What the 3-year-old boy died from or even how long he had been dead when law enforcement officials found his burned body in some woods off a backcountry road in Bluffton this past weekend has yet to be formally released.

But newly filed court documents from the Wells County prosecutor provide a clue about what officials believe ultimately killed Owen Collins before his body was dumped in those woods and lit on fire by the people who were supposed to care for him in a mobile home on Normandy Drive: methamphetamine.

Owen’s mother, 21-year-old Breanna Arnold, and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Zachary Barnes, made a second appearance in Wells Circuit Court on Thursday since their arrests in the aftermath of Owen’s disappearance and the discovery of his body.

Both are now formally charged with six felony counts in connection to the boy’s death, the most severe being neglect of a dependent resulting in death.

In that charge, prosecutors not only accuse Arnold and Barnes of allowing Owen to be around meth and the chemicals used to make the drug, but of also putting him in situations where he could possess or ingest the drug, which court documents said "resulted in the death of (Owen)."

Arnold, Barnes and a 16-year-old boy identified in court documents only as "Face" were living at 521 Normandy Drive with Owen and Arnold’s other son – a 6-year-old boy – when Owen died, according to the documents.

The trio were "shooting dope" in the hours leading up to Owen’s death, according to a police interview with Barnes, who also admitted to putting "dope" in the drinks of Arnold’s sons so those who lived at the home could "watch them have fun."

Barnes and Face told police that the trio found Owen dead around Saturday morning. Nobody called police, Barnes said in court documents, because the boy was dead and all three were scared about what might happen if they did call.

So they wrapped the boy’s body in plastic and put it in the bottom drawer of a bedroom dresser in the home, where it stayed for at least a day.

At some point, the three began to talk about what to do with the boy. One idea that popped up between the three was to cut him into pieces and throw them into the river, according to court documents.

Instead, they put the boy’s body in a box.

After hailing a ride from a woman who knew them, Barnes and Face took the box into some woods and used nail polish remover to light it on fire.

They then had the woman – she never saw what was in the box and has not been charged with a crime – drive them to Marion, where Barnes met with his brother. Barnes’ rambling about the boy missing led to his brother calling police, which sparked an intensive search for the boy.

While police were with Arnold in Bluffton, officers in Marion pulled over the vehicle Barnes and Face were in.

Confessions under police questioning from Barnes and Face on Sunday quickly led to the arrest of all three, according to court documents.

Face is currently in a juvenile detention center facing a felony charge of abuse of a corpse.

On top of the neglect of a dependent resulting in death charge, Barnes and Arnold also each face two counts of neglect of a dependent, one count of obstruction of justice, one count of altering the scene of a death and a count of abuse of a corpse.

Barnes is on probation after having received a yearlong suspended prison sentence in August for one count of possession of a controlled substance in Blackford County, according to court records.

Barnes and Arnold are due back in court for another procedural hearing March 11.

jeffwiehe@jg.net