Brian Bainum, Michigan City, Indiana man beats to death his girlfriend, Halie Lewis’s 5 year old son because the boy was being disrespectful. Mom also cops felony charge of neglect of a dependant.
A 32 year old Indiana man has been accused of beating his girlfriend’s 5 year old son to death along with coaching the boy’s mother on what to say to police.
Brian Bainum of Michigan City, IN, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count of first degree murder following the death of the five year old boy at a Chicago hospital after being found unresponsive in a Northwest Indiana home on Sunday.
Bainum also faces an additional count of interfering with the reporting of a crime for allegedly preventing his girlfriend from calling authorities or getting her son medical help.
Halie Lewis, 23, the victim’s mother and with whom Bainum lived with was also charged with neglect of a dependent causing death, police said.
According to a news release from the Michigan City Police Department, officers at about 7:16 a.m. on Sunday, March 2, 2025, responded to a 911 call in reference to an unresponsive 5-year-old male at a residence in the 2200 block of Normandy Drive, which is about 150 miles north of Indianapolis.
Officers arrived at the scene along with the Michigan City Fire Department and LaPorte County Emergency Medical Services and located the victim inside the home. He was rushed to Franciscan Hospital for treatment before being flown onto to another hospital given the severity of his injuries.
Nevertheless the boy succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead at 7:02 p.m., police said.
A search warrant of the home was obtained along with a subsequent autopsy determining that the 5-year-old suffered an array of injuries, including a brain bleed as well as visible bruising to his head, back, and buttocks, among other areas. The manner of death was determined to be homicide with the cause of death being injuries sustained due to assault.
Court documents obtained by The Times of Northwest Indiana cited the victim’s mother initially telling investigators that she did not believe Bainum would hurt her son, and that the boy ‘really looked up to’ Bainum. However, that reportedly changed as the interview continued.
The mother said that Bainum felt her son was being ‘disrespectful’ and punished the child by making him take a 15-minute cold shower and continue apologizing for about an hour straight, WSBT reported. The mom then relayed Bainum yelling at the boy, who was crying, scared, and appeared to have been struck ‘really hard.’
Bainum allegedly claimed that the victim had bit him with enough force to leave a mark. When the mother told Bainum to stop abusing her young son, he allegedly responded by saying, ‘F— you, he is not going to bite me,’ WNDU reported.
Several hours later, the victim’s mother said she found her son unresponsive and cold to the touch on the floor in his room. When she tried to call 911, Bainum allegedly took the phone from her and refused to give it back for more than an hour, WSBT reported.
When she finally did call 911, Bainum allegedly ‘coached’ her about the story they would tell police.
‘She said Brice [Bainum] told her that we (police) are not her friend,’ a charging document stated.
The mother also said that Bainum would regularly get ‘jealous’ when she showed her son ‘too much attention’ and punished him in cruel ways, including forcing him to eat hot sauce for crying too much and verbally abusing him.
According to court paperwork, a neighbor who lives above the apartment told police that she heard the voice of a little boy saying, ‘No, please stop, I will be a good boy.’ The neighbor also said she heard what sounded like someone ‘thrashing in the water’ but then it went silent, and she didn’t hear anything else until the ambulance arrived roughly an hour later.
Bainum is currently being held in LaPorte County Jail on a bond of $1 million. He is scheduled to appear in court for his initial hearing on March 11.
Bond for the mother was set at $100,000 cash only, with Lewis currently being held in the LaPorte County Jail pending her initial hearing on Tuesday, March 11.
