The Southern Standard: Murfreesboro couple arrested for abuse after reporting child missing

By JOE MAY | The Southern Standard

A Murfreesboro couple has been charged with a Class D Felony for endangering the welfare of a minor following a search for one of their children that lasted several hours.

According to an affidavit in the case, Timothy Mason Phillips, 54, and his wife, 50-year-old Mary Louise Phillips, have been charged in the case, which began in the early hours of Dec. 4, 2025, when Mary Phillips arrived at the Pike County Sheriff’s Department saying that one of the couple’s children had disappeared about 10 minutes prior. She added that the child had been forced to strip off and get in the family’s outdoor swimming pool to clean up when the temperature outside was in the upper 30s.

Officers arrived at the home and performed a cursory search of the premises. Finding no trace of the child, police called for additional personnel. The disappearance was broadcast on social media and shared numerous times until the father found the child wrapped in a blanket about four hours later behind a pool pump in a shed behind the home.

The child was checked out by ambulance personnel and, due to the situation, officials from the Arkansas Department of Human Services removed all children from the home until an investigation could be completed.

The next day, the children were interviewed at the Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center in Arkadelphia, where it was learned that the child in question was often the target of punishment. On the day in question, the child was made to clean up in the pool and, upon exiting, was told to get back in despite the cold temperatures. The child found a blanket and hid in the shed until being found by Timothy Phillips four hours later.

Investigators learned that the child was often sent outside to the pool or water hose to clean up. The child was also sometimes  denied breakfast and/or lunch as punishment.

It was also alleged that the child would be locked in a closet for days and weeks at a time, being allowed to come out only to eat. The document noted that Timothy Phillips had constructed a small room in the house in which to lock the child for punishment and, sometimes, force the child to sleep on the floor.

Further, the children stated that the victim was often required to stand outside in one spot from morning until evening for days on end as a punishment.

A medical inspection of the children in the home showed that the victim in the case fell below normal growth standards for a child of that age.

This article first appeared in The Southern Standard, a weekly newspaper based in Amity, Arkansas. It is republished here with permission.