Honk News (Concord, NH) – A mother from New Hampshire passionately refuted allegations to investigators regarding any harm to her missing 5-year-old son. She expressed, “We did not harm that little boy, and I find it unacceptable that you would suggest otherwise.”
On October 18, 2021, law enforcement took Danielle Dauphinais, 38, and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, 34, into custody at a subway station in the Bronx, New York. This occurred just days before the tragic discovery of 5-year-old Elijah Lewis’s body in a park in Abington, Massachusetts.
Dauphinais maintained to officials that neither she nor Stapf were involved in any harm to the then-missing Elijah. Despite the circumstances, she ultimately entered a guilty plea for second-degree murder, which was reduced from the initial first-degree charge, along with two counts of witness tampering; her sentence is set at 53 1/2 years to life. Stapf has admitted to manslaughter and is currently facing a prison sentence of up to 45 years.
In a text to a friend, Dauphinais previously voiced frustration with the young child’s behavior, comparing him to serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. However, family members in the courtroom spoke highly of him, and the judge recognized the young child’s clear enthusiasm for living.
In the interrogation footage from 2021, Dauphinais was emphatic that she was innocent of hurting the child, and maintained she had no clue about what happened to him. She conceded when an investigator proposed that Elijah was probably deceased, nonetheless.
Prosecutors presented text messages revealing conversations between her and Stapf about mistreating Elijah and neglecting his basic needs. However, it was Stapf who urged Dauphinais to ensure that Elijah was fed and allowed to rest, emphasizing that it would improve his appearance for outings. Authorities reported that he ultimately discovered the child, who was naked and bleeding from the head, in a bathtub. Elijah passed away sometime between September 21 and 24.
Dauphinais enlisted Stapf’s assistance to dispose of the body. According to prosecutors, they transported a pickup truck to Abington, where Elijah was laid to rest in a shallow grave.
“We didn’t do anything,” she said in Oct. 18, 2021. “There’s no body!”