Where did you get that detail from?
I remember reading it in the initial Guardian newspaper story.
They mentioned that the boy had told his neighbors that he was being denied food for misbehavior, and also that his “mother” had said they were all going to die.
I took the threat as coming from the fact that Child Services had visited the home, and that the crazed bitches would rather kill the lot than give them up.
You can probably google The Guardian and find it...let me know if my memory is incorrect?