Murder of Robbie Middleton: Difference between revisions

Robbie Middleton (born 29 April 1990, died April 2011), was an American boy from Splendora, Texas who on his eighth birthday on 29 April 1998 was tied to a tree, doused in petrol and set on fire. He suffered third-degree burns to 99% of his body and endured 200 operations, before dieing at age 21 from a cancer which doctors blamed on the original injuries.

Just prior to his death, Robbie, the son of Bobby and Colleen Middleton left a 27-minute video testimony on his death bed naming the perpetrator who he believed had torched him as Don Wilburn Collins (born 1985), at the time a 13-year old adolescent and neighbor of the Middletons. Don Collins had allegedly raped Middleton in the same spot of the torching just two weeks earlier and his attempt to murder him was to ensure that he would never reveal the secret. "Don grabbed me by my shoulder and threw gas in my face, after that I don't really remember anything" said Robbie Middleton in the video statement.^[1] Though Collins was detained in connection with the assault, he was later released because of insufficient evidence.

In a civil lawsuit against Collins, a Texas jury awarded the Middletons $150 billion in December 2011. Robbie Middleton's accusations have opened the way for Collins, now a convicted sex offender, to be charged with felony murder 14 years after the incident.^[2]

In 2001, Don Collins, aged 16 at the time had been jailed for sexually assaulting another eight-year-old boy and served time in jail. He also served time for failing to register as a sex offender and was released from prison 5 September 2011.^[2]