Tesslynn Elizabeth O'Cull

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tesslynn O'Cull was beaten, burned, bound, sexually assaulted, starved, tortured and brutalized by her mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Compton, and her own mother, Stella Kiser, in the days leading to her death. Her back was broken 2-3 weeks prior to her death and rubbing alcohol had been poured into open wounds on her body.

 

Soon after Kiser and Tesslynn moved in with Compton, he began abusing Tesslynn. He hit her on her buttocks and back with a wooden spoon, a spatula, and a belt. Visitors to the apartment witnessed Compton slap her in the face, drag her by her hair, force her to stand in the corner for long periods of time, and make her take long, cold baths or showers. He was frequently angry at Tesslynn, and called her disparaging names. Visitors also observed that Compton and Kiser usually kept Tesslynn in the bedroom during the drug parties, and they could hear the child cry for hours after Compton had been in the bedroom with her. He would not permit others to go into the bedroom to help her. Eventually, Compton and Kiser kept Tesslynn in the bedroom most of the time.

 

Approximately two months before Tesslynn's death, Compton broke four vertebrae in her back. Sometime thereafter, he forcefully penetrated her vagina with an object and inflicted burns on the child's back, buttocks, and genitals using an open flame. Some of those burns became infected, and Compton poured rubbing alcohol into them. He also inflicted round burns on the child's legs. During the two-week period before Tesslynn died, Compton and Tesslynn's mother immobilized her 10 to 15 times by placing her hands over her head and pulled her feet up over her shoulders tying them together with ropes, cords, or strips of cloth. They would leave her tied up for eight to ten hours at a time.

 

Compton found Tesslynn dead in the bedroom of the apartment between midnight and 2:00 a.m. on June 14, 1997. Compton cut Tesslynn loose from her restraints. He tried to revive her by giving her CPR. He also struck her in the left side of the chest a few times with his fist...then applied a frayed, live electrical cord to her chest and splashed her with cold water. He was unable to revive her. Compton and Kiser agreed to leave the body in the bedroom while they thought about what to do. Tesslynn's injuries were so extensive that Compton and Kiser feared that they would go to jail if anyone saw the body. In the days after they buried Tesslynn, Compton and Kiser were happy, playful, and affectionate with one another. They told friends that Tesslynn was with a babysitter or at Kiser's aunt's house and that they were planning to move out of town. They also told friends that they wanted to have a baby boy.

 

On the evening of June 16, 1997, Compton's sister told the Springfield Police Department that she had helped Compton and Kiser bury Tesslynn's body in the Sweet Home, Oregon area two days earlier. Five days after her 3rd birthday Tesslynn's battered body was found in a shallow grave in some woods. She was bound, shocked and sexually assaulted. That afternoon, police officers went to Compton's apartment. They advised Compton of his Miranda rights and obtained his permission to enter the apartment and to look around. Most of the apartment was dirty and smelled bad. There were holes in the walls, which Compton had made by punching the walls when he was angry or by throwing knives.

 

The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy concluded that Tesslynn had died of shock, and he listed the cause of death as "battered child syndrome." Compton was indicted on six counts of aggravated murder, murder by abuse, first-degree sexual penetration, and second-degree abuse of a corpse. The jury convicted him of all counts, and he was sentenced to death. Stella Kiser was found guilty of aggravated murder, and sentenced to life without possibility of parole.