![](https://www.wbiw.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Michael-J.-Tunstall.jpg)
(SCHERERVILLE) — A northwestern Indiana man has been charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son, whose bruised body had fresh bite marks.
![](http://www.wbiw.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Michael-J.-Tunstall.jpg)
Michael J. Tunstall, 26, was arrested Friday on murder and aggravated battery charges. He was being held without bail at the Lake County Jail, pending a Monday initial hearing.
The Schererville boy died Thursday from blunt force trauma to the head and torso/abdomen due to multiple heavy strikes that left him with a ruptured left lung, according to court documents.
A coroner’s examination showed that the majority of those injuries happened one hour before the boy died.
A police officer who saw what appeared to be fresh bite marks and some bruising on the child’s body at a Dyer hospital asked Turnstall about those injuries.
Tunstall told the office he played a “bite game” with the boy and did that to “calm him down,” according to court documents.