'I'm going to slap him … should be fun': 10-year-old boy ate dog food, bound to chair with zip ties and was murdered by his father

Inset: Braxtyn Smith. Background: Joshua Smith during his sentencing for murdering his son Braxtyn (WMTW).

The parents and grandmother of a 10-year-old boy who weighed just 48 pounds after being forced to eat dog food have all pleaded guilty for their roles in his death, according to Maine authorities.

Joshua Smith, 35, pleaded guilty on Thursday to murder in the death of his son Braxtyn Smith. On Friday, Braxtyn's grandmother, 63-year-old Mistie Latourette entered a guilty plea to manslaughter. His mother, 37-year-old Jem Bean, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year.

Braxtyn died on Feb. 18, 2024, after his mother and grandmother rushed him to the hospital. He had multiple bruises on his body, and a medical examiner later determined he had been beaten and ruled his death a homicide.

According to court documents obtained by local CBS affiliate WGME and ABC affiliate WMTW, Braxtyn suffered two years of abuse at his home in Bangor. He weighed just 48 pounds at the time of his death which was reportedly seven pounds below the lowest percentile for a boy of his age. He was vomiting when he arrived, and hospital staff noted that it looked and smelled like pet food.

Detectives later learned that his parents would withhold food as punishment and the boy ate dog food.

Bean tried to blame the injuries on her son, saying he would throw himself to the ground during "temper tantrums." But text messages reportedly said that not only did Smith beat Braxtyn, he seemed to take joy in doing so.

"Little one is super tired and I'm going to slap him already so it should be fun," he said to Latourette in one text message.

Smith also texted with Bean about tying down their son.

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"There some reason you couldn't be bothered to zip tie everything your supposed to huh?" Smith reportedly wrote.

Bean responded: "What did I miss? I did his ankles to the tote and his hands together behind his back."

About two years before Braxtyn's death, his father was angry his son wasn't completing his schoolwork.

"I'm going to kill him," Smith texted Bean, per local NBC affiliate WCSH.

Smith claimed the text messages were "sarcasm and stuff like that."

State officials said the abuse was not detected because the boy was homeschooled.

Prosecutors are recommending Bean serve 25 years in prison while her attorneys are asking for five to 10 years behind bars, WCSH reported. Her sentencing date has yet to be set.

Smith will be sentenced in September. It's unclear how long a sentence he faces.