NH mother who beat and starved her 5-year-old son to death faces more than 50 years in prison

Crime

Danielle Dauphinais, 38, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder and other charges in the death of Elijah Lewis in a deal reached with prosecutors.

By KATHY McCORMACK, Associated Press

October 25, 2024 | 8:59 a.m.

CONCORD, NH (AP) — A New Hampshire woman faces a sentence of more than 50 years to life in prison at the death of his 5 year old sonwho was beaten, starved, and exposed to drugs, weighed just 19 pounds when his body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.

Danielle Dauphinais, 38, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday. She was facing trial but He pleaded guilty last month. to second-degree murder and other charges in the death of Elijah Lewis in an agreement reached with prosecutors.

Dauphinais’ boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, tampering with physical evidence and witness tampering in 2022 in connection with the boy’s death. He was sentenced to between 22 and 45 years in prison.

Elijah’s autopsy showed he suffered facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl poisoning, malnutrition, and pressure ulcers. Prosecutors read a series of texts between Stapf and Dauphinais that expressed hostility toward Elijah and frustration if he did not behave according to their wishes.

“He said he wants food and wants me to stop starving him because it’s not nice,” one said. Another message said, “I’m going to kill him and I mean it,” and another said, “I hit him with the shower rod, that’s all I did.”

Some of Stapf’s texts to Dauphinais told him to give Elijah more food to “fatten him up.”

Elijah was born in Arizona in 2016 and his parents divorced a year later. Dauphinais moved to New Hampshire. In May 2020, his father Timothy Lewis took Elijah to live with Dauphinais, Stapf, and the 2-year-old daughter he had with Stapf. They stayed in the basement of a house where Stapf’s mother also lived.

However, that fall, Lewis was concerned that Elijah was not receiving adequate medical care and contacted the state Division of Children, Youth and Families. In a wrongful death lawsuit filed last May against Dauphinais, Stapf, Stapf’s mother and the child services agency, Lewis described Elijah as having developmental problems and a difficult pattern of behavior that had worsened in New Hampshire.

An attorney for the division asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, saying the state agency did not have custody of Elijah. A message seeking comment was sent to an attorney representing Stapf’s mother. Lawyers for Stapf and Dauphinais are not named in the lawsuit.

A doctor’s visit in November 2020 showed Elijah weighed 32 pounds (14.5 kilograms) and had bruising on his face, eyes and arm, prosecutors said. Dauphinais later told the agency that his son was sent to California to live with Dauphinais’ sister, a custody agreement the father had agreed to, but Dauphinais did not follow through, prosecutors said.

In October 2021, Dauphinais had given birth to a child at home, prosecutors said. Stapf took the baby to a hospital with the intention of leaving him there. The hospital found evidence of drugs on the baby and contacted the child services agency, which opened an investigation. The agency could find no sign of Elijah.

Dauphinais said her son was with his sister and then his brother. Both family members told investigators that Dauphinais had contacted them and asked them to lie about Elijah’s whereabouts.

Prosecutors believe Elijah died in September 2021 and the couple put his body in a container and took it to the Massachusetts park, where Stapf dug a hole and buried him, prosecutors said.

While Elijah was still missing, Stapf and Dauphinais were arrested in New York. Days after his arrest, Elijah’s remains were found.

Prosecutors said that when Elijah was found, he was 3 feet (91 centimeters) tall and weighed 19 pounds (8.6 kilograms), while the average 5-year-old child was about 3.6 feet (1.1 meters) tall. tall and weighed closer to 40 pounds. (18 kilograms).