Northwest Indiana foster mom sentenced to 5 years in prison for death of 10-year-old boy

PORTER COUNTY, Ind. (WLS) -- A Northwest Indiana woman charged in the death of her foster son was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday.

Dakota Levi Stevens, 10, died last April after a medical emergency at a home in Porter County. His death was eventually ruled a homicide.

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Jennifer Wilson was later arrested and charged with reckless homicide. Wilson filed a guilty plea last October.

She was also sentenced to one year of probation Friday.

Amid their ongoing grief, there was justice for the family and friends of Stevens.

"We are pretty happy with the result," the victim's cousin, Logan Mills, said. "It doesn't bring him back, but it's a start."

Wilson was immediately taken away to begin serving her six-year sentence imposed by Judge Michael Bergerson with the Indiana Department of Corrections, with one year suspended and to be served on probation.

After first declaring her innocence, Wilson pled guilty to reckless homicide in October.

SEE ALSO | Police in Porter County issue warrant for Jennifer Wilson in death of Dakota Levi Stevens, 10

"I just wanted to say thank you to the courts for listening to us," the victim's cousin, Marley Parris, said.

A large contingent of the victim's family and friends were present during an over three-hour long sentencing hearing, where the former foster mother addressed the court and asked for leniency.

Voice trembling and through tears, she read a prepared statement, saying, "I'm not here to expecting forgiveness. If the roles were reversed, I can't say I would be able to forgive the person responsible for the death of my loved one. I am deeply saddened and sorry for my role in this horrible tragedy."

The Porter County Sheriff's Office said they were called to the 200 block of Falcon Way in Liberty Township on April 25, 2024 for a medical emergency and found Stevens and laying on the ground. He had bruising on his lower neck and chest.

The child was rushed to an an area hospital for treatment, but he died. Investigators said video from a doorbell camera showed a 340-pound Wilson holding the 91-pound child down while she said he was "acting out".

"She's taken a big part of us away from us," the victim's cousin, Mary Snell, said. "She got to live her life for another 9 months after his death.

Both Stevens and his sister ended up in the foster system after their father passed away in 2021 and the mother gave up her parental rights, relatives said. As other family members said, their attempts to adopt both children failed, they are remembering Stevens as a sweet, smart and loving boy who loved exploring and hunting for bugs.

"Every bug that he seen he wanted to like explore it and when he grabbed it, he was like, 'uncle Levi is here,'" the victim's relative, Kim Snell, said.

The family said Friday's sentencing will help them try to move on, but it can't dull the pain of the loss of a child.

"It gives us a little closure, but we'll never heal,:" the victim's former foster grandfather, Joe Hetzel, said. "He will always be in our hearts and in our minds."