NORTON SHORES, Mich. — A Norton Shores mother has been found guilty of torturing and murdering her teenage son. Now she learns how many years she'll spend behind bars.
Shanda Vander Ark is guilty of the 2022 murder of her 15-year-old son Timothy Ferguson, the jury determined in about an hour of deliberation on Dec. 15.
Vander Ark was convicted of open murder and first-degree child abuse. She did not appear in court on the day her verdict was read. While uncommon, the judge cited case law and said Vander Ark is not required to be present for her verdict.
She was, however, in attendance of her sentencing Tuesday.
That's where she learned she's sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole, plus 150 years on top of that.
The hearing began with victim impact statements. Millie Ferguson, Timothy's older sister by two years, first spoke in court.
"I regret not hugging more, and teasing him so much and not telling him I love him more often," she said. "I regret not dancing with him at my brother's wedding, the last time I saw him."
"These are the things that I can't remedy now. There's no fixing what's been done. That's my regret — that I couldn't protect him when he needed me most," Millie said through tears.
She reflected on protecting Timothy as his older sister, and the time they got taken away from their parents by Child Protective Services.
"The victim of this crime can't speak for himself. I want the woman who killed my little brother to face the highest punishment possible," she said.
Eric Ferguson Jr., Timothy's older brother, took to the microphone next.
"I can't have my brother back. She shouldn't have her freedom back," he said. "The life of one sweet little blue-eyed boy is not equivalent to that of a murderer."
Prosecuting attorney Matt Roberts said Vander Ark never looked over at her children while they read their statements.
"All of the things that she did... are so callous, are so cold that they just defy explanation," Roberts said. "She had stopped thinking of her children as human beings."
Vander Ark's attorney spoke to the court about welcoming Timothy into her home while working as a single mom who was putting herself through school and the difficulties that came with it.
"This is a survivor. A person who pulled herself up by her bootstraps," said Fred Johnson. "We're not looking at evil, we're looking at sick."
"This case makes no sense to anybody. She did not gain from this," said Johnson, "this was not her intention."
Vander Ark chose not to speak at the trial.
Judge Matthew R. Kacel then spoke to directly to Vander Ark.
"I don't believe you intended to kill, I believe you intended to keep torturing him as long as you possibly could. Why? I don't know," he said.
"This wasn't negligence or you not understanding what was going on. You knew exactly what you were doing," Kacel said. "You testified yourself how incredibly intelligent you were. In fact, that's the only thing you testified that I believe was true. You were incredibly proud of that, boasting about it."
"I'm a father myself," he said. "Most mothers have such a strong love for their children. To see what you did to your own child... Only thing I can come up with is horrific."
Kacel said he chose not show photos of Timothy's dead body in court to remember him with a shred of dignity that Vander Ark never afforded him.
"I am choosing not to remember your son dead, looking like a holocaust victim. I'm choosing to remember him like that," he said, as he showed a photo of Timothy to the courtroom.
"People know what you are. People know what you did. Timothy won," said Judge Kacel. "You don't win. Because justice in this case prevailed."
Last month, Vander Ark took the stand herself and was questioned by the defense and prosecution for over three hours.
During the questioning, Vander Ark claimed that she didn't remember a lot of the details of the days, weeks and months leading up to Timothy's death.
Throughout the trial, Vander Ark's attorney tried to present her client as a hardworking and educated mother who was doing her best as a parent but the chief prosecutor continually asked questions about how she would treat Timothy, especially in comparison to her other children.
It is alleged that Vander Ark's 20-year-old son, Paul Ferguson, participated in the abuse against Timothy.
Paul took the stand and fielded questions about the abuse that he allegedly committed against his younger brother.
According to Paul, Timothy was forced to live in a small closet in their basement. A detective showed pictures of the closet to the court, indicating that the only objects in it were a blue tarp and an Amazon box. Police say the room had an overwhelming odor of urine and feces.
Paul testified that handcuffs and zip ties were used to restrict Timothy's movement, while cameras and motion sensors were used to monitor him, both in the closet and the bathroom. Shanda and Paul often discussed ways to keep him uncomfortable, like forcing him to stand facing a wall for hours at a time or doing wall sits.
Timothy was punished by being fed Carolina reaper hot sauce, either on pieces of bread or poured directly into his mouth, which Paul admitted to doing to his younger brother.
Paul said he occasionally placed Timothy in a bath tub of cold water, including the day before he died for more than nine hours. Texts reveal Timothy was also forced at times to run up and down stairs while Paul chased him.
All of this, Paul says, was per Shanda's orders, claiming low self esteem made him want to make his mom proud.
The day before his death, Paul says Timothy was unresponsive in the morning and Shanda asked him to use a painful method to wake him up.
Pictures of the scene were admitted into evidence that showed Timothy deceased on the floor in the basement of the house. When shown to Vander Ark, she vomited on the stand.
Photos also showed locks were kept on the refrigerator and freezer, and alarms on the closet door.
Paul frequently expressed frustration with Timothy and said in one text message, "I'm ready to kill Timothy."
The text messages between mother and son accused Timothy of faking his behavior. Those familiar with the family say Timothy was believed to have had special needs.
"I ended up dragging him back into his small room because I wasn't gonna risk having him access to the tub or things overnight," read one of the texts. "He's still trying to be stupid, but I will tell you more tomorrow while I take you to work, describing how many different ways I can prove that he is faking. He's still doing it though. It's beyond ridiculous."
Timothy was allegedly still alive just before midnight on July 5, 2022. Police were called to the house the following day.
The doctor who performed an autopsy on Timothy testified that he weighed 69 pounds at the time of his death and his body showed signs of malnutrition and hypothermia. His death was ruled a homicide.
"This is not somebody who doesn't have the intellectual capability to properly care for their child," prosecutors concluded. "She has that ability and she chose to essentially torture this child to death."
Paul says the morning Timothy was found dead, he attempted to resuscitate him for 18 minutes before they called 911. He says Shanda told him to lie to police, saying Timothy had been on a hunger strike.
You can read a recap of the testimonies in court here.
13 ON YOUR SIDE has streamed all of the courtroom proceedings on our website and on our YouTube page.
See a recap of the sentencing below:
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