LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — Community members in Lebanon County are planning a "Lights On For Max" vigil tonight to honor the 12-year-old boy found dead in deplorable conditions inside an Annville Township home earlier this year.
Max Schollenberger was found dead in a room in his home on May 26. An autopsy determined he died of blunt force trauma to the head and starvation.
His parents, Scott Schollenberger Jr. and fiance Kimberly Maurer, are charged with homicide in Max's death.
To honor him, a community group planned tonight's vigil. They urge participants to turn on their lights tonight from 8 p.m. to 8:12 p.m. -- one minute for every year of Max's life.
"Max Schollenberger was allegedly brutally neglected, tormented, and killed by his father and stepmother," organizers said on a Facebook event page. "One of the ways they tortured him was by locking him in a room without access to light.
"On Wednesday, September 16, let’s honor him by turning on our lights from 8-8:12pm (one minute for every year of his life). Turn on your porch lights, interior lights, etc, so that Max knows there is light in the world for him."
After an investigation into Max Schollenberger's death, police found that the victim had been kept in his bedroom and hidden from the public and from some immediate family members for several years.
Authorities determined he had never been enrolled in school and had not visited a doctor in years.
Three other children who lived in the house did attend school and receive medical care, according to authorities.
