A 340-pound Indiana woman was charged with manslaughter this week after police say she sat on her 10-year-old foster son for several minutes, suffocating him to death.
According to court documents, 48-year-old Jennifer Lee Wilson is suspected of killing a young man named Dakota Levi Stevens in April after the teen tried to flee to a neighbor’s house.
Wilson is accused of sitting on the boy outside his home in an attempt to stop him from “messing around,” documents state.
The obese parent tried to call a caseworker because the little boy, who weighed just 90 pounds, was screaming, but he ended up getting stuck, the affidavit states. According to the Indianapolis Star.
The doorbell camera showed Wilson lying on top of the boy, and continued to lie on top of him after he stopped moving, according to the affidavit.
At one point, she asked him if he was lying and noticed his eyelids were pale, according to court documents reported by NBC Chicago.
When police arrived, Dakota wasn’t breathing and had no pulse, and Wilson appeared “visibly distraught” as paramedics tried to save the boy.
“I was laying on top of him and he was behaving badly,” Wilson reportedly told another child who called 911. According to Fox 8.
Dakota was taken by helicopter to a hospital in South Bend, where he was pronounced dead two days later, according to the Star.
His death was ruled a homicide by mechanical asphyxiation, according to the local medical examiner’s office.
His foster mother reportedly was on top of him for about five minutes.
Before the fatal crash, Dakota went to a neighbor’s house and begged his parents to adopt him because he had been hit in the face, but the neighbor said they saw no visible injuries on the boy. According to NBC Chicago.
Wilson was arrested on Saturday and faces up to six years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.
Her foster parenting status has previously been revoked and she is not currently caring for any children.
