BOSTON -- A foster
mother is behind bars after being charged with the murder of
4-year-old Dontel Jeffers in March.
NewsCenter 5's Pam Cross
reported that Corinne Stephen, 24, was held on $100,000 cash
bail.
The prosecutor alleged that
Dontel had nail marks on his face, a black eye, marks on
both wrists consistent with being tied up, and two major
internal injuries.
"(The injuries) were of the
nature that they would have caused significant pain to the
child and or unconsciousness from the time it was inflicted
to the time of death," said prosecutor David Deakin.
The child's grandmother left
the courtroom in tears after the details of Dontel's death
were read.
"This child was abused for
a minimum of five days prior to his death in the home of
Corinne Stephen," said Deakin.
Dontel had lived with his
father and grandmother until his father's incarceration and
deportation. He stayed with his mother until she entered a
drug rehabilitation program. DSS took custody of the boy in
December 2004 and placed him in a group home run by St.
Mary's Church. Then, for reasons unknown to the family,
Dontel was taken out of that group home and placed in a
private foster home in Dorchester in March.
The boy's extended family
was told Dontel was jumping on a bed and fell, hitting his
head on a radiator. It wasn't until the next day that the
foster mother took him to Caritas Carney Hospital with a
swollen head, and the child died of cardiac arrest. Police
said Thursday that the child was already dead when he
arrived at the hospital.
The Jeffers family said it was
convinced that the child was abused prior to his death and
was not the victim of an accident.
"They waited since March to
hear anything of any substance about the details of Dontel's
death," said family attorney Tony Ellison.
"It has been very difficult
for the family to hear the details of Dontel's death today,"
said family attorney Shawn O'Rourke.
Stephen has no prior
criminal record.
"The details that were laid
out today were new to us in the specificity. We had not had
the medical report prior to this and the details contained
in it. It is just a horrific pattern of abuse," said
Department of Social Services Deputy Commissioner Susan
Getman.
Prosecutors said Stephen
sent a relative to clean her apartment while Dontel was in
the emergency room. Accessory to murder charges may be
filed.
Previous Stories:
- June 30, 2005:
Foster Mother Charged With
Murder
- April 13, 2005:
Family Of Dead Foster Child
Seeks Beacon Hill's Help
- March 28, 2005:
Family Demands Answers In
Foster Child's Death
- March 16, 2005:
Foster Care Child Laid To Rest
- March 10, 2005:
Deported Dad Says Son, 4, Was
Murdered
- March 8, 2005:
Relatives Angry Over Death Of
Boy, 4
- March 7, 2005:
Boy, 4, Dies While In Foster
Care
