A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
“I’m so sorry Elijah that I failed you as your mother,” Danielle Dauphinais said in court, reading a letter that recounted her life as an abused and abandoned child. She broke down, crying, and one of her attorneys finished reading it.
Dauphinais, 38, was facing a trial in Nashua but pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder and other charges in the death of her son Elijah Lewis in an agreement with prosecutors.
Prosecutors had asked for a 55-year sentence. The defense asked for 35 years, the minimum term. Dauphinais also received three to seven additional years on lesser offenses.
Elijah’s autopsy showed he suffered facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment and pressure ulcers.
Prosecutors said Elijah was tortured and neglected.
He was confined for long periods of time in a bathroom tub, often naked, and monitored via video.
In the end, he couldn’t stand, they said, showing photos of him over a 16-month period getting progressively thinner. One of his eyes was shut in the last photo.
Dauphinais was divorced from Elijah’s father, who had been caring for the boy in Arizona. He brought Elijah to her in New Hampshire in May 2020.
Her lawyers said the child had “severe psychiatric issues” and neither parent got him an evaluation.
But Judge Charles Temple said that expletive-ridden, hateful texts she sent her boyfriend about her son and her actions were damning.
“You knew exactly what you were doing to Elijah. You were killing him, hour by hour, day by day, month by month,” he said.
Dauphinais’ boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence and witness tampering in 2022 in connection with the boy’s death.
He was sentenced to 22 to 45 years in prison.
Prosecutors read a series of texts between Stapf and Dauphinais that expressed hostility toward Elijah and frustration if he didn’t behave according to their wishes.
“He said he wants food and he wants me to stop starving him because it’s not nice,” one said. Another message read, “I’m gonna kill him and I mean it,” and another said, “I hit him with the shower rod that’s all I did.”
Stapf had texted Dauphinais to give Elijah more food to “fatten him up.”
Defense attorney Benjamin Faulkner said Dauphinais’ texts were sent out of desperation because Elijah showed aggressive behavior that she was unable to manage while as she was taking care of another child.
She also was pregnant and abusing fentanyl and heroin.
Dauphinais said her ex-husband wouldn’t provide his insurance information for her to seek help.
Prosecutors said she shifted blame and responsibility to the father and others.
“She did nothing to help Elijah,” prosecutor Bethany Durand said.
Elijah lived with Dauphinais, Stapf, and the 2-year-old daughter she had with Stapf in the basement of a home where Stapf’s mother also lived.
By that fall, Elijah’s father, Timothy Lewis, became concerned that Elijah wasn’t getting proper medical care and contacted the state Division for Children, Youth and Families.
Elijah had developmental challenges and a difficult behavior pattern that worsened in New Hampshire, Lewis said in a wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this year against Dauphinais, Stapf, Stapf’s mother, and the child services agency.
福克纳说，刘易斯告诉儿童服务机构，他不能把以利亚带回去，因为他担心住在他家的其他孩子的安全。福克纳说，这种压力施加在多芬尼斯身上，“她没有能力应对这种压力。”
周五，另一名法官批准了国家机构对此案的部分驳回。
斯塔夫母亲的律师在一份法庭文件中否认了这些指控。斯塔夫和多菲内斯的律师名单上没有列出。
早间报道和晚间更新：今天头条新闻的来源
检察官说，以利亚在2020年11月去看医生时体重32磅，脸上、眼睛和手臂上有瘀伤。
检察官说，Dauphinais后来告诉该机构，她的儿子被送到加州与Dauphinais的妹妹住在一起，这是父亲同意的监护权安排，但Dauphinais没有遵守。
检察官说，到2021年10月，多芬尼斯在家里生了一个男孩。斯塔夫把婴儿带到医院，打算把他留在那里。
医院在婴儿身上发现了药物的证据，并联系了儿童服务机构，后者展开了调查。
中情局找不到以利亚的踪迹。
Dauphinais说，她的儿子和她的妹妹在一起，然后是一个男人，她说他是她的兄弟，但后来证明是朋友。
他的妹妹和朋友都告诉调查人员，道菲奈曾联系过她们，让她们谎报以利亚的下落。
检察官说，检察官认为以利亚死于2021年9月，这对夫妇把他的尸体放在一个集装箱里，带到马萨诸塞州的公园，斯塔普夫在那里挖了一个洞，把他埋了。
当以利亚仍然失踪时，斯塔夫和多菲奈斯在纽约被捕。他们被捕几天后，以利亚的遗体被发现。
检察官说，当以利亚被发现时，他身高3英尺，体重19磅，而一个普通的5岁男孩身高约3.6英尺，体重接近40磅。
刘易斯周五通过电话在法庭上发表讲话，称他永远不会原谅多芬尼斯的行为，并希望她能被他们儿子的死所困扰。福克纳说她是。
