D.A.: Dad beat, tortured family
Court documents describe years of abuse inside house of horrors
LOWER PROVIDENCE >> A man is behind bars facing multiple assault and related charges for allegedly beating and torturing his wife and children inside their township home.
Bail was set at $1 million for Joseph Myhre, 44, after allegations of extreme abuse surfaced following his wife’s admission to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery with a fractured skull on March 15.
According to the arrest affidavit, the woman reported that Myhre had pinned her to the floor and repeatedly punched her in the back of the head. The woman told investigators she waited for Myhre to fall asleep at their Greene’s Way Circle home before driving herself to the emergency room.
Myhre was arrested Friday for the assault, but in the following days, detectives learned of an extended pattern of alleged abuse in which the man punched, kicked, strangled and beat his two children with wooden dowels and PVC pipes.
Myhre also reportedly tortured the children with remote-controlled dog shock collars, would stick lancets under their finger and toenails, and squeeze their fingers with pliers in addition to verbally abusing them.
In a series of interviews beginning April 3, Myhre’s wife and two school-aged children revealed a saga of systemic abuse that had occurred over the past six years.
The children, an 11-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son, told investigators that in addi-
tion to striking them with his fists, feet and other objects, Myhre would also strangle them to the point where they would lose consciousness and sometimes kneel or step on their stomachs causing extreme pain.
The dog collars, they said, he would use on their calves, sometimes causing them to lose feeling in their extremities. One of the children described his indifference to their suffering, as he would walk around as if nothing was happening.
Both children told detectives they had witnessed their father physically abusing their mother, who provided investigators with a cellphone recording in which one of the children is heard screaming and begging for Myhre to stop. Throughout the incident, Myhre is heard berating the child.
The children also reported that Myhre would make them take ice baths to reduce the swellings from the beatings, and instructed them to lie about how they got bruised or injured.
In all, the children, who are home-schooled, and their mother estimated hundreds of instances of abuse going back at least six years, according to court records.
When detectives interviewed Myhre on April 6, he reportedly admitted to striking the children with sticks and putting one of his children’s fingers in a vice grip. According to the affidavit, he told investigators that he didn’t do these things to hurt the children and they never cried or told him they were in pain.
Police subsequently searched the Myhre home and found the children had enclosed wooden boxes with air holes for beds. Authorities also found taped off pieces of PVC pipe, lancets, pliers and a dog shock collar with a remote and charging cable.
Myhre reportedly admitted to owning a dog collar, although he did not own a dog.
He has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault, strangulation, unlawful restraint, endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangerment, possessing instruments of crime and harassment.
A preliminary in hearing is scheduled in district court April 19. Myhre is being held in the Montgomery County jail, unable to post bail.