Elijah Lewis.Photo: New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office
The murder charge filed this week against a New Hampshire mom alleging she killed her 5-year-old son — whom she allegedly described as “the next Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer” — cap a six-month investigation that began when authorities first reported the boy missing.
But the child, Elijah Lewis, may have disappeared as much as six months earlier, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office.
Last June, according to theBoston Globe, Dauphinais allegedly wrote on Snapchat to a friend, Erika Wolfe, “I call him the next Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer.”
She allegedly added, “It’s so sad but I have no connection with this child. His father took him at the age of one and never returned him until last May 2020. He’s been getting worse and worse. I want him gone. I can’t handle it anymore.”
On Monday, Dauphinais, 35, was indicted on one count of first-degree murder for “purposely causing” Elijah’s death; one count of second-degree murder for causing his death “recklessly with extreme indifference to the value of human life”; and three counts of tampering with witnesses, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formellaannounced.
She previously was charged with witness tampering and child endangerment, and has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Danielle Dauphinais.
Dauphinais has not yet entered a formal plea to the new charges and is being without bail, with a later arraignment to take place in Hillsborough County Superior Court, Southern District, in Nashua.
An attorney for Dauphinais, Jaye Rancourt, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
But in October,Rancourt told PEOPLEthat she could not then comment on her client’s alleged Snapchat characterization of her son.
Elijah Lewis.Facebook
Investigators initially said they believed that Elijah, whose last known address was in Merrimack, was last seen at his home sometime in the month before the state agency reported him missing.
At the time of his reported disappearance, Elijah was living with his mother and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, 30. But neighbors told theGlobethey rarely saw the child outside, and a Merrimack School District official said Elijah was never enrolled.
Stapf was arrested along with Dauphinais, and he also is being held without bail on charges of witness tampering and child endangerment after the pair’s Oct. 17 arrest in New York City, said the attorney general’s office.
“The witness tampering charges allege that they each asked other people to lie about Elijah and where he was living knowing that child protection service workers were searching for Elijah,” according to authorities. “The endangerment charge alleges that they violated a duty of care, protection or support for Elijah.”
Stapf has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has not been charged in connection with the child’s homicide.
Friend Remembers Haunting Comments
Dauphinais' friend Erika Wolfe — who received the alleged Snapchat messages — told theGlobethat she and Dauphinais grew up together but had not been in contact for years. The two allegedly exchanged messages briefly in June when Dauphinais randomly replied to one of Wolfe’s Snapchat messages about her experience with her own son.
Dauphinais allegedly described to Wolfe her son’s behavior and said, “I have to keep him in his room,” adding, “I can’t trust him at all.”
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Dauphinais also allegedly revealed on Snapchat that the state’s child welfare agency was involved but could do nothing without the consent of Elijah’s father, calling the situation “a [expletive] nightmare that I can’t wake up from.”
“In my mind, I’m thinking [New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families] is probably checking in,” Wolfe told theGlobe. “I thought, ‘Oh, you’re having a rough time, and probably not the best comment choices, and we all have our days.'”
After the exchange, Wolfe forgot about the messages until she heard the news of Elijiah’s disappearance.
“I remembered those messages,” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh, no.'”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
