A 10-year-old child was found de@d just minutes after asking a neighbour to adopt him and save him from his abusive foster mother.
Dakota Levi Stevens ran to his neighbour’s home on April 25, telling the homeowner that his foster parents hit him and wouldn’t let him speak to his caseworker, Indiana officials say.
His foster mother, Jennifer Lee Wilson, 48, caught him speaking to the neighbour just a few minutes later and forced Stevens to get into her car. She then drove him back to her house, according to court documents obtained by the Kansas City Star.
The 340-pound woman then allegedly proceeded to lay on top of the child for at least seven minutes until he stopped breathing.
A warrant is now out for Wilson’s arrest, charging her with reckless homicide in the boy’s death.
Dakota was pronounced dead at a South Bend hospital two days later, and an autopsy determined he suffered organ and soft tissue damage, liver and lung hemorrhaging and other injuries, CBS News reports.
The St. Joseph County Coroner’s Office has since ruled Stevens’ death a homicide, reporting that he died of mechanical asphyxiation.
Prosecutors say Wilson and her husband were ready to relinquish their foster license because their three other children – former foster children whom they’ve adopted – were older and they wanted to travel.
However, they agreed to take Stevens in because they had provided respite care for him two years prior.
Stevens’ biological family told the Chicago Tribune he and his younger sister were removed from their biological parents’ house because of their parents’ reported drug use when Dakota was just five years old.
His father died, and their mother eventually relinquished her parental rights.
Dakota’s sister was later adopted, while Dakota bounced between family members, foster homes and a mental health care facility before he was sent to live with Wilson again in early April.
She has since claimed that the boy had “verbal and physical aggression issues.”
Wilson told police that Stevens woke up on April 25 agitated after being told not to run in the house while playing Nerf guns with the other children, according to CBS News.
She said she then told Dakota and the other children they could go outside to play after they finished their chores, but Stevens refused and stormed off.
At first, she said she planned to give him time to cool off, but when she realized he was not in the backyard she got in her car to track him down.
Wilson then found him talking to the neighbor, who informed the foster mother that the boy asked her to call the cops.
But Wilson later told police she told the neighbor to mind her own business, according to court documents.
She then reportedly forced Stevens to get into the car with her and brought him back to her home.
At that point, Wilson claims he tried to run away.
She told police she did not remember whether she tackled the boy or if they both fell to the ground “however, her intention was to hold him.”
For the next several minutes, Wilson allegedly video chatted with Stevens’ caseworker, who she said tried to calm the boy over the phone, though Stevens would “flail and move around.”
Wilson also had a conversation with her husband through their Ring doorbell camera as she laid on Dakota Stevens’ midsection near the driveway, court documents say.
She allegedly told her husband Stevens was having “one of his days.”
After several minutes, Wilson got off the boy, telling police she got out of breath due to her weight, and noticed Stevens was not moving.
She then told the boy to get up and asked “are you faking?” court documents allege.
“She then rolled [Stevens] over and it appeared his eyelids were pale,” the court documents say.
“She then began CPR and called 911.”
Deputies from the Porter County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the house at around 3:37pm for a report of an unconscious 10 year old who was not breathing, the Chicago Tribune reports.
They then found Stevens on the ground near the driveway, where someone was administering CPR.
Court documents say Stevens was not conscious, not breathing and had no pulse at the time, and an officer “observed that the juvenile had bruising [on] his lower neck and chest area.”
A police affidavit states Wilson was “visibly distraught” when the deputies arrived and told them that Stevens had just run away to a neighbors’ house but was still “acting up” and threw himself on the ground, saying he was leaving.
“Wilson stated that she laid on his midsection and called his caseworker,” the affidavit states, according to the Tribune.
“Wilson stated he eventually stopped moving and she thought he was faking.”
“She advised that she laid on him for approximately five minutes.”
During the ensuing investigation, police obtained copies of Wilson’s Ring footage, which they said began with her already lying across the boy – near his head and neck.
Throughout the 20-second video, Stevens was screaming, according to police.
He was “still crying and screaming” in the next 20-second video, and in a third Wilson could still be seen on top of him, this time near his buttocks.
Stevens arms were above his head in that video, and police say he “does not move” for the entire six-minute, 48-second clip.
Meanwhile, Wilson could be heard saying, “I was laying on him and he was acting bad.”
Stevens was initially transported to Northwest Health Porter for treatment, before being airlifted to South Bend Memorial Hospital.
A doctor at Northwest Health later told police he had “severe swelling in his brain, which would be consistent with deprived oxygen for an extended period of time.”
“He didn’t deserve this. He was better than a lot of people here,” Nicole Rubalcava, Stevens’ aunt, said at his private funeral, according to the Tribune.
Wilson’s foster care license was placed on hold while pending revocation and pending any appeal from her after the coroner ruled Stevens’ death was a homicide.
She had been licensed as a foster parent since 2017 and was in good standing before Stevens’ death, “having completed the required training and education required to achieve and maintain licensure,” officials with the Indiana Department of Child Services told the Tribune.
But her license was eventually revoked on June 30.
Wilson is now facing a $20,000 bond, and Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann told WGN he believes she will surrender within the next few days.
