Boyfriend accused of burning, scalding and stuffing boy, 3, into freezer

By Steve Mayes, The Oregonian
May 06, 2010, 6:20PM

Someone held 3-year-old Noah Scheurman under scalding water until his skin fell off. Someone pressed his hands against a wall heater that left grill marks on the boy's flesh. Someone stuffed him in a freezer.

Clackamas County prosecutor Chris Owen said Noah's tormentor is Derek John Piskorski, who met boy's mother last fall and moved in with them in Oregon City.

Piskorski, 23, went on trial Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court on assault and criminal mistreatment charges.

When Oregon City detectives interviewed Piskorski and Noah's mother, Katey Lynn Scheurman, the couple gave conflicting accounts of the boy's injuries and changed their stories several times.

Piskorski's defense attorney, Brad Jonasson Jr., said Noah was obviously injured, but it is unclear how the injuries occurred, under what circumstances, who was present and whether the acts were criminal or accidental.

Owen told Clackamas County Circuit Judge Ronald D. Thom, who is hearing the case, that Noah's life took a terrible turn when Scheurman and Piskorski met online in October 2009.

Both were single and unemployed. By December, they were living together.

The abuse began immediately and escalated, Owen said.

"It was clear that he didn't want Noah in his life or in Katey's life," Owen said, and tried to goad her into putting Noah up for adoption. "'Hey Noah, let's go meet your new family,' " Owen said Piskorski would taunt.

First there were spankings with a belt. The 6-foot, 210-pound Piskorski would throw Noah on the floor, smother him with pillows until he gasped for breath, and let the child play with a razor -- which left Noah with cuts on his chest.

Shortly before Christmas, Scheurman found her son curled into a ball on the kitchen floor. He had a black eye. Piskorski told her Noah ran into a doorknob.

"Unfortunately, the violence didn't stop there," Owen said.

He cataloged several acts of abuse.

Piskorski is a "neat freak" who cleaned the house daily and bathed Noah twice a day, Scheurman testified. Bath time became torture time. He forcibly held the child underwater, telling Scheurman, "Look, it's fun, Noah's learning to hold his breath underwater," he said.

Piskorski once emptied the refrigerator's freezer compartment and stuffed Noah -- who was dressed in his underwear -- into the icebox. Scheurman opened the door and looked into the eyes of her shivering boy.

Piskorski "had a fixation on burning" Noah, Owen said. He pressed and held the boy's hands against a wall heater, searing Noah's skin.

"Noah was cold," Piskorski explained.

The beginning of the end of Noah's torment came on Jan. 9.

Owen said Piskorski held Noah's face down while running 130-degree water over the boy's neck and upper back.

Piskorski offered several accounts of how Noah got the second-degree burns. None of the stories are plausible, said Dr. Dan Leonhardt, a pediatrician and child abuse expert at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center.

Someone forcibly held Noah under the faucet, Leonhardt said. During a hospital conversation, Noah offered an unprompted explanation. "Derek dunks me," he told Leonhardt. "I was scared. The water was hot."

Scheurman pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal mistreatment in March for allowing the abuse. She is serving a six-month sentence in the Clackamas County Jail.

As Owen cataloged the abuse Noah suffered over two months, he asked Scheurman why she didn't stop Piskorski.

"I guess I was in love with him," she said. "I didn't want to lose him."

From: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2010/05/boyfriend_accused_of_burning_scalding_and_stuffing_boy_3_into_freezer.html