Monster Of A Mother Arrested After Her 10 Year Old Is Found Stuffed In A Garbage Can In The Garage, Boy Was Killed Half Year Ago

Zion Staples, a 10-year-old boy found dead and stuffed in a trash can inside of his mother’s Illinois garage, died from a gunshot wound, a county coroner has announced amid a pending investigation.

The statement from Rock Island County coroner Brian Gustafson was issued Friday and comes roughly three weeks after police arrested Zion’s mother, Sushi Staples, and charged her with multiple felony counts including obstructing justice, failure to report the death of a child under 13 and concealment of death.

Police have not yet charged anyone with the boy’s death though they did deem it “suspicious” in an initial autopsy report.

After going to the family’s home following a welfare check requested by a neighbor this July, police opened a garbage can found inside Staples’ garage. Officers arrested her upon finding the child’s body inside it. Law enforcement later reported that he appeared to have been inside the cannister for at least eight months. Police believe the child died in December. Gustafson said in a phone call with Law&Crime on Monday that he agrees with the assessment that the boy likely died at some point that month.

Staples, 37, told police she had “no son at all” when she was arrested, ABC affiliate WQAD reported. She also reportedly said the boy’s birth certificate was fake.

She remains in detention with bond set to $500,000. The case remains under investigation.