Scott McMillan, Three, Was Tortured For Weeks

Chester County toddler Scotty McMillan died after suffering several attacks of abuse and torture from his mother, Jillian Tait, and her boyfriend, Gary Fellenbaum.

Gary Lee Fellenbaum lived in a trailer with his wife Amber and his girlfriend, Jillian Tait. Amber and Gary shared an 11-month-old baby and Jillian had two children, 3-year-old Scotty and 6-year-old Ryan.

Soon after Gary met Jillian while working at Wal-Mart they moved in together and began abusing Scotty and Ryan. The abuse would lead to Scotty’s death.

Scotty and Ryan were constantly abused by the three. They hung the kids from the ceiling by their feet and slammed their heads into walls, leaving holes behind. The three enjoyed beating the children and laughed when the children would scream and cry in pain from the abuse.

Over three days… he was tortured and beaten to death. He was punched in the face and the stomach, he was scourged with a homemade whip, he was lashed with a metal rod, he was tied to a chair and beaten, he was tied upside down by his feet and beaten, his head was smashed through a wall and at the end of that he had bruises on top of bruises all over his body.”

Scotty woke up in pain and bruised the next morning and again refused to eat breakfast. Gary continued beating Scotty when he refused to eat. He punched the boy so hard that he fell out of the chair. He picked him up and taped his hands and feet together and hung him from the ceiling as he relentlessly beat the boy.

Gary forced Ryan to hit his brother. Then, the three began hitting Scotty with a frying pan as he hung upside down.

On the night that Scotty died, Tait told police that she and Fellenbaum left Scotty on the mattress so he could sleep after they put the unresponsive child in a shower for more than 30 minutes. They then went out to pick up pizza for dinner. When they returned, Tait said Scotty remained unresponsive. Viewing a sign of disrespect, they changed Scotty out of his bloody clothes and put him on an air mattress as he bled from his ears, mouth, and nose. 

 Gary and Jillian placed the boy in ice water to revive him, but it didn’t work.

After 3 days of beating Scotty, Amber Fellenbaum called 9-1-1 to report he was dead. Nurses cried when Scotty arrived at the hospital and they saw his body.

Scotty had ‘bruises on top of bruises, lacerations, and puncture wounds, no part of his body was left unharmed.

Tait casually admitted to abusing Scotty, claiming that she woke up in the morning and found Scotty not breathing and told Amber to call 911. She also said she had seen the scars Scotty had been accumulating all his life but showed no emotion for her dead son.

Amber Fellenbaum was charged with child endangerment. Gary Fellenbaum was charged with first and third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, and 14 other charges. Jillian was charged with first-degree murder and 14 other charges. She received 42- 94 years in prison. Gary was sentenced to life w/o parole. 

Amber Fellenbaum was charged with child endangerment and sent to county jail unable to post $500,000 bail. She told detectives that she first became aware of the alleged abuse about two weeks ago when she saw Fellenbaum spank Scotty after the boy didn’t respond to Fellenbaum. She also said she saw Fellenbaum and Tait beat the boy with a green frying pan on another occasion and Sunday saw Fellenbaum tape Scotty to a chair and severely pummel the boy’s face and stomach.

The couple allowed Scotty's brother to hit him as well, according to the affidavit. But the older boy also showed signs of abuse, authorities said.

"It is going to take us years to put him back together again physically and mentally," said the investigator.