Mauston - The Preliminary hearing for Alan Bushey began today in Juneau County. 90 year old Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth, Tammy Lewis, and Lewis's two kids lived in the same house.
Middlesworth was found dead on the toilet; investigators believe she had been dead for approximately 2 months.
Bushey faces two charges of causing mental harm to a child, for telling the family to leave the decaying body of Alvina on the toilet.
Officials in Juneau County say that's because Bushey is the leader of religious cult in the Necedah area.
One of Lewis's children, a 12 year old boy, testified in Alan Bushey's preliminary hearing today.
The boy explained the situation in the home as sometimes happy, sometimes sad and sometimes full of turmoil.
He says the children had to raise their hands in order to talk to their mother or "Grandma Alvina." He later admitted that she was not related to them in any way.
He says the children could not talk to each other unless it was important and were not allowed to go outside without permission.
Although sometimes, he said they would walk outside the perimeter of the house as a family.
The boy says he was in the kitchen washing the dishes on March 4, 2008...the day Grandma Alvina died on the toilet in the bathroom.
He went into the bathroom and asked his mother if everything was okay, and she said it is right now.
The boy told the court that the Bishop, Alan Bushey, told his family to pray and wait. The boy said the Bishop said that Middlesworth's family would file a wrongful death lawsuit against them if she was found.
Bushey told the boy that if Middlesworths' family did file the suit, the children would have to go to public school (which the boy has an extreme fear of), and he [Bushey] and the boy's mom [Tammy Lewis] would have to get a job because Middlesworth's money would be gone.
Within days of Middlesworth's death, there were smells in the house that wouldn't go away. The boy said that if the mother sprayed 'holy water', it would go away.
He said when they would go into the basement, there was slime coming from the ceiling where the bathroom was above them.
His mother told him and his sister that it was demons trying scare them.
The boy said his mom told him the smell was his own 'un-belief' that Grandma would come back to life.
He told the court that he was paddled often by his mother because of his unbelief and if she could still smell the smell in the house, she would paddle him.
If he cried, he would be paddled.
The court was adjourned this afternoon with a continuation of the hearing scheduled for June 10th...the same day as Tammy Lewis' competency hearing.
