5-year-old boy’s body found buried in the woods, NH cops say. Mom charged months later
A mother is charged with “purposely causing the death” of her 5-year-old son whose body was found in the woods in Massachusetts months ago, police in New Hampshire say.
Elijah Lewis’ body was discovered buried in a grave miles away from where he was reported missing in New Hampshire in October 2021, NBC Boston reported.
Thirty-five-year-old Danielle Dauphinais, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and second-degree murder on April 15, the state Attorney General John M. Formella said in an April 18 news release.
Additionally, she was charged with three counts of witness tampering and described as having “extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to the attorney general’s office. She’s currently being held without bail.
Dauphinais’ attorney Jaye Rancourt told McClatchy News in an April 19 statement that her “client maintains her innocence in regard to these most recent allegations.”
The boy’s cause of death “was determined to be violence and neglect, including facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment and pressure ulcers,” the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts determined on Nov. 22.
The search for Elijah
The case goes back to when Elijah was reported missing on Oct. 14 by the state’s Division for Children, Youth & Families, the attorney general’s office announced a day later in a news release. However, at the time, he hadn’t been seen for roughly six months.
Police began searching for the boy, as well as Dauphinais, who was thought to be on the road with her boyfriend Joseph Stapf, 30, the office said. Three days later, the pair were found in New York City and arrested in connection to Elijah’s disappearance.
Days later, a body thought to be Elijah’s was found on Oct. 23 in the woods in Abington, Massachusetts, roughly 70 miles south from Merrimack, according to the office.
An autopsy was conducted and dental records were used to confirm the body discovered was Elijah’s, Formella said in an Oct. 24 news release. Almost a month later, his cause of death was made official.
Dauphinais is scheduled to appear for an arraignment, the attorney general’s office said.
In 2021, Stapf was also charged with witness tampering and child endangerment in connection to the case, according to officials.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office told McClatchy News that “the charges filed against him still stand, but our investigation remains ongoing.”
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 1:41 PM with the headline "5-year-old boy’s body found buried in the woods, NH cops say. Mom charged months later."
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