An Indiana man, aged 34, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, with two years suspended and 26 days credited for time served, for the death of an 8-year-old boy. Matthew Joseph Dirig was found guilty of neglect of a dependent resulting in death by a jury on November 25. The incident took place on November 22, 2022, when Dirig was called to pick up the boy from the Boys & Girls Club due to behavioral issues.
According to court records, Dirig claimed the boy was acting aggressively upon returning home, leading him to lock the child in his room. However, video footage from a Ring camera contradicted Dirig’s account, showing the boy calmly entering the house. The boy’s mother stated that her son had mental health issues and was prone to tantrums, but she would only isolate him in his room for short periods to help him calm down.
Dirig, however, admitted to leaving the boy in his room for approximately two hours while he played video games. He failed to check on the boy even when his girlfriend texted him to inquire about the child’s wellbeing. When the mother returned home and checked on the boy, she found him unconscious with industrial-sized zip ties around his neck. Despite immediate calls to 911 and attempts to remove the ties, the boy was pronounced dead upon the arrival of first responders.
Investigators noted that while everyone at the scene appeared distraught, Dirig was noticeably unemotional. The mother informed investigators about her son’s history of behavioral issues, including suicidal tendencies. She mentioned that the boy’s behavior had improved after starting new medication and expressed disbelief that Dirig would intentionally harm her son.
Dirig, who worked in IT, claimed that the zip ties were for bundling cables and that the boy liked to play with them. He suggested that the boy may have wrapped the zip ties around his neck in a suicide attempt. However, investigators were skeptical, doubting that the boy would have been strong enough to tighten the zip ties to the point of asphyxiation. They also questioned Dirig’s claim of having difficulty removing the ties.
The same type of zip ties were found in the kitchen trash, and Dirig refused to allow police to search his phone. The cause of death was listed as unknown by the medical examiner, but homicide was not ruled out. Family members of the boy and his mother expressed concerns about Dirig, describing him as manipulative and alleging that he had pressured the mother to institutionalize her son. The mother has not been charged, and both her name and the boy’s name were redacted from the affidavit.