Port Huron Parents Could Face Life in Prison if Convicted of Child Abuse

Port Huron Police responded on a Tuesday evening to a call about an unresponsive child. Authorities arrived to discover 5-year-old Mackenzie Maison and her 3-year-old sister, Makayla, in a terrible state. Both girls appeared severely malnourished and dehydrated. 

 
They were transported to the hospital where Mackenzie was later declared dead. Port Huron Public Safety Director Michael Reaves described their condition as “horrific”. He said that while the parents indicated that the two girls were reluctant to eat, the state of their two daughters was clearly indicative of something more extreme.

 
The girls’ parents, 25-year-old Andrew W. Maison, and stepmother, 27-year-old Hilery N. Maison, have both been arrested and charged with multiple felonies. Both are facing felony charges of murder, torture and first degree child abuse. If convicted, each of them will be looking at life sentences in prison.

 
According to police, there were two other children also living in the home at the time. Boys, aged 1 and 10, who were apparently in perfectly good health at the time that police arrived at the home. According to authorities, the two boys are the biological children of Hilery Maison, while the two girls are the biological children of Andrew Maison.

 
The couple was arraigned via video in the St. Clair County District Court and entered non-guilty pleas. Both were subsequently denied bond.

 
There are several questions that have yet to be resolved in this case, and details are likely to be revealed as the investigation unfolds. For example, why was it that two of the children were in good health, while the other two appeared to be starving and abused?  Did it have something to do with the gender of the children, or who their biological parents were, or is it something else entirely? We will know more as the investigation proceeds.