You can’t make this stuff up! Smh. An Indiana woman named Jennifer Lee Wilson, who weighed 340 pounds, has been sentenced to six years in prison for the death of her 10-year-old foster son, Dakota Levi Stevens. She pleaded guilty to reckless homicide after admitting that she sat on him for five minutes to punish him for “acting up.”
On April 25, police were called to Wilson’s home in Valparaiso, Indiana, where they found Dakota unresponsive and without a pulse. He had bruises on his neck and chest, and officers tried to revive him. Wilson told the police that Dakota had run away after an argument and, when he returned, he threw himself on the floor, threatening to leave again.
To control him, Wilson sat on his midsection for about five minutes. A detective reviewed doorbell camera footage that showed Wilson lying across Dakota’s body as he screamed for help. While she was sitting on him, Wilson tried to call his caseworker to calm him down. The detective noted that she became out of breath because of her weight.
After not getting a response from Dakota, Wilson rolled him over and saw that his eyelids were pale. She then started CPR and called 911. Unfortunately, Dakota was airlifted to a children’s hospital but passed away two days later.
An autopsy revealed that Dakota had suffered serious internal injuries, and the cause of death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, classified as a homicide.
Dakota had spent the last five years in various foster homes. His former foster parent, Hayden Hertzel, paid tribute to him on Facebook, expressing her love and sadness over his death. She remembered him fondly and wished for him to be at peace, saying that the system had failed him.
