Ten-year-old Dakota Levi Stevens died just a month after being placed in foster care with 48-year-old Jennifer Lee Wilson in Berrien County, Michigan. Wilson has been convicted of reckless homicide after sitting on Dakota—who weighed just 90 pounds—for five minutes, using her full 340-pound weight to restrain him during a tantrum. She did this while on the phone with a caseworker, ignoring Dakota’s screams and assuming he was pretending. When she finally checked on him, his eyelids were pale. A child in the home called 911, but it was too late. Dakota died two days later, on April 25, 2024.
An autopsy revealed fatal internal injuries, including damage to his liver and lungs. His cause of death was mechanical asphyxia. Heartbreakingly, just 30 minutes before the incident, Dakota had run to a neighbor’s home, begging to be adopted and claiming his foster parents had hit him. Wilson later told police she wasn’t sure if she had tackled him or fallen with him, but she admitted to trying to restrain him.
Wilson pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced in January 2025 to six years in prison, with one year suspended to probation. Other foster children in her home were removed following the tragedy. Dakota was remembered as a nature-loving boy who “marched to the beat of his own drum.” His death has sparked renewed outrage over foster care oversight.