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On June 12, 2008, a woman called the Edgecombe County, North Carolina, sheriff's office to report that a 13-year-old boy was unconscious at a home near Macclesfield. Deputies and rescue crews found Tyler Gene McMillan lying in the yard, where his father was attempting CPR. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Investigators said the boy had been tied to a tree in the yard as punishment.

Tyler's father, Brice Brian McMillan, 41, and stepmother, Sandra Elizabeth McMillan, 36, were charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse. Deputies said Brice told them he bound the boy to the tree because he had been disobedient and other discipline had failed.

According to arrest warrants, Tyler was tied to the tree Tuesday night, released Wednesday morning, then tied up again Wednesday night after he began misbehaving. He remained there until Sandra found him unresponsive about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, roughly 18 hours after the second binding. His wrists and ankles had been secured with plastic ties.

An autopsy concluded Tyler died of dehydration and heat stroke. The warrants stated he had bruises on his wrists, cuts across his body and had lost flesh on his buttocks. Dwight Jefferson, a member of the Pinetops Rescue Squad, said the first responders arrived to find the boy on the ground as his father tried to revive him.

Two younger children who lived in the home, ages 7 and 9, were placed in the custody of the Edgecombe County Department of Social Services.

Both parents pleaded guilty in June 2009 to second-degree murder under Alford pleas, which let them maintain their innocence while conceding that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict. On June 29, 2009, Sandra McMillan was sentenced to 13 to 16 years in prison and Brice McMillan to 10 to 13 years.

Tyler's maternal grandmother, June Sasser, said the sentences were far too light for the way the boy died. Sasser said Tyler's biological mother, her daughter, had died of cancer in 2004.