In a quiet Burlington, Ontario, bungalow on Dec. 21, 2022, first responders answered a 911 call from Becky Hamber. What they found was not a tragic accident — it was the emaciated corpse of a 12-year-old Indigenous boy, lying unresponsive in a puddle on the floor—weighing only 48 pounds—in a locked basement room. He was soaking wet, wearing a wetsuit zipped and tied shut with plastic zip ties. The room contained nothing but a mesh cot and a garbage can, and the door had been locked from the outside. He was found hypothermic, with blue lips and vomit hanging from his mouth, and despite paramedics’ best efforts, he died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Hamber, 46, and her wife Brandy Cooney, 44, now stand accused of first-degree murder and forcible confinement in L.L.’s death, plus assault with a weapon, and failing to provide the necessaries of life to his younger brother, J.L. (now 13). They have pleaded not guilty in the judge-only trial in Milton Superior Court, which wrapped up days ago, where the Crown called the five-year pattern of abuse and systematic torture based on damning evidence in closing arguments “years of torture”—that makes the women’s “we were overwhelmed parents doing our best” defence look not just weak, but grotesquely pitiful.
Two “Child Experts” Who Claimed They Just Wanted to Be Moms
Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney presented themselves as the ideal adoptive parents. Both had spent their careers working with children. Hamber graduated from Bishop’s University with a psychology degree and launched Hamber Associates in Burlington in 2016 as a behavioural specialist. Cooney holds a college diploma in early childhood education. They met and married in 2014, and by 2017, they decided they “both really wanted to be moms.” So they attended an adoption fair, where they were drawn to two Indigenous brothers described as “fun,” and took them in as a prospective adoptive placement in October 2017. The boys were never formally adopted, but the couple still received subsidies while the children remained wards of Ottawa Children’s Aid Society under Halton CAS supervision.
Hamber stayed home full-time with the boys. Cooney worked at a daycare, then part-time overnight at a doughnut shop. In court, Hamber testified that she suffered from her own childhood trauma from being raised in an abusive adoptive home — but insisted after “over 15 years of working with special-needs kids” she could be a “loving, warm and compassionate parent” to high-needs children with agency support. That support, the defence now claims, never came.
The Boys’ Background: Removed as Toddlers, Thriving — Until They Weren’t
L.L. and J.L. were removed from their biological family as toddlers due to concerns about their home environment. They spent nearly five years thriving with a long-term Ottawa foster family, where they were described as enthusiastic, intelligent, bonded, and doing well. Teachers and therapists later testified that the boys were clever and curious — until the move to Burlington.
What followed, according to Crown evidence and testimony, was not parenting — it was a slow, calculated descent into confinement, starvation, and psychological torment.
Within weeks of arriving in 2017, the couple claimed “explosive tantrums,” property damage, biting, kicking, and even an Easter incident where L.L. allegedly shoved Hamber down a set of stairs. By 2018, they were “exhausted” and “burnt out.” Yet they pushed forward with the placement. What followed, according to Crown evidence and testimony, was not parenting — it was a slow, calculated descent into confinement, starvation, and psychological torment.
The Abuse: Locked Rooms, Zip-Tied, and a Kitchen on Lockdown
From roughly 2021 onward — especially during COVID lockdowns — the boys were allegedly kept in separate basement bedrooms locked from the outside, for up to 18 hours a day with 24-hour surveillance cameras watching them. They were forced into wetsuits, hockey helmets, and mittens, all secured with zip ties around necks, wrists, and feet—Hamber described the wetsuits as a “heavy hug” for safety. The boys had restricted bathroom access, which led to them soiling themselves regularly.
Food and water were tightly controlled, kitchen cupboards were locked, and meals were timed; extra food at school was forbidden. Texts recovered by police show discussions of withholding food as punishment for “not being calm.” In L.L.’s final months, he was allegedly fed only pureed food or smoothies. The couple claimed he had an undiagnosed eating disorder involving rumination and hoarding. Medical experts, including SickKids pediatrician Dr. Emma Cory, testified that he showed classic signs of severe malnutrition and stopped growing around 2021. He had dramatic weight loss, sagging skin, bruising, and bleeding gums.
J.L. testified it “wasn’t a home — it was like jail for kids.” He described restraints, locked rooms, and hunger. The surviving brother also said the women instructed them to make false allegations of prior sexual abuse — claims the couple later walked back in court.
