look at this beautiful child

then read the horror story. why does this happen? why did NO ONE speak up? why

why was this child not missed? did our society allow this to happen?

Caged and doomed, boy leaves sad account of his life

By Bob Greene, CNN Contributor

Editor's note: CNN contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose books include "Late Edition: A Love Story" and "Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen."

(CNN) -- The answers are starting to emerge. It is hard to imagine them being any more heartbreaking.

On May 22, I began a column by asking the questions:

"Why did no one miss him? Why didn't anyone seem to even notice he wasn't around?"

The body of a boy named Christian Choate, 13, had been found encased in cement and buried in a shallow grave in Lake County, Indiana. Police and prosecutors there alleged that he had been forced to live in a dog cage, and was kept naked except for a diaper. They alleged that his father, Riley Lowell Choate, 39, and his stepmother, Kimberly Leona Kubina, 45, had regularly beaten and kicked the boy, deprived him of food, and chained his hands to the top of the cage. They have been charged with murder, battery, neglect of a dependent and criminal confinement. They have pleaded not guilty; Riley Choate is scheduled to be back in court on Tuesday...........