WEST HAVEN, Utah — After a father, stepmother, and brother were arrested for child abuse homicide, the family of Gavin Peterson's mother wanted to share their side of the story.
"I don't know how anyone can explain how a father could allow that to happen to his own child," said Jared Doman. "To allow his organs to shut down, to starve him to a point where his organs shut down and he dies."
Doman is Gavin's uncle, but it's been a while since he's seen the West Haven boy.
"It's been hard not having him in our lives for years now and now knowing that we're never going to have him in our life again," he said.
Doman said there were many custody battles between Gavin's parents. He said that when his mother was granted visitation, she couldn't see him.
"They never followed through with it whenever she would call to see Gavin. They either wouldn't answer the phone or they would just berate her," he said.
He claims one of Gavin's siblings suffered similar abuse while staying at the Peterson home.
"They locked her in the room, they tied her to the bed, they had cameras up at that time. She would have one meal a day and it was covered in mustard, which none of the kids liked," said Doman. "DCFS knew about that behavior with his older sister and because there wasn't physical evidence they weren't able to act on it."
Shane Peterson and Nichole Scott were arrested last week, along with 21-year-old Tyler Peterson, who Doman believes was just following the parents' lead.
"He's grown up in that house since he was young and I don't think he would've known any better," he said. "Those were his role models and as a child with autism, I don't think that anybody could've not foreseen that, that he would do exactly what he was told."
