Weighty Charge: 340-Pound Foster Mom Accused of Homicide After Lying on 91-Pound Boy for ‘Acting Up’
Jennifer Wilson (left) allegedly sat on Dakota Stevens (right) for five minutes trying to calm him down, officials said.
July 18 2024, Published 1:45 p.m. ET
An Indiana woman has been arrested in Michigan in connection with her foster son’s death, RadarOnline.com has learned.
On April 25, deputies responded to a home in Valparaiso after receiving information about a 10-year-old boy suffering a medical emergency, according to Front Page Detectives.
Police said they were able to use sidewalk spit to help crack a 1988 cold case murder.
The boy, Dakota Stevens, was taken to a hospital and then later airlifted to another facility, where he was taken off life support two days later and died.
In June, the medical examiner ruled Stevens’ death homicide by mechanical asphyxia.
On July 12, the Porter County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for 48-year-old Jennifer Wilson’s arrest for a charge of reckless homicide, police said.
Sierra allegedly broke through the front window of the funeral home to get in.
According to the arrest affidavit, Stevens and Wilson got into a fight on April 25 after he fled to a neighbor’s house. Wilson reportedly picked up Stevens and brought him back home, but the boy allegedly started “acting up” and threw himself on the ground.
Wilson laid on top of the boy and contacted his caseworker, the affidavit states. The Department of Child Serviced placed Stevens with Wilson, his foster mother, about a month earlier.
The boy was taken to the hospital and then airlifted to another facility before being taken off life support two days later and dying, police said.
During the pair's interaction, Stevens started screaming, but then he stopped moving. Wilson claimed she thought Stevens was faking, but noted she saw he was pale, authorities said.
The affidavit states Wilson, who weighs 340 pounds, was on the boy, who weighed 91 pounds, for about five minutes.
Authorities obtained Ring doorbell video footage, which allegedly showed Wilson pinning Stevens down. On the 911 call, Wilson tells a dispatcher, “I was laying on him and he was acting bad.”
Heitmann was arrested and charged with DUI after failing her field sobriety tests, police said.
First responders observed the boy had bruises on his neck and chest, according to court documents obtained by WMAQ-TV.
When Stevens arrived at the hospital, tests showed he sustained brain swelling that is “consistent with being deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time," according to the documents.
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Investigators spoke with the neighbor whose house Stevens went to before his death. The neighbor indicated Stevens asked her to adopt him because his foster parents hit him and he couldn’t contact his caseworker, court documents state.
The boy's request occurred less than an hour before Wilson called 911, and the neighbor did not notice any injuries on him, officials said.
