A packed courtroom burst out into applause when a Mercer County judge increased the bail for three people accused of beating and starving a seven-year-old Greenville boy.

Amid tightened security, preliminary hearings for the boy's mother, Mary Rader, 28, and grandparents Dennis and Deana Beighley, were held in the Mercer County courthouse on Thursday.

The three were originally scheduled to appear before a magistrate in Greenville on charges of assault, unlawful restraint of a minor, false imprisonment, endangering a child's welfare and conspiracy.

Four additional charges were filed against the trio.  They are now also charged with conspiracy and criminal attempt to commit murder in the first and third degree.

Robert Kochems is the Mercer County District Attorney, "Murder in the first degree is a premeditated murder, so we're saying this was thought out, planned out, it just didn't end in the death of the child.  The law has changed very recently to allow us to file these charges in our opinion, so that's why they were not filed initially.  We wanted to feel like we were on more secure ground when we did it."

Police reports say the unnamed child weighed just 25 pounds when he was found in the Greenville home. He was only fed small portions of tuna fish and eggs and was beaten frequently with a belt, especially when he was caught sneaking food, according the reports.

The child was removed from Greenville schools in 2013 to undergo home schooling. At home, he allegedly was not permitted out of the house except on the back porch where he would catch bugs and sometimes eat them.

The three had been free on bond.  But the judge hearing the case increased bail to $100,000 for each of the suspects, and ordered that they be jailed immediately.

Patti Fowler, with the Neighborhood Watch in Greenville, and was disturbed after hearing details of the case, "Sick to my stomach, disgusted, it's horrific."

Cindy Shuffstall, who sat through testimony at the hearing, is a cousin to Deana Beighley, "I hope they rot in jail.  That little boy he had an angel that day in whoever found him on the street, and whoever that is I'd like to thank her."

All three suspects will be arraigned in Mercer County Common Pleas Court on October 7th.

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