Background: Danielle Dauphinais during an interrogation (Attorney General of New Hampshire). Inset: Elijah Lewis (Attorney General of New Hampshire).
A New Hampshire mother fervently denied to investigators doing anything to hurt her missing 5-year-old son. Or as she put it, “We did not hurt that f—ing little boy and I do not appreciate you saying that we did.”
This was on Oct. 18, 2021, the day after law enforcement arrested Danielle Dauphinais, 38, and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, 34, in a Bronx subway station in New York and several days before Elijah Lewis, 5, was found dead in a park in Abington, Massachusetts.
Dauphinais insisted to authorities that she and Stapf had nothing to do with hurting the then-missing Elijah. Nonetheless, she ended up pleading guilty to second-degree murder — down from first-degree as charged — and two counts of tampering with a witness; she is serving a sentence of 53 1/2 years to life. Stapf pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving up to 45 years behind bars.
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. But loved ones in court described him in glowing terms, and the judge acknowledged the 5-year-old had an obvious “zest for life.”
Relatives of 5-y-o Elijah Lewis in front row with #ElijahLewisStrong signs, as boyfriend of Merrimack, NH boy whose body was discovered in Abington, MA last year, is now pleading guilty to manslaughter & other charges. “We want to be Elijah’s voice.”#wbz pic.twitter.com/aZDCZtcPC3
— Christina Hager (@ChristinaHagerD) September 29, 2022
