05/10/2026
Police Say Parents Killed 11-Year-Old and Staged Body to Look Like Hanging.
Police in Utah say a couple tortured their 11-year-old son over several years before his death last September, then tried to make it appear as if the boy had hanged himself with a coaxial cable as emergency crews were at the front door.
Brigham Young Merrell, 35, and his wife Melinda Marie Merrell, 36, were arrested May 7, 2026, according to the Tremonton-Garland Police Department. Brigham faces charges of child abuse homicide and child torture, both first-degree felonies, while Melinda is charged with child torture, also a first-degree felony. Both remain in the Box Elder County Jail.
On September 21, 2025, Brigham called 911 to report that he had found his son, Moroni Merrell, hanging by a coaxial cable and that he was performing CPR, police records show. Officers and paramedics arrived quickly, but body camera footage and home surveillance video allegedly captured something different.
The video reportedly shows Brigham carrying the boy’s lifeless body as first responders were actively knocking and trying to get inside, then taking him upstairs to the room where the hanging was supposed to have happened. Brigham was not performing CPR when officers first saw him, the reports state, and he left the room at one point to change clothes, something investigators believe may have been an attempt to destroy evidence.
Moroni was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead despite efforts to save him. An autopsy and forensic exam later showed injuries that did not match a hanging, including ligature marks on the neck from another source and fresh bruising on his back that appeared to have happened right around the time of death, police said.
Surviving children told investigators they had seen repeated beatings with belts, pans and spoons, as well as periods of starvation and being forced to stay outside in a dog kennel or run as punishment. The parents allegedly admitted some of the discipline methods during interviews, with Melinda telling officers she would check for bruises a couple of days after whippings and switch tools if marks were too visible.
Within a week of Moroni’s death, items were reportedly thrown out from the home, walls were painted over and rooms were changed around, according to the affidavit.
The Merrells have not yet entered pleas in court.
