Teen recalls finding dead boy

"I knew that he was dead," Quaylyn testified Friday at the murder and child abuse and neglect trial of his parents , Stanley and Colleen Rimer.

Quaylyn was getting into his mother’s Ford Excursion to go to Scout camp when he found Jason about 9 a.m. on June 9, 2008. His brother had been left in the car, alone, for at least 17 hours. He was still wearing his clothes from church the previous day.

"I started crying," said Quaylyn, who is now 17.

Jason, his favorite brother, suffered from myotonic dystrophy, a genetic muscular disorder that crippled his body and mind. He was unable to unlock a car door, and could speak only about a dozen words, Quaylyn said.

Authorities say Jason died from heat stress. The high temperature on June 8, 2008 was 90 degrees, though authorities estimated the temperature in the vehicle could have reached 130.

Quaylyn said that on the morning of Sunday, June 8 he returned home from church with his mother and brothers. He began looking for Jason a few hours later, when he noticed his brother wasn’t hanging around the other boys. Quaylyn couldn’t find Jason, but thought he might be in the master bedroom with his parents, where the boys were rarely allowed to go.

He and his brothers slept in the family room that night because it had a fan and their bedroom air conditioner was broken, Quaylyn said.

A photograph presented as evidence showed the SUV Jason was in was parked just outside the family room.

Quaylyn was the second sibling to testify during the three-day-old trial.

On Thursday, Crystal Davis, the lone daughter of Stanley and Colleen Rimer’s eight children together, testified she and her brothers lived in squalor in the family’s east valley home, and that Stanley Rimer often administered corporal punishment to his children.

Quaylyn testified Friday that the home became overly cluttered in 2007 when his father closed his business office and storage facilities and moved items into the home. Quaylyn said the house was messy at times but laughed that the room he shared with Jason was probably the messiest. Quaylyn said several times during his youth he had lice, a common occurrence in the Rimer home.

TEEN CALLED ‘DEVIL’

Quaylyn said his father was often irritated when the children would bother him, and that Stanley Rimer also called the teenager "devil."

Quaylyn said he would receive spankings from his father — about 25 over the four years Jason was alive. Stanley Rimer would use one of two boat oars, one of which his father had drawn a shark’s mouth on, or his belt to spank him. Quaylyn recalled on one occasion when his father hit his shoulder with a fist.

Under cross-examination Quaylyn testified that his father would always explain what he had done wrong to deserve a spanking, that he was never bruised or bleeding as a result of the spankings and was fine to return to playing video games with his siblings.

Quaylyn also said that sometimes his father wouldn’t actually strike him, instead slam the oar on a pillow or bed to make a loud noise that would be heard by others in the house.

Older brother Brandon Rimer, now 22, also testified Friday, stating that Stanley Rimer would use corporal punishment, either an oar or his fist, to strike four of his siblings, including Aaron, who is mentally challenged.

Brandon Rimer, who carried Jason from the SUV to inside the family’s home after the child was found dead, said the two oars his father used to deal out punishment were broken during the beatings.

Brandon Rimer testified that he didn’t realize the physical and verbal abuse and the filthy home he grew up in weren’t the norm until he went on his religious mission to Australia and saw how others lived.

Aaron Rimer, 18, was called to the witness stand Friday, but only to demonstrate his mental capacity for the jury. On Thursday, a Las Vegas police detective told him that she had told Aaron to take Jason out of the car.

PATTERN OF NEGLECT ALLEGED

Prosecutors have argued the parents exhibited a pattern of neglect toward their children that was bound to lead to tragedy.

Defense attorneys said the parents were fighting their own illnesses — Colleen Rimer had bronchitis — the day Jason was left in the vehicle and their boys were told to take care of Jason. Stanley Rimer has maintained he was not aware Jason was left in the vehicle or missing because he was in the bedroom ill.

Colleen Rimer told police that she was the only person responsible for Jason. If convicted, the parents could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

The two-week-long trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.