of 2020 with aggravated domestic battery, reckless conduct causing a great bodily harm, and endangering the life and health of a child. According to the complaint, the neglect had continued for roughly 2 years. Prosecutors would later file multiple additional charges, and William would be sentenced to prison until December of 2025 and ordered to pay $3,674 in fines and fees. Margaret was sentenced to three years in prison.