Teen testifies about finding brother’s body in locked SUV

By Dave Toplikar

Published Friday, Feb. 18, 2011 | 2:05 p.m.

Updated Friday, Feb. 18, 2011 | 5:18 p.m.

Quaylyn Rimer calmly told a Clark County jury Friday about discovering his younger brother's body in his parents' locked SUV early on a June morning nearly three years ago.

"I thought he was sleeping," Quaylyn said. Then 14, Quaylyn was getting into the family's Excursion to go on a Boy Scout camping trip at Mount Potosi.

His 4-year-old brother, Jason, was still buckled into his seat in the car. The boy was still dressed in his church clothes. Quaylyn then touched the younger boy.

"I knew that he was dead," Quaylyn testified. "I closed the door and started crying and went back inside."

The coroner's office ruled that Jason had died from heat exposure from being inside the closed vehicle since the previous Sunday afternoon.

Quaylyn, who is now 17, spent more than 90 minutes on the witness stand Friday in the trial of his parents, Stanley and Colleen Rimer, who are charged with second-degree murder and multiple counts of child abuse, neglect and endangerment.

The trial, which began earlier this week, continued through the afternoon as more of the Rimers' eight children taking the witness stand to talk about the events leading to the discovery of the boy's body on June 8, 2008. Prosecutors say the parents had a pattern of neglect and abuse over the years, which led to the boy's death. The trial will continue at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday before Judge Douglas Herndon.

The parents have told police that Jason suffered from a medical condition known as myotonic dystrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy characterized by the wasting away of muscles. Jason had a limited vocabulary and was physically weak, unable to dress himself or open doors, according to police records.

The boy's father, Stanley Rimer has told authorities he had driven his pickup truck to church that day and that his wife was in charge of the boy. Stanley Rimer said he was ill after they had gone to church and after church spent the rest of the day in his bedroom.

Colleen Rimer has told investigators that she had asked another one of her children to take Jason out of the car after church. Her statements indicated that in the process of taking care of her husband and making another trip to church to get some of her other children, in her husband's pickup truck, she lost track of Jason.

One of her sons, Brandon, who was 18 years old at the time of Jason's death, testified that his father told him to bring Jason's body out of the SUV. Brandon said he thought his father didn't want to have to do it himself.

Brandon, who said he was called on often to pick up and carry Jason around for his parents, said he saw his mother cry after she found out he had died. He said his father showed emotion, but not as much as his mother.

Brandon also testified that his father had told the boys not to talk to Child Protective Services.

Quaylyn testified that after the family had returned from church, he had noticed that Jason wasn't around the rest of the family and thought he might be upstairs in his parents' bedroom.

He said the boys generally played video games downstairs in the family room, while their parents stayed in their room.

Brandon testified that he thought the other boys had found Jason after his mother had asked him to find the younger boy.

The Rimers' only daughter, Crystal Davis, 20, testified on Thursday that her parents' house was messy and dirty, the children would often have lice and that the boys were beaten by their father.

During questioning Friday, Quaylyn was asked by prosecutors about he and his brothers being spanked by their father multiple times. The boy said his father used a large paddle, a smaller paddle and a belt to spank the boys and would sometimes punch them. Brandon also testified that the paddles were used and that at least one of the paddles had been broken during a spanking.

Quaylyn said his father spanked him about 20 times with a paddle over a four-year period and about five times with a belt.

During cross examination today, Quaylyn was asked to demonstrate how his father punched him. He punched one of the attorneys in the shoulder, but it didn't look like it was a hard punch.

Quaylyn also said sometimes his father would take him into a room and pretend to hit him with a paddle, but would make noise by hitting a pillow with the paddle instead.