PORTER COUNTY, Ind. — The foster mother accused of killing a 10-year-old Northwest Indiana boy has changed her plea and pleaded guilty, according to the Porter County Prosecutor's Office.
Jennifer Wilson, of Liberty Township, is charged with reckless homicide of Stevens, who died at a South Bend hospital on April 27.
She was taken into custody in Southwest Michigan on July 14 after a warrant was issued and initially pleaded not guilty. Her husband paid her bond on July 17, a court document states.
Wilson, Steven's licensed foster mother at the time, is accused of sitting on Stevens for several minutes in the front yard of her residence in the 200 block of Falcon Way on the afternoon of April 25. Police and prosecutors have camera footage of the alleged incident from neighbors and described the incident in court documents.
It begins with Wilson already laying on Stevens near his “neck/head area” in a twenty second video. In another video with a duration of 6:48, she is seen laying near the area of his buttocks and he did not move during the entire video, prosecutors allege.
Authorities reviewed two more videos that did not have listed durations. In the last one, Wilson can be heard saying “I was laying on him and he was acting bad” after asking her child to call 911.
His death was ruled a reckless homicide by mechanical asphyxia.
A neighbor told police Stevens ran to her house asking her to adopt him 30 minutes prior to the incident. Documents allege he was hit in the face and said his foster parents didn’t let him call his case worker.
Stevens, 10, was born to parents struggling with addiction and was cared for by blood relatives until he entered the foster care system.
“His eyes popped open in the morning and he was ‘go, go, go,’” his aunt Ana Parrish-Parker said. “His passions were digging for bugs and playing outside with his sister.”
Prior to his placement with Wilson, the Hetzel family cared for Stevens, who was known as "Levi."
“He never didn’t call me dad,” Hayden Hetzel said. “He was always like, ‘Dad this, Dad that. Let’s go on a walk.’”
DCS revoked her foster home license on June 30. She changed her plea on Tuesday and will be sentenced on Jan. 17.
A jury trial was scheduled for March, according to court records.