Florida Dad Pleads Guilty To Murder In 12-Year-Old Son’s Starvation Death In Indiana

A Florida father who chained up his emaciated 12-year-old son inside an Indiana motel room before the boy died three years ago has pleaded guilty to murder.

Luis Eduardo Posso Jr., 35, pleaded guilty on Wednesday after striking a deal with Monroe County prosecutors over the 2019 murder of his son, Eduardo Posso, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. 

Prosecutors agreed to drop a slew of other charges against the elder Posso, including separate counts of neglect, battery and criminal confinement — as well as a life without parole enhancement — in exchange for the man's guilty plea, per court filings. Luis Posso now faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison. 

His wife, Dayan Median Flores, pleaded guilty to their son’s murder in July 2021, according to WBIW. She’s currently serving a 65-year sentence.

Luis Posso drove Eduardo to a hospital in Bloomington, Indiana shortly before 3:00 a.m. on May 24, 2019, after his son had become unconscious and stopped breathing. The malnourished child was covered in bruises, pressure ulcers — more commonly known as bedsores — and other injuries.

Minutes after arriving at the medical center, Eduardo Posso was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed the child died of starvation. He weighed approximately 50 pounds at his time of death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a 12-year-old boy in the 50th percentile for weight would be around 105 pounds.

The father told responding officers that he'd woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of his son choking and gagging, court documents stated. When he went to check on his boy, his son vomited on him, at which point he transported the child to the hospital. Luis Posso additionally claimed that his son had fallen in the shower that morning, causing his head to bleed, but insisted the 12-year-old seemed “perfectly fine all day” after taking an aspirin. He told officials his son didn’t have any known health conditions.

Luis Posso, who worked for a traveling circus distributing advertisements, said he was visiting the area from Florida and was staying at a motel “near the speedway,” according to court filings.

After searching the man’s motel room, authorities allegedly found chains, restraints and a canine electric shock collar, which prosecutors say Luis Posso used to discipline his 12-year-old son. A video was also allegedly recovered from a mobile device that showed the child restrained in a bathtub, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators also seized an alleged selfie image of Luis Posso which depicts him near Eduardo Posso, who is in restraints. A locked box of food was also allegedly found in the motel room. 

Three other children — aged two, five and nine — were also found in the couple’s custody. The minors, who were placed in the care of child protective services, appeared to be in good health at the time.

“I cannot think of, in 30 years, a case like this,” Sheriff Brad Swain told Indianapolis television station WTHR in 2019. “It’s beyond anything I’ve worked."

Officials also recounted how the case had psychologically scarred even the most seasoned homicide investigators.

“There are no words,” Detective Lt. Jennifer Allen of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office also said at the time. “Everybody involved with this case has been very deeply affected and will be affected until the end of our career, let alone the end of our lives. I mean, there’s really no words for this type of abuse.”

Luis Posso’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 18, according to online court records.