The Texts and Videos: The Evidence That Makes Their Defence Collapse
Police forensic teams recovered thousands of deleted text messages and videos that laid bare the women’s raw contempt. They repeatedly referred to the boys as “f—face,” “loser,” “it,” “dick face,” “bastard,” and “the fucker.” One message read: “Drown them in their poo,” and another said, “I hate my child.”
A 2021 video filmed by Hamber was played in open court, showing a malnourished L.L. standing at the top of the basement stairs in his wetsuit and bright red mittens, sobbing: “It’s not fair. I’m hungry.” His neck bones protruded sharply, and he already looked skeletal. Separate photos taken in March 2022 showed the boy still wearing the same wetsuit inside his locked basement room. In their texts, the women openly discussed his shivering, vomiting, nosebleeds, and growing inability to stand — yet they continued the brutal regime without change.
On Dec. 13, 2022, L.L. weighed 48 pounds at a doctor visit, and eight days later, he was dead.
The Defence: It’s Everyone Else’s Fault
In testimony, Cooney and Hamber insisted the texts were just “frustration vents” and “dark humour.” The restraints were for safety against alleged extreme behaviours that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in damage and injuries to Hamber, which were never medically documented because they were “too busy.” They claimed the starvation was an untreated eating disorder, which they “relentlessly pursued” therapy options and clinics, but decided against it after self-research. They claimed CAS was aware of their unusual “safety methods” but didn’t offer support, and according to the couple, LL’s death was likely caused by refeeding syndrome after they tried to nurse him back to health.
But cross-examination shredded their delusions. Therapists testified they never recommended zip-tied helmets or wetsuits, and although Doctors and CAS workers saw red flags, the couple downplayed or misrepresented them to the professionals. There were no ER visits, no intervention, or professional outreach, just torture.
Hamber sobbed in the witness box when shown the 911 aftermath, insisting she “never wanted him to die,” and when asked by the judge, why didn’t they give the boys back to CAS if they were so impossible? Hamber responded with “We loved them.”
Souces:
- “Brothers locked in rooms for 18 hours, restrained with zip ties, court hears at murder trial”
CBC News (Hamilton) – December 10, 2025
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/cooney-hamber-trial-9.7010229 - “Moms called boy ‘loser’ and ‘prick’ years before his death”
Toronto Star – December 2, 2025
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/hope-he-gets-an-infection-prospective-moms-called-boy-loser-in-texts-years-before-his/article_d28c8bb9-2d17-475c-af53-7de9330fb677.html - “Police find ‘I hate my child’ search made on couple’s device”
CBC News / Yahoo News – December 5, 2025
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/police-hate-child-search-made-090000157.html - “‘It’s not fair. I’m hungry,’ boy sobs in video shown at murder trial”
CBC News (Hamilton) – January 19, 2026
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/livestory/hamber-cooney-trial-milton-ontario-january-19-9.7047174 - “Accused killer filmed malnourished boy begging for food”
Toronto Star – January 20, 2026
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/i-m-hungry-prospective-mom-filmed-malnourished-boy-begging-for-food-but-denies-it-was/article_902c219d-cf76-4e48-952c-949b3deacb98.html - “Boy ‘willing’ participant to having feet zip-tied, co-accused says in video shown at Ontario murder trial”
CBC News (Hamilton) – January 22, 2026
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/livestory/hamber-cooney-trial-milton-ontario-january-22-9.7055315 - “‘Mom’ accused of starving and sedating boy who later died”
Toronto Sun – January 22, 2026
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mandel-mom-accused-starving-sedating-boy-who-later-died - “Children’s Aid Society, couple in murder trial and doctors named in $4M lawsuit”
CBC News (Hamilton) – February 5, 2026
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamber-cooney-civil-lawsuit-9.7072773 - “Ontario couple in murder trial had no ‘calculated scheme’ to kill boy, defence says”
CBC News (Hamilton) – March 24, 2026 (live updates on closings)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/livestory/cooney-hamber-trial-milton-closing-arguments-9.7136047 - “Burlington couple made ‘disgusting’ choices, but malnourished boy’s death not a murder, defence argues at close of trial”
Toronto Star – March 24, 2026
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/burlington-couple-made-disgusting-choices-but-malnourished-boys-death-not-a-murder-defence-argues-at-close-of-trial/article_761a90af-6f65-406d-bab1-19eeb7c3ddd3.html