A woman in Indiana, Jennifer Lee Wilson, 49, has been sentenced to prison for killing her 10-year-old foster son, Dakota Stevens.
She sat on his stomach for several minutes after he asked a neighbor to call 911 because he was being abused... Continue reading here ▶
A judge gave Wilson the maximum sentence of six years in prison. She will spend five years in prison and then one year on probation (where she is supervised after release).
Wilson admitted in court that she was responsible for Dakota’s death.
Police were called to a home in Valparaiso, Indiana, because Dakota was unresponsive. They found him outside the house. He wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.
He also had bruises on his neck and chest. He was taken to a hospital but died two days later. An autopsy showed he died from brain swelling and lack of oxygen. He also had damage to his organs.
Police talked to Wilson at the scene. She said Dakota had been misbehaving and had left the house. She found him talking to a neighbor. The neighbor told Wilson that Dakota had asked her to call the police.
Wilson took Dakota back home. He didn’t want to get out of the car, but eventually did and yelled that he was leaving. Wilson said she tried to stop him, and they fell to the ground.
A video from a doorbell camera showed Wilson sitting on Dakota’s stomach, near his head and neck. At first, Dakota was struggling to get free, but then he stopped moving. The video shows Wilson sitting on him for about seven minutes.
Wilson told police that she sat on him and called his caseworker. She said he eventually stopped moving and she thought he was pretending. She said she sat on him for about five minutes.
When Wilson realized Dakota was unconscious, she started screaming his name and said, “I was laying on him and he was acting bad.”
Dakota was very small for his age, only 4 foot 10 inches tall and 90 pounds. Wilson was also short, 4 foot 11 inches, but weighed much more, 340 pounds.
Wilson began her prison sentence on Friday.
