Year Anniversary In Horrific Slaying Of Chester County Boy, Aged 3

By ALISON SMITH and JUSTIN HEINZE

The criminal case seeking the death penalty in the torture and murder of a Chester County toddler continues on, one-year later.

Two people have been charged with torturing and beating to death a 3-year-old Chester County boy, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.

Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait are charged with the murder of Tait’s son, Scott McMillan, 3.

Scott was tortured for days with aluminum siding, a metal rod, a frying pan, a homemade whip and fists, while he was at various points hung from his feet and taped to a chair, authorities said.

Scott’s brother Ryan, 6, also was tortured.

An 11-month-old infant also living in the West Caln Township mobile was unharmed.

Gary Fellenbaum told authorities that he felt Scott was disrespectful, and grew angry when the child refused to eat breakfast, which is what prompted the fatal beating.

Authorities were called to the home on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, where they found Scott dead. Scott had “bruises, lacerations and puncture wounds over significant portions of his body,” according to the affidavit.

Tait and Fellenbaum confessed that Scott had been “punched and beaten with blunt and sharp objects, whipped, taped to a chair with electrical tape and beaten, [and] hung up by his feet and beaten,” the affidavit says.

Tait and Fellenbaum, who were a couple, lived in the mobile home with Fellenbaum’s estranged wife, Amber Fellenbaum. She is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Tait and Fellenbaum went car shopping and took a nap as the child lay dying, the affidavit says.

Tait and Fellenbaum have been charged with murder.

Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan is seeking the death penalty. In a case of this magnitude, it is normal for litigation to take this amount of time, according to prosecutors. 

Images of Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait (Photos courtesy of the Chester County District Attorney’s Office)