Adoptive Mother Accused Of Concealing Body After Death Of 10-Year-Old Boy: Police

An Arizona adoptive mother was arrested in connection to the death of her boy, Radar has learned.

Crystal Wilson, who adopted 10-year-old Jesse Wilson, was indicted one count of abandoning or concealing a body before being arrested on Dec. 12 at her home in Gainesville, Ga. The child was reported missing from his home in the Sundance neighborhood in Buckeye, Arizona in the early hours of July 18, 2016.

After Wilson went missing, police and hundreds of volunteers searched but found no trace of him. On March 8, 2018, however, a Buckeye city employee came across what appeared to be partial human skeletal remains on the side of the road near State Route 85 and Broadway Road.

Soon after, the remains were identified as that of Jesse Wilson. “He didn’t deserve that. He could’ve had a better life,” said Jesse Machado, Jesse Wilson’s biological father.

Machado and his mother, Carolyn Lasenberry, had suspected Crystal Wilson of being involved in the boys death and disappearance. “Why wasn’t the state doing anything? They had seen what was going on. They didn’t do anything. They did not protect this child,” said Lasenberry.

Buckeye Police Chief Larry Hall said a new investigator was assigned to the case in November 2020. Police did not say what new evidence was discovered that led to charges for Crystal Wilson. She was indicted on Dec. 9.

Approximately three months before Jesse Wilson's disappearance in April 2016, police were called when a man found the boy in his front yard. Crystal Wilson said that she did not realize the boy had climbed out of his bedroom window. Police did not feel there was reason to contact the Arizona Department of Child Services.

“Based upon that incident alone, there was nothing to indicate he needed to be removed from the house. If there was, we would’ve contacted DCS and taken steps to have him removed, but there was nothing on that initial call to indicate abuse, neglect, or anything along those lines the time we went out there,” said Hall.