Boston mother’s dramatic confession after her starved son was found in park weighing 19 pounds

The mother of five-year-old Elijah Lewis, who was found dead in a Massachusetts park after starving, has pleaded guilty to her son’s murder.

Danielle Dauphinais, 38, admitted to first-degree murder and two-witness tampering charges early this morning in Hillsborough Superior Court South in Nashua.

Elijah was killed by his mother in October 2022 after she starved him for an extended period, with the little boy weighing the same as a watermelon when his body was found, police said.

His corpse weighed only 19 pounds, as measured by officials after his death. According to CDC figures, a healthy five-year-old boy should weigh between 34 and 52 pounds.

Under the charges, the killer mother faces a prison sentence of 55 years to life for murder and two sentences of up to seven years for witness tampering. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 25.

One of the key conditions of Dauphinais’ plea deal is that she must not profit from these “crimes,” including getting paid to write a book, movie, TV, or any other medium about Lewis’ murder.

The hearing also revealed chilling Facebook and text messages she sent to her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, in which she admitted to punching the child in the head.

“All this kid does is cry because he’s damn hungry. He said he wants food and I’m not going to starve him anymore because it’s not fun,” Dauphinais wrote.

While another series of messages read: ‘I’m going to kill this boy Joe as he screamed at the top of his lungs for f****** water and woke up JoLeeya.

‘Elijah!! I’m going to kill him and I mean it.’

Perhaps in one of the most surprising lyrics, she said, “I hit him in the head with the shower rod, that’s all I did. I just shouted that the maggot is a**.

The young child had gone missing from the family home in Merrimack, New Hampshire on October 4, 2022.

His body was found by a police dog at Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, Massachusetts – just 70 miles from Merrimack – on October 23, 10 days after investigators launched a search in five states.

Elijah Lewis was found at Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, Massachusetts – just 70 miles from Merrimack – by a police dog on October 23, 2022, 10 days after investigators launched a search in five states.

Prosecutors revealed that Dauphinais and Stapf put Elijah’s body in a dumpster, dug a hole and buried him in the park.

His autopsy report revealed that he had been starved, neglected and physically abused during his life.

Lewis also suffered facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl poisoning, malnutrition and pressure ulcers.

Bethany Durand, New Hampshire’s assistant attorney general, told the court: “Between September 27, 2020 and September 21, 2021, Elijah was attacked, starved, isolated and neglected. He was tortured.’

Other texts revealed the same month he went missing showed Dauphinais complaining to a childhood friend about Elijah in June, calling him “the next Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer” while saying “she wanted him gone.”

Lewis also suffered from facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl poisoning, malnutrition and pressure ulcers before he died

The hearing also revealed chilling Facebook and text messages she sent to her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf – in which she admitted to hitting the child on the head

His autopsy report revealed that he had been starved, neglected and physically abused

Notorious serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy kidnapped, raped and murdered several women and underage girls in the 1970s and possibly earlier. He confessed to more than thirty murders committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978.

Dauphinais reportedly told her friend as much she could not ‘trust’ her son ‘anymore’ because Elijah urinated on his bedding and clothes and played with his own feces.

She also wrote to her boyfriend: ‘I want him gone. I can’t handle it anymore’

Ultimately, Dauphinais was arrested in New York City on October 16 – a week before her son’s discovery. She and Stapf were subsequently charged with witness tampering and child endangerment before being extradited to New Hampshire.

Stapf has already been convicted of manslaughter in connection with the case and remains in prison.