Fourteen-year-old Shaunterius Johnson was in court yesterday to testify about the disappearance and presumed death of her younger sister, Aarone Thompson, during the trial of Aarone’s father, Aaron Thompson. “I can’t even look at him,” Johnson said of her stepfather, who is facing dozens of charges, including child abuse resulting in death (via The Denver Post). Johnson testified that she moved from Michigan to Denver with Aarone, a brother, and Thompson when they were homeless about eight years ago. Shely (Shelley) Lowe took them in. “Shely Lowe’s kids had a bed, and we didn’t,” Johnson said. “She had us sleeping on thin white sheets on wood floors. Aarone had to lay on me.”

Another girl, identified only as TL, said children in the home were beaten with a belt, TV cord, bat, and fists: “I remember getting like, a little hit in the head. It wasn’t like full force” (via 7News). “All I know is [I did] something small.” She also described in detail how kids would be made to stand naked, tied to a pole. “Sometimes we’d get tied to the pole downstairs, we would get a whoopin’ there.” Jurors were then shown a picture of a wooden pole that extended from the ceiling to the floor of the basement of Thompson’s Aurora home.