A New Hampshire woman was sentenced to 53 years to life in prison on Friday Death of his 5 year old son, Her 19-pound body, buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021, had been beaten, starved and drugged before it was found.
Danielle Dauphinais read a letter in court, saying, “Elijah, I am so sorry that I failed you as a mother.” She burst into tears and one of her lawyers finished reading it.
The 38-year-old Dauphinais was on trial in Nashua, but last month he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and other charges. Death of his son Elijah Lewis In an agreement with prosecutors.
Prosecutors had asked for a 55-year sentence. The defense asked for a minimum term of 35 years. The Dauphinais also received three to seven additional years on lesser crimes.
Elijah’s autopsy revealed that he suffered facial and skull injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnutrition, and pressure ulcers.
Prosecutors said Elijah was abused and neglected.
She was kept confined in a bathroom tub for long periods of time, often naked, and monitored via video.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore, he said, showing photos of her getting progressively thinner over a 16-month period. In the last photo one of his eyes was closed.
The Dauphinais were divorced from Eliza’s father, who was raising the boy in Arizona. He brought Eliza to live with him in New Hampshire in May 2020.
Her lawyers said the child had “severe mental problems” and that neither parent had him evaluated.
But Judge Charles Temple said that the profanity-laced, he sent hateful messages Her boyfriend and his actions regarding her son were condemnable.
“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 in 2022 to murder, second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence and witness tampering 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 Eliza and frustration if he did not behave as they wished.
One said, “He said he needs food and he wants me not to starve him because that’s not good.” Another message read, “I’m going to hit her and I mean it,” and another said, “I hit her with a shower rod, that’s what I did.”
Stapf sent word to the Dauphinais to give Eliza more food to “fatten her up”.
Defense attorney Benjamin Faulkner said Dauphinais’ messages were sent out of frustration because Eliza had shown aggressive behavior that she was unable to manage while she was caring for another child.
She was also pregnant and abusing fentanyl and heroin.
Dauphinais said her ex-husband wouldn’t give her his insurance information to seek help.
Prosecutors said she placed blame and responsibility on the father and others.
“He did nothing to help Eliza,” said prosecutor Bethany Durand.
Elijah Dauphinais lived with Stapf and his 2-year-old daughter in the basement of a house where Stapf’s mother also lived.
That fall, Eliza’s father, Timothy Lewis, became concerned that Eliza was not receiving proper medical care and contacted the state Division for Children, Youth and Families.
Lewis said in a wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this year against Dauphinais, Stapf, Stapf’s mother and the child services agency that Eliza had developmental challenges and difficult behavior patterns that grew worse in New Hampshire.
Faulkner said Lewis told the child services agency he could not take Eliza back because he was concerned for the safety of other children living in his home. The pressure was put on the Dauphinais, “who did not have the capacity to deal with it,” Faulkner said.
A different judge on Friday granted the state agency a partial dismissal of the case.
An attorney for Stapf’s mother denied the allegations in a court filing. There is no attorney listed for Stapf and Dauphinais in the lawsuit.
Prosecutors said Elijah weighed 32 pounds and had bruises on his face, eye and arm when he went to the doctor in November 2020.
Prosecutors said Dauphinais later told the agency that her son was sent to California to live with Dauphinais’s sister, a custody arrangement his father had agreed to, but which Dauphinais did not follow.
By October 2021, Dauphinais had given birth to a boy at home, prosecutors said. The staff brought the baby to the hospital with the intention of leaving him there.
The hospital found evidence of drugs in the child and contacted the Children’s Services Agency, which began an investigation.
The agency found no sign of Elijah.
Dauphinais said her son was with her sister, and then a man she described as her brother but turned out to be her friend.
Both the sister and the friend told investigators that the Dauphinais had contacted them and asked them to lie about Eliza’s whereabouts.
Prosecutors believe Eliza died in September 2021 and the couple placed her body in a container and brought it to To Massachusetts Park, Where Stapf dug a hole and buried her, prosecutors said.
While Elijah was still missing, Stapf and Dauphinais was arrested in New York. A few days after his arrest, Elijah’s remains were found.
Prosecutors said that when Elijah was found, he was 3 feet tall and weighed 19 pounds, whereas the average 5-year-old boy would be about 3.6 feet tall and closer to 40 pounds.
Lewis addressed the court via phone on Friday, saying he could never forgive Dauphinais for his actions and wanted him to grieve his son’s death. Faulkner said he is.
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