Chelsea L. Crossland appears in a jail mugshot (Indiana State Police)
A 28-year-old mother in Indiana was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for torturing and killing her 5-year-old son, starving and beating the little boy to death.
Chelsea L. Crossland was sentenced Thursday after she was found guilty of one count of murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death in the March 2022 slaying of young Christian Crossland.
Jay County Judge Brian Hutchison minced no words when handing down the sentence to a woman he noted showed no sign of remorse, the Commercial Review reported.
“There are people out there who hope you get the (same treatment as Christian),” said Hutchison, the paper reported. “I would rather the scales fall from your eyes and you live the remainder of your years in horror…”
Christina Easton, whose family cared for the little boy before he was placed back in Crossland’s home, thanked law enforcement for pursuing justice for Christian.
“We just wanted to say how much (we loved him) … and how big of a hole it’s going to be in our family (without him),” she said from the witness stand, the newspaper reported.
Hutchison denied chief public defender Brandon Murphy’s request for the advisory sentence of 55 years, saying, “I think life without parole is a very appropriate sentence,” the paper reported. Murphy did not immediately respond to a request from Law&Crime for comment.
Officers with the Portland Police Department responded to a call at about 11:30 p.m. on March 24, 2022, about an unresponsive child at a home in the 600 block of South Western Avenue in Portland, just under 100 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
Once there, first responders located Crossland, who told them her son had fallen down the stairs and lost consciousness.
Read Related Also: Dismantling the Myth that Ancient Slavery ‘Wasn’t That Bad’
Citing the “suspicious circumstances” of the child’s death, Portland police requested the investigation be handed over to the Indiana State Police.
Investigators said the home where Crossland lived with the victim and her two young daughters, ages 9 and 10, was “unkempt and filthy” and noted that when authorities arrived, the boy was “only wearing a diaper.” In court documents, prosecutors also said Crossland failed to immediately call for help after her son was injured and talked about “disposing” of his body.
An autopsy report determined that Christian’s manner of death was a homicide, and the cause of death was complications from blunt force trauma to his head and mouth. The report also said the child had “failed to thrive” and was malnourished and dehydrated.
Crossland’s 9-year-old daughter told investigators she regularly punished Christian by beating and choking him and withholding food for days at a time, according to a report from Fort Wayne, Indiana, ABC affiliate WPTA.
The boy’s father reportedly told police that Crossland had previously told him she “wished the boy were dead.”
In court, Jay County Coroner Michael Brewster testified that the boy had been tortured, referring to the child’s final months of life as “a prolonged 74-day horror show.”
Investigators additionally noted Crossland’s daughters appeared healthy and well-fed.
Prosecutors initially charged Crossland with molesting her 9-year-old daughter but dismissed those charges without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled in the future, records show.
Law&Crime’s Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
