Utah teen, 15, livestreams heartbreaking plea after locking himself and sister, 12, in room refusing to return to abusive dad
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: A 15-year-old Utah boy rose to fame on TikTok after locking himself and his sister in a bedroom at their mother's house to defy a court order aimed at reuniting them with their allegedly sexually abusive father. To avoid being returned to their father, Brent Joel Larson, Ty Larson and his sister, Brynlee, spent months locked in their bedroom in their mother's $830,000 Salt Lake City home. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services determined in 2018 that Larson had abused the children both emotionally and sexually when they were young.
Brent claimed that Ty and Brynlee's mother, Jessica Zhart, fabricated the allegations and made her children raise them through a process known as "parental alienation," ProPublica reports. Despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association and many legal organizations do not consider parental alienation valid, Judge Pullman found in January that Zhart did indeed sever the relationship between the Utah siblings and their father, and ordered their reunification.
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What did Ty Larson do?
Utah brother Ty Larson has claimed that the allegations are true and that he is concerned that his father is endangering his life. In response, he locked himself and Brynlee in their room and started a livestream on Twitch that was continuously broadcast for people to "stand guard" over them. He also posted TikToks about the situation. In his first TikTok video, uploaded on January 10, Ty shared allegations of his father's abuse against him and his sister. He also explained that the two had decided to lock themselves in their room two days earlier out of fear for their safety.
'If I get sent I will be killed by my father'
"I'm having to be barricaded in my room, my own choice, for me to stay safe because the court system isn't trying to save us, nobody's trying to keep us safe," Ty stated in the video. "I am the one that's going to have to choose my own safety. And this is only to stall the police, nothing's gonna stop them, this is just a stall. We are horrified to go to school, we are horrified to leave the house, we are horrified to even leave this room," he added. "I am scared if I get sent I will be killed by my father because of how may threats he has made to me and my family if I told anybody," said Ty.
Since that day, their mother has been bringing them food while they have stayed in the room with a board of wood nailed across the door. They used to sneak out of the house to use the toilet, but now they have cut a hole in the wall of the closet in the bedroom so they can use the restroom privately. Ty and Brynlee were ordered to leave the house by Judge Pullman, who also charged Zhart with escalating the conflict by continuing to "wash the children's clothes and bring food to the barricaded room." "The children do labor under the misperception that they are in the driver's seat and are free to determine when, where, and on what terms parent-time will occur," he noted. "They are not," he added.
What happened to Ty and Brynlee?
Zhart and Larson divorced in 2012, but they originally got along because of their children. However, records examined by ProPublica show that Zhart took Ty to a pediatrician in 2018, when he was 11, to treat his panic attacks and extreme anxiety. At that time, Ty claimed his father had begun sexually abusing him when he was just four years old.
Reportedly, his father had held his head under water in a bathtub and squirted water into his anus. The boy claimed his father had behaved in a similar manner throughout his childhood and had even occasionally, while Ty was reportedly sleeping, come into his room and pet him. Ty also told investigators that his father threatened to murder his mother and sister if he told anyone about the abuse.
Father abused Brynlee when she was 7
Records, according to ProPublica, showed that Brynlee, then seven, claimed her father had also fondled and prodded her with his finger. Although Larson was never arrested, the Utah Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) and the authorities both deemed the accusations to be "supported" at the time. According to ProPublica, two additional juveniles also accused Larson of abusing them, but DCFS found the allegations to be "unsupported."
'Had to wrap my brain around what I was being accused of'
A few months after Larson's alleged misconduct came to light, Zhart was accused by Larson of alienating his children in order to ruin their relationship. She admitted to ProPublica that she had never heard of the phrase "parental alienation" before and had to look it up to determine what it meant. "I literally had to wrap my brain around what I was even being accused of," she stated. "I've watched them create this story about me, and it doesn't matter what the truth really is."
Ty and Brynlee were being maltreated by their mom
The claims, according to Larson's attorney, are "false" and have evolved over the years. "There have been similar false claims - repeatedly, for years. The stories continue to change and expand each time - always about the same events," attorney Ron Wilkinson said to ProPublica. "The children are being maltreated by their mother. It is heartbreaking," he stated. "All that is hoped for is that the children can recover from the damage their mother has inflicted upon them."
What did Judge Pullman say?
Judge Pullman upheld Larson's claim of parental alienation, describing it as a "campaign" run by Zhart. He instructed the siblings to engage in "reunification therapy" and referred to the accusations against Larson as an "abuse narrative." He also granted Ty and Brynlee's father custody of them, claiming that this was the "only way to recover the children from this psychological battlefield," reports Daily Mail.