Convicted in tragic death of her 10-year-old son in Indiana after his 340-pound mother sat on him: ‘he was acting bad’
The 340-pound foster mother called 911 when, after 5 minutes of being crushed, he stopped breathing.
“He was acting bad.” The words of a woman now sentenced to 6 years in prison for sitting on her foster son and squashing him to death.
The 340-pound Jennifer Lee Wilson will serve one of her sentence on probation after a judge ruled her guilty of “reckless homicide”.
CBS said that on April 25, police were called to a home in Valparaiso, Indiana, with reports of a boy that was not breathing.
Investigating officers found bruising on the lower neck and chest of the child, named Dakota Levi Stevens, who had no pulse. An unsuccessful attempt was made to resuscitate the child who was quickly rushed to hospital, but it was too late.
Wilson told police that young child had run away from home before being found him at a neighbour’s house. She brought him back home and proceeded to throw himself on the ground and say that he was leaving.
The 48-year-old woman then, according to the court documents, told police that “when she attempted to stop him from leaving, she does not know if she tackled Dakota or they fell to the ground. However, her intention was to hold him.” Dakota was 4′10″ and 91 pounds; Wilson was listed at 4′11″ and 340 pounds.
After around five minutes of sitting on him she noticed that he was not moving. “Are you faking?” she asked before rolling him over and realising the worst. CBS writes that “Detective Alonzo noted in his report that he reviewed several Ring doorbell camera videos of the incident, two of which showed Wilson lying across Dakota’s body near his neck and head while he screamed the whole time."
It also said that “in a fifth and final video, Wilson is seen on one knee facing Dakota and screaming his name several times. When he did not answer, Wilson was heard saying, ‘I was laying on him, and he was acting bad’.”
South Bend Memorial Hospital reported the child had suffered organ and soft tissue damage, liver and lung haemorrhaging and a number of other injuries, with an autopsy later revealing the cause of death to be mechanical asphyxia and the manner of death as homicide. According to The Indianapolis Star, the Department of Child Services had just placed Dakota with Wilson about one month before he died.
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