A 10-year-old Indiana boy was crushed to death after his 340-pound foster mother sat on him for several minutes—then assumed he was pretending as he struggled to breathe.
Police were called to the home on April 25 after reports of a child who wasn’t breathing. Credit: Indiana Department of Correction
Jennifer Lee Wilson, 48, was charged with reckless homicide over the death of Dakota Stevens, her foster child in Valparaiso, Indiana, CBS News reports.
Police were called to the home on April 25 after reports of a child who wasn’t breathing. When officers arrived, they found Dakota with no pulse and a noticeable bruise on his lower neck and chest.
Despite rushed attempts to save him, Dakota later died at the hospital.
Wilson, who is 4’11” and weighs 340 pounds, told authorities that Dakota had run away earlier that day and she brought him back home from a neighbor’s house. She claimed he had been “acting bad” and threw himself on the floor.
Dakota Levi Stevens, 10, died after his foster parent sat on top of him. Credit: Geiser Funeral Homes
She admitted to sitting on the boy—who was just 4’10” and weighed only 90 pounds—for about five minutes.
Ring surveillance footage captured the horrifying moment Wilson was lying on Dakota’s neck and head as he screamed for help. His cries eventually faded.
Wilson later said she believed Dakota was “faking” until she noticed his pale eyelids.
A 340-pound woman sat on her foster son for several minutes—then assumed he was pretending as he struggled to breathe. Credit: Barrien County Sheriff’s Department
She can be heard shouting “Dakota!” and instructing another child to call 911. “Are you faking?” she asked him. “I was laying on him and he was acting bad,” Wilson said in the video.
Two days later, South Bend Memorial Hospital confirmed Dakota had died.
An autopsy showed the cause of death was mechanical asphyxia, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. The boy suffered organ and soft tissue damage, along with liver and lung hemorrhaging.
A neighbor told investigators that Dakota had come to her house that day and begged her to adopt him, saying his “parents” had hit him in the face.
Wilson, who lived with three adopted children, was sentenced in January to six years in prison, with one year suspended for probation, according to NBC5.
After the incident, Indiana’s Department of Child Services confirmed her foster parent license has been suspended and is under review.
