Indianapolis, IN – According to the police officials, the 48-year-old woman, later identified as Jenifer, was charged with reckless homicide in connection with her adopted child’s, Dacota, death. Police officials said that a warrant was issued for her arrest after she reportedly killed the boy earlier this year. The investigation process began in April after the 911 caller told the dispatcher about an unresponsive 10-year-old child. First responders found the boy, lying on the family driveway unresponsive. They rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead 2 days later.
First responders told investigators that they noticed that the child suffered bruises on his chest and neck area. The medical examiner told investigators that the child’s cause of death was severe swelling in the braln and that the boy was deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time. The responding officers made contact with the foster parent, who was ready to stop fostering but took the victim and two other children anyway, reportedly told them that the victim had verbaI and physicaI aggression issues. According to the parent, the boy reportedly refused to do his chores for the day and his foster mom told him that he couldn’t go outside. Shortly after their argument, the boy reportedly walked outside.
The mother told investigators that he gave the boy 10 minutes to come back inside, and when she realized that he is not outside their home, she got into her vehicle and started looking for the boy. Few minutes later, the foster parent reportedly found the boy talking to a neighbor. The neighbor, who was not identified reportedly told the foster mother that her son asked her to call 911 ‘because his parents hit him in the face and didn’t let him call his caseworker. The foster parent then told the unidentified woman to mind her own business before persuading her son to get inside the vehicle so she could drive him home.
When the mother and son got home, the boy reportedly exited the vehicle and told his foster parent that he is leaving. The woman then told investigators that she called the boy’s caseworker after she laid on her son’s body (his midsection). She reportedly told investigators that her intention was to hold the boy and stop him from leaving. During the investigation process, authorities reportedly obtained a surveillance video which showed that the foster parent was lying on her son’s body, near his neck and head area, for more than 6 minutes, while the boy was not moving the whole time. According to the police officials, the child’s foster mom reportedly weighed 340 lbs.