Who is the 340-pound Michigan foster mom accused of killing 10-year-old Dakota Stevens by sitting on him?

Content warning: This article describes child murder. Please take care while reading.

In April 2024, a tragic case of child homicide was captured on a Ring security camera in Indiana when Jennifer Lee Wilson, a 340-pound foster mother sat on Dakota Stevens for roughly five minutes, killing him. Stevens’ cause of death was declared a homicide by mechanical asphyxia, and in late July, Wilson was arrested in Michigan and charged with Stevens’ murder.

In the Ring camera footage from Wilson’s home, Wilson, 48, can be seen lying on Stevens, 10, near his head and neck. She is later seen lying further down on the child’s body, but Stevens is not moving in either case. The boy screams throughout the video before he finally falls silent. Reports say Wilson was trying to call Stevens’ caseworker throughout the incident. In the footage, Wilson says, “I was laying on him and he was acting bad.”

Wilson was “visibly distraught” when police arrived

When police arrived, they found Jennifer Wilson “visibly distraught” at a neighbor’s house. Stevens had only been in her care for about a month before he died. She said the boy threw himself on the ground outside her home, and at first, she thought the boy was “faking” when he stopped moving. Wilson administered CPR when she noticed Stevens was unresponsive, according to NBC Chicago. “Wilson stated that when she attempted to stop him from leaving, she does not know if she tackled Dakota or they fell to the ground however her intention was to hold him,” court documents state.

Stevens had gone to a neighbor’s house about 30 minutes earlier and asked them to adopt him, according to police documents. Stevens told them he had been struck in the face and that he was not allowed to call his caseworker. The neighbor noted, however, that Stevens had no visible injuries when they saw him.

Wilson, who was on the run for two months before she was taken into custody, now faces reckless homicide charges and is being held on a $20,000 bond. Wilson has not yet entered a plea, and it’s unclear if she’s hired a lawyer.