Tremonton parents arrested, accused of killing child through torture

TREMONTON — A Tremonton couple was arrested Wednesday and accused of disturbing torture of their children through punishments that led to the death of an 11-year-old boy.

Brigham Young Merrell, 35, was booked into the Box Elder County Jail for investigation of child abuse homicide and child torture. His wife, Melinda Marie Merrell, 36, was arrested for investigation of child torture.

On Sept. 21, 2025, Brigham Merrell called 911, saying he had found his "minor child hanging by a coaxial cable," according to a police booking affidavit.

During the call, he said he was giving the child CPR, but when Tremonton-Garland police officers arrived, "Brigham was kneeling by the child, but was not performing CPR," the affidavit states.

Emergency responders started treating the child, who was transported to a hospital but later declared deceased. While the victim was receiving medical attention, Brigham Merrell left the room to change his clothes. "This conduct is consistent with an attempt to destroy or conceal physical evidence," police wrote.

No other adults were home at the time of the incident.

Tremonton-Garland police declined to release the identity of the child who was killed "out of respect for the victim's dignity." A GoFundMe account posted just a day after the child's death said Brigham and Melinda Merrell experienced the "unexpected passing" of their 11-year-old son Moroni Merrell.

"Within the week following the incident, multiple items were discarded from the residence, surfaces were painted over and rooms altered," the affidavit alleges.

During a monthslong investigation following Moroni's death, police reported discovering several inconsistencies in Merrell's story. The father was interviewed multiple times, but his answers regarding who found the child, what position the child was in, and the circumstances leading up to the incident kept changing, police said.

Camera footage from inside the home shows the father carrying the child from a different room into the upstairs bedroom, police said.

"A clip was also found that showed the suspect carried the lifeless child past emergency responders who were actively knocking on the door and continued to carry him up to the room where the hanging is alleged to have occurred," the affidavit says. "He has since never given the same reasoning or justification of why the body was moved to a different location."

Investigators used the footage to create a timeline of events that they say did not match Merrell's version.

The child's injuries in a forensic examination were also deemed to be inconsistent with the coaxial cable, "directly contradicting Brigham's account," according to the arrest report. "Other inconsistencies with the ligature markings were also present, that due to my training and experience, I do not believe are the result of a hanging but are from another force."

A cluster of bruising was located on the child's back that didn't appear to be related to a hanging but "was indicative of bruising that occurred immediately prior, or during death," the affidavit states. Both parents allegedly told police they didn't know what caused the bruising, but the father said it "could be from a belt."

Other children who were in the home during the incident were interviewed, including one who "alleged to have seen the victim die after receiving a whooping from Brigham," according to the affidavit.

"During interviews with the children, friends of the children, the suspect and his wife, we also found yearslong allegations of child abuse and child torture, which included food restriction, admittance of corporal punishment that resulted in bruising when belts, pans and other items were used to whip, as well as allegations that the children are sent out to stay in an outside dog run when they are in trouble," according to the affidavit.

Melinda Merrell told investigators she would check for bruises two days after a whipping to "adjust their methods," including switching to using pans because spoons were leaving marks, according to a separate police booking affidavit.

Both parents "admitted to the abuse and stated they should have looked into the laws in Utah before they moved here. Melinda, specifically, stated she was not taught that leaving marks on her children was not acceptable," police wrote in the court documents.

Video footage obtained by police shows Melinda Merrell "directly participated in the beatings or stood and watched as her husband participated in them," the affidavit alleges.

Tremonton-Garland police said the decision to arrest them was made after an "exhaustive multiagency investigation," and it is "committed to ensuring this case is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law on behalf of the victim and surviving children."

The rest of the children in the home have been taken to child welfare agencies.

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