Ten-year-old Dakota Levi Stevens died just a month after entering foster care in Berrien County, Michigan. His foster guardian, 48-year-old Jennifer Lee Wilson, was convicted of reckless homicide after using her full 340-pound weight to restrain Dakota—who weighed just 90 pounds—during a tantrum. She sat on him for five minutes while on the phone with a caseworker, ignoring his cries and assuming he was faking.

By the time she checked, his eyelids were pale. A child in the home called 911, but it was too late. Dakota died two days later from mechanical asphyxia, with internal injuries to his liver and lungs.

Just 30 minutes before, Dakota had run to a neighbor’s house, begging to be adopted and saying he was being hit.

Wilson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison, with one year suspended to probation. All other foster children were removed from her care. Dakota, remembered as a sweet, nature-loving boy, left behind a community heartbroken—and demanding better protection for children in the foster care system.