Court documents allege the boy was beaten for several years and kept in a cage for as long as a year before his death in early 2009. His disappearance went unreported until May, when a tip prompted police to investigate.

In documents released Friday, Christian wrote of how often he had to steal food or use the bathroom in his place of confinement. He said he would be let out to clean or vacuum but had to go back inside immediately afterward, DCS records state.

He wrote about other children playing outside while he was confined inside. If he asked for something to do, he was given paper and a pencil, DCS records state.

Some of Christian's writings were random, while others appeared to be assignments from his stepmother, Kimberly Kubina Choate.

Kubina Choate wrote topics on top of some of the pages including, "Why do you want to play with your peter? Why do you still want to see your mom? Why can't you let the past go? What does it mean to be part of a family?" DCS records state.

Analyzing the system

State and local investigators now are trying to determine if and how the system failed to save him.