A 10-year-old Indiana boy was crushed to death after his foster mother, who weighed 340 pounds, allegedly sat on him for several minutes because he was “acting bad.”
Jennifer Lee Wilson, 48, was sentenced in January to six years in prison, with one year suspended to be served on probation, according to WMAQ. She was charged with reckless homicide in the death of Dakota Levi Stevens.
On April 25, police responded to a home in Valparaiso, Indiana, after receiving a report that the boy was not breathing. Officers found him unresponsive with no pulse and observed bruising on his lower neck and chest. Despite efforts to resuscitate him, he was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
Wilson told police that Dakota had recently run away but was found at a neighbor’s house and brought back home. She claimed he continued misbehaving, threw himself on the ground, and threatened to leave again.
According to a court filing, Wilson stated that while trying to stop him, she was unsure if she tackled him or if they both fell. Her intention, she claimed, was to restrain him.
She admitted to sitting on his midsection for about five minutes. When he stopped moving, she believed he was pretending. “Are you faking?” she asked before rolling him over and noticing his pale eyelids. She then attempted CPR and called 911.
On April 27, South Bend Memorial Hospital confirmed Dakota had died. An autopsy determined his cause of death as mechanical asphyxia, with organ and soft tissue damage, liver and lung hemorrhaging, and other injuries. His death was ruled a homicide.
A neighbor later told officers that before the medical emergency, Dakota had run to her house and asked her to adopt him, claiming his parents hit him in the face. However, the neighbor did not observe any visible injuries. Wilson then arrived to take him back home.
At the time of his death, Dakota was 4’10” and weighed 91 pounds, while Wilson was listed as 4’11” and 340 pounds.
