In 2012, Jessica Jensen and her boyfriend were arrested for extreme measures of child abuse on her boyfriend’s 13 year-old son, Aidan Edward Bossingham. Aidan suffered immense amounts of torture for the majority of his life. Aidan was always thinner than normal children due to a human growth hormone deficiency, but it could be cured with a couple of treatments, which Aidan never received. Because of his normally slimmer complexion and hormone deficiency, it probably didn’t look that concerning to teachers and classmates when Aidan wasn’t gaining much weight. Eventually, Aidan was withdrawn from school to be “home schooled”, where he wasn’t actually taught anything. After his withdrawal is when the real abuse set in.
After his parents’ arrest in 2012, Aidan had a chance to testify in court and talk about the things that he experienced while living at home. Aidan said that he ate toothpaste as a food source in order to stay alive. e also described how was locked in a feces covered room, trash was scattered everywhere, and the windows were boarded up and covered over with black plastic. He said that his parents zip-tied the boy’s ankles and wrists to the post of the bed where he was forced to stand for days. Aidan also recalls moments where he was locked in a closet, numerous times, and was in there for so long that he never knew how many days passed by. Jensen claimed that she did not participate in any of the acts that took place, that it was all done by her boyfriend. Jensen was released and Aidan was returned back into the care of Jensen.
Aidan: “My right hand was cuffed to my left leg and my left hand was chained to my right leg.”
Sometimes my dad would say, “You look like an Ethiopian.” And I’m like, “Well, I’m on the diet of an Ethiopian. I need a certain amount of calories and nutrients, and I’m not getting very much of that. Then my dad would always say, “I have no pity for you.”
Investigators called it one of the most horrifying cases of child abuse they had ever seen.
On January 12, Jansen called 911 reporting that her son had “passed on”. When officials arrived on scene they discovered that the boy had already been dead for a few days. Aidan died weighing only 21lbs, appearing to look about the age of a 2 year-old. Jansen claimed that Aidan ate some oatmeal earlier that day but threw it up, but an autopsy proved Jansesn to be lying, showing that Aidan had no post-signs of vomiting and that he hadn’t consumed any food in days. A thorough look into Aidan’s medical records and inspection of his body concluded that Jansen lied about all claims of taking good care of this child.
Jessica Jansesn is currently up for trial facing charges of child abuse and murder.
