Man, 40, is charged with abusing and murdering his adopted siblings - days after his mom and dad pleaded not guilty to horrific abuse of the children and killing a young girl in their care

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Michael Anthony Gray Jr., has been charged with murder and abuse involving children his parents adopted

A Tennessee man has been charged with murder days after his parents pleaded not guilty to similar charges over the deaths and abuse of children they had adopted. 

Michael Anthony Gray Jr., 40, was arrested after investigators found a boy's remains buried in the yard of a Knox County home where he lived with his parents and several adopted siblings.

Gray's parents have been charged with murder in the death of a girl whose remains were found on property owned by the family in Roane County. The Roane County case led authorities to search the Knox County property.

Michael Gray Sr., 63, and Shirley Gray, 60, pleaded not guilty Monday in Roane County to the murder charge and dozens of other crimes, including abuse. Officers say they also discovered the couple's son, aged 15, locked in a basement of their home.

Gray Jr. was on Wednesday charged with felony murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect and abuse of a corpse. It wasn't immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

Authorities began investigating the family in May after a little boy was spotted walking alone along a Roane County road. 

Arrest warrants state that a passersby called 911, and a responding officer began asking questions. 

Investigators quickly discovered the skeletal remains of the girl, identified by WBIR as Sophie Gray, in a barn at the Roane County property, after which Michael Gray Sr. confessed to burying her there. 

She had been locked in the basement for a few months before her death in 2017, while a 15-year-old boy was locked in the basement for four years, according to the warrants.

A search of the Knox County home is said to have uncovered the remains of Jonathan Gray.  

Michael Anthony Gray Sr. and Shirley Ann Gray pleaded not guilty to similar charges

Michael Gray Sr. is said to have told authorities that the girl was about 10 when she died. 

Two other children spent time in a wire dog cage, while all were supposedly home-schooled and appeared to be 'stunted in growth,' according to the warrants. 

WVLT reports that a cell phone seized from Gray Jr. contained a message sent to Gray Sr. on March 25, 2020, which read: 'Hey, do I need to put [redacted name] and [redacted name] on the census? I don't know if they share info with the IRS.'  

The state Department of Children´s Services removed three children, ages 11 to 15, from the home on the day the couple were arrested. 

The elder Grays are also facing a theft charge. Authorities say they didn´t report the girl´s death and kept receiving state benefits for being her adoptive parents. 

Their young adoptive daughter was said to be confined to a basement for months before her death, surviving on nothing more than bread and water.

Michael Anthony Gray Jr., 40, was arrested after investigators found a boy's remains buried in the yard of a Knox County home where he lived with his parents and several adopted siblings

Shirley Gray signed documents declaring that all the children were meeting their homeschooling requirements, however police say two of them 'appear to have had no formal education,' and 'were, in fact, amazed by what a refrigerator does when they observed one in their foster hom'

During the search of the home, officials said Michael Anthony Gray showed investigators where the girl died and where her body had been kept in a cardboard box before she was buried

During the same interview, authorities say the disgraced father admitted to locking his 15-year-old son in the home's partially-flooded basement for stealing fruit from the fridge shortly after the family moved to the home in June 2016.

Investigators determined the teen had been confined to the basement ever since, with no contact with anyone outside of it until officials removed him on May 22, 2020. The officers who liberated the teen said he was surrounded by feces, garbage and mold.

Much like his sister, the boy was also only given small amounts of food, including bread and water, authorities say. The parents reportedly admitted to withholding food from the children at times as a means of punishment.

During the search of the home, officials said Michael Anthony Gray Sr showed investigators where the girl died and where her body had been kept in a cardboard box before she was buried. Her skeletal remains were recovered among a grave filled with deceased farm animals.

The 63-year-old also revealed a small concrete room built under the stairs where two of the children had been kept for punishment, officials said. The room allegedly had no running water and no electricity.

Police noted that a bucket that had been placed inside the small room was filled with human feces and magazine pages that had been used as tissue. The rest of the house was stated to be filled with a strong urine smell, with human and animal feces spread throughout the home, on the walls and in a bed.

Gray's parents have been charged with murder in the death of a girl whose remains were found on property owned by the family in Roane County, pictured 

Michael Anthony Gray Jr., 40, was arrested after investigators found a boy's remains buried in the yard of a Knox County home, pictured 

After finding the body buried beneath a barn at the Grays home in Roane County, police subsequently obtained a warrant to search a property in neighboring Knox County where the Grays lived prior to 2017. The home now belongs to their adult son, Michael Gray Jr.

Their home also had no running water and had exposed wires and discarded trash scattered throughout, police said. 

The surviving children, ages 10 to 15, were removed from Michael and Shirley's custody by the state Department of Children's Services. They are not their biological children, the Attorney General's office said.

Warrants say Shirley admitted the children had not received medical or dental attention for at least six years prior to the investigation. All four children had been signed up for homeschooling.

Shirley Gray signed documents declaring that all the children were meeting their homeschooling requirements, however police say two of them 'appear to have had no formal education,' and 'were, in fact, amazed by what a refrigerator does when they observed one in their foster home.' 

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