Police say a young boy, who was often locked in a bathroom and deprived of food, endured months of beatings that left him with serious brain injuries.

Cecily Charmaine Burton, 31, and Marzel Devon Mills, 40, were arrested Friday and charged with aggravated child abuse and attempted murder of the 9-year-old boy.

The boy was placed in state custody and hospitalized at Children's of Alabama in Birmingham after Tuscaloosa police were informed of his condition last Wednesday.

Doctors determined that the boy had severe brain trauma, fluid behind his eyes, bite marks and more than 100 wounds from extension cords and belts on his back, according to court documents.

Witnesses told police that Mills held the boy face down in a sink filled with water as if to drown him, according to the file. They also reported that Mills punched the boy in the face and bit him.

Police believe that Burton struck the victim's ear, which someone had attempted to stitch when police took custody of the boy. The witnesses reported that she struck the boy with a belt buckle, breaking his teeth and struck his head multiple times.

The boy is expected to survive.

Burton and Mills remained in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Tuesday with bond set at $400,000 each.

Mills filed a protection from abuse order against Burton in 2012, saying that the couple were married, but separated and trying to get divorced. He wrote that she had cracked his windshield and threatened to return that night "to finish what she started." The file indicates that the state had awarded custody of a son to Mills. There are no records to indicate whether the divorce was finalized.