Docs: Ex-Colts tackle admits he ‘whooped’ son ‘like a grown a** man’
LOGANSPORT, Ind. (WISH) — Talking to a relative, former Colts defensive tackle Daniel Muir said he beat his 14-year-old son over allegations of inappropriate contact that the boy had with other children.
That’s according to redacted court documents News 8 obtained Wednesday afternoon from Cass County authorities.
“I whooped his ass like a grown ass man,” Daniel Muir reportedly told a relative, according to the court documents.
Daniel Muir also told the relative, the brother of his wife, that “if they lived in their homeland (religious country) (redacted name) would be put to death for his acts, instead they live in the United States so they could not put him to death,” court documents say.
The Muirs’ son Bryson Muir, 14, had been the subject of a Silver Alert. He was found safe and unharmed, Indiana State Police said after a Wednesday morning raid of the Muirs’ home.
Muir and his wife, Kristen Muir, were being held in jail without bond after a Wednesday court hearing. Daniel Muir was charged with domestic battery, and he and his wife were charged with obstruction of justice.
Muir played four seasons with the Colts, from 2008-2011. He played in 40 games in Indianapolis, starting 26 of them. He played seven total years in the NFL, spending one season with each of the Packers, Jets, and Raiders.
A special weapons and tactics team of the state police at 6 a.m. Wednesday, using a search warrant, raided the Muir home in the 1700 block of U.S. 24 in Logansport. The action came at the request of the Department of Child Services to investigate allegations of domestic abuse.
State police previously reported that the property in Logansport is owned by the Servant Leadership Foundation. Daniel Muir is said to be a former pastor of Straitway Truth Ministry. The nonprofit religious group based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, according to ProPublica online records. Members of the controversial religious sect identify as Hebrew Israelites, and they live in communes.
I-Team 8’s Cat Sandoval on June 27 spoke to the family’s neighbors, who declined to be on camera for fear of retaliation. However, they described the Muirs’ Logansport property and the Straitway Truth Ministry as “scary,” “creepy” and “cult-like.” Multiple “no trespassing” signs line the property gates. Some neighbors told Sandoval on June 27 they have heard gunshots from the property in the past.
Bryson had been missing since June 16. He was last seen leaving Ohio with his mother after visiting his grandmother, Cheryl Wright. Wright called state police after Bryson left and reported he might have been abused, and she asked police not to let Bryson go home with his mother.
State police on June 18 were asked by Cass County’s division of the Indiana Department of Child Services (DSC) to investigate abuse to Bryson. Photographs showed that he had what court documents called “swelling and bruising around his right eye” while holding an ice pack inside what appeared to be a residence.
The Silver Alert for Bryson Muir showed him with a black eye.
“The DCS report describes (redacted name’s) injury is the result of punishment dealt by his father, Daniel Muir,” the court documents say.
Court documents say Kristen Muir on June 20 confirmed in a recorded call to her mother, Cheryl Wright, that the injury came from Daniel Muir punishing his son.
Court documents also describe how Daniel Muir and Kristen Muir tried to prove to investigators that their son wasn’t injured by his dad.
In June 27 meetings with state police, the boy’s parents produced videos where Bryson Muir denied his father punched him in the eye. Kristen Muir also told state police that an unknown individual had punched Bryson Muir when he went to take out trash and walked over to train tracks near their property. She said Bryson Muir reported the injury to her and his father when he returned home.
Daniel and Kristen Muir will be back in court at 9 a.m. July 16 for a hearing about bond. The defense attorney for Kristen said Wednesday in court that he believes holding her without bond violates her constitutional rights because an Indiana matrix says the bond should be $500 surety or $100 cash for the Level 6 felony.
The judge said the parents’ failure to comply with the police investigation for two weeks was why no bond was issued.
Daniel Muir responded, “I have children man.”
Kristen Muir is nursing a 8-month-old child.
Child Services on Wednesday took all the Muirs’ children into their care, although authorities have not said how many children the pair has. The Muirs married in 2009.
In the court documents, Child Services also found the Muirs’ other children may have been disciplined. In the court documents, children with redacted names reported during interviews on June 27 that they’d previously been “whooped” with a green water hose on the legs, arms and butt.
Charles Dowell, head pastor of Straitway Truth Ministries, issued a video response on the Muir’s arrests. He says the raid happened while “the Israelites were in prayer,” and all happened over “an allegation” made to Child Services.
“No one really knows what happened,” Dowell said.
The head pastor also says that, while he imagines the fallout from the “allegation” will not end well, the church “will not take any of this lying down.”
“We’re coming. You better believe we’re coming,” Dowell said. “We’re going to see how funny everything is when the smoke clears and when you really truly find out they made a mountain out of a molehill.”
News 8’s Kody Fisher, Kyla Russell and Josh Bode contributed to this report.
Help is available for victims of domestic violence. Below is a list of suggested resources on the Domestic Violence Network website:
- Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence: 24-hour hotline available at 800-332-7385
- Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking
- The Julian Center
- Indiana Child Abuse Hotline: 800-800-5556
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788
- National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-4673
