Background: The Hancock County Jail in Greenfield, Indiana (Hancock County Sheriff's Office). Inset: Curtis Bordenkircher (Hancock County Sheriff's Office).
An Indiana man is accused of abusing several children, allegedly beating them, threatening them, and making them stand in a corner for hours on end until their legs went numb.
Curtis Bordenkircher, 35, has been charged with four counts of neglecting a dependent with cruelly confining or abandoning, and two counts of intimidation with threatening to commit a forcible felony. The charges were filed this month, Hancock County Superior Court records show, but the investigation began in October.
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It is unclear what the suspect's exact relation to the victims is, but law enforcement became aware of the case after a child texted their mother to ask for help. Hancock County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived at the home in New Palestine on Oct. 15 and heard a slew of allegations against Bordenkircher.
One girl said Bordenkircher beat her with a belt, made her stand in the corner of a room until her legs went numb, and called her "dumb" and a "disappointment," according to a criminal affidavit reviewed by the Greenfield Daily Reporter. Another girl said she was pushed up against a wall, grabbed by the neck, and threatened repeatedly.
The suspect's alleged transgressions went much further.
Bordenkircher reportedly told the siblings at one point that if they didn't "shut up," he would "slaughter them in their sleep," taking out a knife as he delivered the threat. The boy who told authorities this believed the man would follow through on his promise, the court document noted.
The children are said to have been made to stand in the corner of the home for up to six hours, and they would only sneak off to the bathroom if Bordenkircher left the house. "You all are in the corner until your legs are numb," he allegedly told them, as well as "I have no sympathy for you. You stand all night."
A fourth child told authorities that he had been "whipped" by Bordenkircher as he drank from a tall beer can. According to the kids, that behavior wasn't uncommon for him.
"He drinks so much a day, and then he just gets mad at us," one of the kids recounted, per Indianapolis-based Fox affiliate WXIN. "Beer, after beer, after beer."
Bordenkircher posted a $600 cash bond on Nov. 6, and as part of the bond agreement, he signed a no-contact order concerning the four children. He is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial conference on Dec. 4.
New Palestine is a small town just east of Indianapolis.
