An Indiana woman who weighed 340 pounds killed her 10-year-old foster son by sitting on him for “acting up” and now will head to prison.
Jennifer Lee Wilson, 48, has been sentenced to six years in prison after the death of Dakota Levi Stevens last April. She pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in October and admitted to sitting on him for five minutes.
On April 25, police were called to the house in the city of Valparaiso, Porter County, where they found Dakota was not breathing and had no pulse, CBS News reported at the time.
Officers found that Stevens had bruising on his lower neck and chest, according to an affidavit seen by the network, and police tried to resuscitate him.
At the scene, Wilson told police that Dakota had run away from home after an argument and he was “acting up.”
When he returned, Wilson told police that her son threw himself on the floor and threatened to leave again. She then restrained him and sat on his midsection for about five minutes.
Porter County Sheriff’s Detective Dan Alonzo wrote in the affidavit that he reviewed doorbell camera footage of the incident that showed Wilson lying across the boy’s body near his neck and head. He screamed “the whole time,” the affidavit said.
As she sat on Dakota, Wilson called his caseworker in an attempt to “calm him down.” The affidavit said Wilson “eventually got out of breath due to her weight,” CBS reported.
Wilson was heard in video footage asking Stevens, “Are you faking?” the affidavit continued. After no response from Dakota, Wilson rolled him over and saw that his eyelids were pale. She began CPR and dialed 911.
When officers arrived, they tried to resuscitate Dakota. He was airlifted to a children’s hospital but died two days later, according to CBS.
His autopsy concluded he suffered organ and soft tissue damage, in addition to liver and lung hemorrhaging, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said that his cause of death was mechanical asphyxia and the manner of death a homicide.
Dakota had spent the previous five years in different foster homes, the IndyStar reported. His former foster parent Hayden Hertzel posted a tribute to the 10-year-old on Facebook in April last year: “Thank you for the laughs, the cries, the sleepless nights, the endless memories.. your excitement & passion for anything that you did & put your mind too AMAZED me.”
Hertzel added: “I hope you are up there dancing & singing & eating all of the chicken nuggets & pizza that you can ever imagine. Along with all of the sweets you loved to eat down here!”
“You’re free … The system definitely failed you my son… until we meet again… I love you, I love you, I love you!!!” the touching post read.
