An Iowa teen was allegedly starved to death while tied up to a bed after he experienced a “violent” schizophrenic episode late last year.
18-year-old Ezekiel Baseme’s brothers, Azane Basme, 23; Pierre Baseme, 26; and Christian Baseme, 30, are now facing manslaughter and imprisonment charges in connection to his Nov. 2024 death.
Ezekiel’s family told police that two weeks prior to his death, he had been acting “erratically”, hearing voices, hallucinating, and threatening them.
His brothers opted to restrain him to his bed after he slipped out of the home in the middle of the night and threatened the neighbors.
The teen experienced a “violent” schizophrenic episode on Nov. 3 and stopped eating and drinking.
His brothers said that every time they untied him to give him water, he became combative and fought them.
The teen was still making noises and resisting the ropes on Nov. 5 and 6. After that, the brothers noticed that he had stopped breathing, and on Nov. 7, he was cold to the touch.
Police said the brothers reported that Ezekiel’s body began to “swell and smell” by Nov. 8, but they did not report his death until the following day.
The coroner’s office determined that Ezekiel died from “complications of probable starvation and dehydration in a setting of physical restraint.”
