Police and prosecutors say the 11-year-old escaped in his underwear and sought help at a nearby business.
FOX LAKE, IL — An Illinois mother and her boyfriend are charged after police said an 11-year-old boy ran from their Fox Lake home Friday morning in his underwear, bloodied and bruised, and asked a nearby business worker for help after years of abuse.
The case drew a swift response from police, child welfare workers and prosecutors because of the boy’s visible injuries and the scope of the allegations that followed. Authorities say the child had been abused over multiple years, struck with household objects, had dish soap forced into his mouth and ears, and was kept out of school. The mother, Pricilla P. Marshall, 34, and her boyfriend, Cody R. Marion, 35, now face felony and misdemeanor counts as the investigation moves into court and all five children from the home remain out of their custody.
Police said the case came to light about 9:30 a.m. Friday, when officers were called to the area of Nippersink Boulevard and Grand Avenue after a worker at a local business reported an injured child asking for help. Sgt. Rick Howell said the boy had “multiple abrasions and small cuts, welts on his body, newer and old bruising,” along with blood on his face and dish soap on him. Officers took the boy into protective custody and brought him to Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital for evaluation. Investigators then went to the family’s apartment on East Grand Avenue, where they found Marshall and two younger children, ages 1 and 2, at home. Two other boys, ages 7 and 12, were at school. All five children were later taken to the Lake County Child Advocacy Center in Gurnee for medical exams and forensic interviews.
Authorities say those interviews and the child’s statements widened the case far beyond the injuries seen Friday morning. Prosecutors said the boy described a pattern of abuse beginning in 2023. In court filings, prosecutors alleged Marshall repeatedly punched him, hit him with extension cords and kitchen utensils, and told him that nobody loved him. They said she forced him to write lines in a notebook saying he was not loved and that everybody hated him. Prosecutors also alleged she threatened to stab him, told him he deserved to die, and once said she would dump his body. On the morning of his escape, prosecutors said, Marshall punched him in the face, causing a bloody nose, and poured dish soap into his mouth and ear. The boy then coughed up blood and ran out of the apartment. Prosecutors say Marion did not physically attack the child in the same way, but told him he deserved the abuse and should “just take it.”
Officials have said some details remain under review, including the full timeline of earlier reports to authorities and whether more charges could follow. But records described in court and local reporting add context to why the case has drawn such attention. Prosecutors said the child told police he had been allowed to attend school through fourth grade, then was pulled out before fifth grade while his brothers kept going. Police also said he was not permitted to attend school. According to prosecutors, he told investigators he was made to eat apart from the rest of the family, often getting canned food while siblings had takeout, and that he slept on the floor despite having a bed in his room. Doctors at the hospital noted bruises on his head, arms and legs, dried blood around his nose and mouth, red welts on his chest and limbs, and dried blue soap on his face and chest, according to prosecutors.
The case also points to earlier contact with child protection authorities that did not lead to charges. Prosecutors said the boy told police the abuse began in 2023, and that when he was once asked at school about a mark on his face, he stayed quiet because his mother warned him she would go to jail if he told the truth. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated at that time, according to prosecutors, but the child did not disclose abuse during an interview and the matter did not result in criminal charges. That history may become a key part of the public response as the court case continues, because it shows how the allegations described this week were not, by prosecutors’ account, confined to a single episode. For now, police have said the other children appeared unharmed, and all of them have been placed temporarily with an extended family member.
Marshall and Marion each were charged with aggravated battery to a child and misdemeanor counts tied to domestic battery and child endangerment, according to police and local court reporting. Both appeared before a judge over the weekend after being taken to the Lake County Jail. Marion returned to court Monday for a detention hearing, where a judge granted the state’s request to keep him jailed pending trial. Fox 32 reported his next court date is April 2 for a preliminary hearing. Marshall was scheduled for a detention hearing Tuesday. CBS Chicago reported both defendants were ordered to have no contact with the children or with each other until further notice. Whether prosecutors seek additional counts, and whether defense lawyers challenge the state’s description of the abuse, are expected to shape the next phase of the case.
Neighbors said the arrests left them shaken in a busy part of downtown Fox Lake, just around the corner from where the boy sought help. Daniel Bitterman told ABC7 that when Marshall was angry, “you could hear her screaming” from nearby. Another neighbor, Patrick McSherry, told CBS Chicago he often heard children playing at the home and said he felt bad if something was wrong and he was unable to help. Those remarks, though limited, underscored how little of the allegations had surfaced publicly before Friday’s escape. Police have framed the boy’s decision to run to a business and ask an employee to call 911 as the turning point that allowed investigators to document his injuries, interview his siblings and move the case into the criminal courts. The employee’s call, Howell said, brought officers to the child within minutes.
The case remained active Tuesday, with Marion jailed, Marshall due back in court and investigators still reviewing evidence from interviews, medical evaluations and the home. The next clear milestone is Marshall’s detention hearing and Marion’s April 2 preliminary hearing.
Author note: Last updated March 10, 2026.