A Utah man allegedly beat his 14-year-old daughter with a jump rope when she couldn’t finish a punishing weightlifting session, leaving the girl with red welts across her body after she had already pushed herself to the point of wetting her clothes.
Peter James Reid, 35, allegedly lashed the teenager three times inside their Provo home while she tried to shield herself behind a squat machine. His daughter had been unable to meet his demands during an exercise session that involved lifting heavy weights.
An October 10 arrest put Reid behind bars without bond at the Utah County Jail. Prosecutors brought a first-degree felony charge of aggravated child abuse against him in Fourth District Court on Tuesday.
The marks on the teenager’s body became central to the investigation. An officer photographed injuries stretching across her back and buttocks, along with another on her upper left shoulder.
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A separate injury on her calf stood out because of its rounded shape and developing bruise. The girl identified the jump rope’s handle as the object responsible for that mark.
Investigators also preserved photographs of the black plastic rope, allowing them to compare the suspected weapon with the marks documented on the teenager’s body, as detailed in the probable cause affidavit.
What puzzled police was the condition of the teenager’s clothing. She explained that Reid would not let her interrupt the workout to relieve herself, leaving her unable to control her bladder.
Her father offered an entirely different account of what happened.
Reid maintained that heavy squatting sometimes causes women to lose bladder control and told police a towel had been positioned on the floor for that possibility.
The father acknowledged using the rope against his daughter but had no recollection of causing the mark on her leg. He was equally uncertain when questioned about whether he had threatened her.
The confrontation began with Reid’s expectations for his daughter’s athletic training. A basketball player at Shoreline Middle School, she had been following a schedule that he characterized as two workouts a day, usually six days a week at most.
The 115-pound barbell was considerably lighter than the 225 pounds Reid insisted his daughter could ordinarily squat. Her difficulty that day nevertheless angered him, despite the difference between what he claimed she could lift and what she was managing during the session.
Two squats were all she completed before stopping. Reid had demanded a set of 15 without a break and refused to accept her attempt to quit, ordering her back to the beginning.
The teenager tried to put the weightlifting machine between herself and her father once he obtained the rope. She eventually curled up to protect herself, but Reid allegedly reached her and delivered three blows.
He then drove away from the residence, later telling police that he needed to “cool off.”
Crying and labored breathing could be heard behind a suspicious emergency call from the Provo home, prompting an officer to investigate. The response brought police face-to-face with the teenager’s mother, Abish Reid, 34, who broke down at the doorway as she identified her husband as the person responsible for the attack.
Her daughter’s distress was apparent when officers approached her. She struggled to settle her breathing before displaying the raised marks on her lower back, some of which appeared close to breaking the skin.
Reid returned while the investigation was underway. After a private interview and an examination of the teenager by medical personnel, officers took him into custody.
A far more devastating outcome followed another family’s decision to use punishing exercise and physical force against a child in Colorado.
A 4-year-old boy died after being left with Alexander Martinez-Armstrong, 24, who allegedly subjected him to repeated beatings during a disciplinary arrangement his mother had approved.
The boy’s injuries were already extensive when emergency personnel reached an Aurora apartment on May 23. He was unconscious and unable to breathe, and efforts to save him at the hospital were unsuccessful.
Martinez-Armstrong allegedly admitted striking the youngster repeatedly during his stay, with investigators learning that at least 21 blows from a belt were delivered on the day of the fatal injuries.
Bruising across the boy’s body showed that some of the injuries had developed earlier than others.
Police arrested Martinez-Armstrong at the apartment. He faces a first-degree murder charge.
The boy’s mother, Destini Rose Lipsky, 23, had reportedly given him authority to impose punishments involving physical strikes and strenuous exercise. The activities she permitted included spanking, whipping, planks, wall sits and push-ups.
Disobedience, dishonesty and taking candy or searching through his mother’s belongings were among the behaviors Lipsky wanted corrected. She arranged a “boot camp” with Martinez-Armstrong, a friend of the child’s father whom she regarded as “like a brother,” according to an affidavit obtained by the Denver Post.
The youngster’s screams could be heard from another room, Martinez-Armstrong’s girlfriend recounted to investigators. She also described seeing him make the child practice writing numbers, with strikes from a belt landing on his uncovered skin during the exercise.
Lipsky was later taken into custody and charged with child abuse resulting in death, while Martinez-Armstrong faces prosecution for the boy’s killing.
In Texas, the courts have already imposed prison terms totaling 65 years on two adults convicted in connection with the death of 12-year-old Danilo Coles following hours of punishment.
Danilo’s father, Derrick Coles, 45, received 45 years in prison after an October 2025 conviction for injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. His stepmother, Kapri Cheatom, 31, received 20 years after pleading guilty to that offense.
The boy died in February 2022 following an ordeal at the family’s San Antonio home. Derrick initially blamed his son’s condition on an accident in the shower, but doctors documented injuries inconsistent with a simple fall.
The damage to Danilo’s body went well beyond bruising. His abdomen showed signs of internal bleeding, while the injuries around his buttocks were so extensive that portions of the skin were hanging loose when medical workers examined him.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner determined that rhabdomyolysis had killed him, a condition in which damaged muscle tissue releases potentially dangerous substances into the bloodstream.
Danilo’s punishment began with a physical demand involving approximately 50 pounds of water bottles packed into boxes. He could not keep the containers raised, and even after the load was reduced, his inability to continue brought another requirement: push-ups.
The punishment consumed roughly four or five hours, Cheatom told detectives. A shower did not end the demands. Danilo was allegedly put through more push-ups until he could do no more, after which his father beat him with a belt as he lay curled on the floor.
A physician who treated Danilo explained during the proceedings that rhabdomyolysis becomes deadly only in particularly severe cases.
