FERGUS FALLS, MINN. (KFGO) A 45-year-old Fergus Falls man has pleaded guilty in Otter Tail County District Court to second-degree to second-degree manslaughter in in the death of a six year old boy in April of 2018. Other charges were dismissed against Walter Wynhof, including two additional charges related to manslaughter and two charges related to the malicious punishment of a child. Forty-one year old Bobbie Bishop, Wynhoff’s co-defendant in the case was charged with identical counts. Bishop faces an evidentiary hearing which has been scheduled for March 21.
According to a court complaint, over a month period, between March 9th and April 9th, a six-year-old boy in their care was disciplined by whipping with a belt, duck taped against a wall and made to stand in corners for long periods of time. The victim was brought to Lake Region Hospital and was not breathing. Attempts to resuscitate the child were unsuccessful.
The court complaint states that the child needed disciplining. Bishop allegedly told investigators that Wynhoff went into the boy’s room and struck him in the face with a board that was found with blood on it. The boy was reportedly groggy and had slurred speech and handed Bishop a tooth that had been knocked from his mouth.
Lake Region Hospital doctors examining the child who died in the emergency room, found disturbing signs of abuse that apparently had been happening over a lengthy period of time due to scars and multiple injuries in different phases of healing.
Wynhoff will be sentenced on May 6th.
