Couple Charged With Beating Boy to Death Over 3-Day Period

Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait

Authorities in Chester County have charged a man and his girlfriend with beating the woman’s three-year-old son to death. Police say the couple tortured the boy to death over a three-day period.

Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait are both charged with murder in 3-year-old Scott McMillan’s death. Fellenbaum and Tait live with Fellenbaum’s estranged wife in West Caln Township, Chester County.

District Attorney Tom Hogan called the crime “an American horror story.” He is seeking the death penalty for Fellenbaum and Tait.

“He was systematically tortured and beaten to death,” Hogan said at a news conference Thursday. “He was punched in the face and in 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.”

Amber Fellenbaum, the estranged wife who lives with the couple, has been charged with child endangerment. Neighbors in West Caln say they lived there just three weeks.

Cops say Tait said Fellenbaum also beat her 6-year-old son on multiple occasions. That child is now being cared for by relatives.

[6 ABC | Fox 29 | The Times Herald]