EUGENE, Ore. -- A juvenile court judge in Lane County, Ore., has ordered temporary state custody for six children of a couple charged with second-degree manslaughter in a teenage son's death.
The Register-Guard newspaper reports that the plan allows the youngsters to live with relatives while Russel and Brandi Bellew fight accusations that they failed to take a dying boy to a doctor because of their religious beliefs.
The Creswell couple were arrested Feb. 10 after a grand jury indicted them in the Dec. 20 death of Brandi Bellew's 16-year-old son Austin Sprout. The boy died after being ill for more than a week.
Background: Faith-healing couple charged in son's death
They pleaded not guilty Monday and were released Tuesday after relatives posted $20,000 bail. The Bellews were ordered not to have contact with their children.
They are affiliated with the General Assembly and Church of the First Born, which believes in using prayer to treat illness.
