After torturing a family for days and ultimately beating and drowning a 4-year-old girl to death, the Benton County couple found responsible for these crimes is now in custody.

Ethan Mast, 35, and Kourtney Aumen, 21, beat a neighboring family regularly for two weeks before killing their young child.

When the girl was found, she was seriously bruised from the neck to the feet, and on both her front and her back sides.

When asked about their strange cruelty, the couple said they were doing this to the family because a demon-possessed the mother.

The police were called with a tip that a dead girl was lying upstairs in the home. When they got there, they found the girl dead, bruised and wrapped in a blanket.

The girl's father said that the couple had been beating the family for about two weeks. When beating the family members, they used a wooden spoon and a leather belt.

When the authorities got to the home, the man's wife had severe beatings. Her face was blackened and there were severe bruises all over her back.

Their 2-year-old boy had blistered legs which were also bruised.

Luckily, the infant child seemed unharmed.

Girl Tortured To Death As Her Parents Watched

On the day the 4-year-old died, Mast and Aumen arrived at about 8 in the morning and started to beat her. They forced the girl's mother and father to watch as it happened.

In fact, the man also suffered beatings with a wooden spoon for being sympathetic to his wife and children.

When asked why he had not done anything about the abuse, the father said he was informed that his wife had a demon and that the children needed to be "taken care of" to keep them from ending up with the same problem.

He was also warned by Mast that failure to allow the beatings would result in something worse for him, including getting shot.

Aumen told the man that Satan would come if he tried to offer help or comfort to his family.

With these warnings, the man backed off as the couple terrorized his family for several days. The abuse included forcing the girl's parents to perform sexual acts on her using a foreign object.

As the couple beat the girl, she was begging the family to help her, but nobody lifted a finger. After the beatings, she was forced to go outside.

While there, they made her get into a pond and stand inside.

Later, the girl was held underwater as her father watched. Afterward, she was left on the bank of the pond and then Mast and Aumen left.

After their capture, the two were charged with second-degree murder, three counts of first-degree assault, and sexual abuse.