A New Hampshire woman was sentenced to 53 years in prison on Friday Death of 5 year old son He had been beaten, starved and drugged before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.

“I’m so sorry to disappoint you as your mother, Elijah,” Danielle Dauphinais said in court, as she read a letter describing her life as an abused and abandoned child. He broke down, crying, and one of his lawyers finished reading the book.

Dauphinais, 38, was facing a trial in Nashua but pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder and other county charges. death of son Elijah Lewis An agreement was reached with prosecutors.

Prosecutors had asked for a 55-year prison sentence. The defense requested the minimum term of 35 years. Dauphinais was also sentenced to an additional three to seven years in prison for lesser crimes.

Elijah’s autopsy showed that he suffered from facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl poisoning, malnutrition, and pressure ulcers.

Prosecutors said Elijah was tortured and neglected.

She was kept in a bathtub, often naked, for long periods of time and watched via video.

They said that he finally couldn’t stand it anymore and that he was gradually getting weaker, photos of him taken over a 16-month period. In the last photo, one of her eyes was closed.

The Dauphinais were divorced from Elijah’s father, who was caring for the child in Arizona. She brought Elijah to New Hampshire in May 2020.

His lawyers said the boy had “serious psychiatric problems” and that neither parent had him evaluated.

But Judge Charles Temple said in an expletive-filled statement: hateful messages he sent It was very embarrassing for her boyfriend to talk about his son and his behavior.

You knew exactly what you did 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 involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, tampering with physical evidence and witness tampering in connection with the child’s death.

He was sentenced to 22 to 45 years in prison.

Prosecutors read a series of texts between Stapf and Dauphinais in which hostility towards Ilyas was expressed and frustration if Ilyas did not act according to his wishes.

“He said he wanted food and wanted me not to leave him hungry because that’s not nice,” one of them said. Another message read: “I’m going to kill him and I mean it” and another said: “I hit him with a shower rod that’s all I did.” he said.

Stapf had texted Dauphinais, asking him to give Elijah more food to “make him fat.”

Defense attorney Benjamin Faulkner said Dauphinais’ messages were sent out of desperation because Elijah was displaying aggressive behavior that he could not handle while caring for another child.

She was also pregnant and using fentanyl and heroin.

Dauphinais said she would not give her insurance information for her ex-husband to seek help.

Prosecutors said she placed blame and responsibility on the father and others.

“He did nothing to help Elijah,” prosecutor Bethany Durand said.

Elijah lived with Dauphinais, Stapf, and Stapf’s 2-year-old daughter in the basement of a house where Stapf’s mother also lived.

That fall, Elijah’s father, Timothy Lewis, became concerned that Elijah was not receiving needed medical care and contacted the state’s Department of 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 Elijah had developmental difficulties and a difficult behavior pattern that were exacerbated in New Hampshire.

Faulkner said Lewis told the child services agency that she could not take Elijah back because she was concerned about the safety of the other children living in her home. Faulkner said pressure was put on the Dauphinais, who “didn’t have the ability to handle it.”

A separate judge on Friday granted the state agency a partial dismissal in the case.

Stapf’s mother’s lawyer denied the allegations in the court file. Lawyers for Stapf and Dauphinais are not involved in the lawsuit.

Prosecutors said Elijah weighed 32 pounds at the doctor’s visit in November 2020 and had bruises on his face, eye and arm.

Dauphinais later told the agency that his son was sent to California to live with Dauphinais’ sister; It was a custody arrangement the father agreed to, but Dauphinais did not comply with it, prosecutors said.

As of October 2021, Dauphinais had given birth to a son at home, prosecutors said. Stapf took the baby to the hospital with the intention of leaving him there.

The hospital found evidence of drugs in the baby and contacted children’s services to investigate.

The agency found no trace of Elijah.

Dauphinais said her son was with his sister, followed by a man he identified as his older brother but who turned out to be his friend.

Both the sister and her friend told investigators that Dauphinais contacted them and asked them to lie about Elijah’s whereabouts.

Prosecutors believe Elijah died in September 2021 and the couple put Elijah’s body in a container and brought it back to Massachusetts park, That’s where Stapf dug a hole and buried her, prosecutors said.

With Elijah still missing, Stapf and Dauphinas was arrested in New York. Days after their arrest, İlyas’ body was found.

When Ilyas was found, he was 10 feet tall and weighed 19 kilograms, while an average 5-year-old child would be about 3.6 meters tall and weigh close to 40 kilograms, prosecutors said.

Lewis addressed the court by phone on Friday, saying he could never forgive Dauphinais for what he did and that he hoped their son’s death would haunt Dauphinais. Faulkner said it was.