Injuries detailed in boy's death

DA accuses foster mother

Mac Daniel

Boston Globe

Four-year-old Dontel Jeffers died because of one or both of two severe internal injuries: one in the toddler's belly that pushed his small intestine into his spine and caused a hemorrhage and another in his neck that bruised a bone deep in his throat, prosecutors said yesterday.

The details of the injuries were disclosed for the first time by Assistant Suffolk District Attorney David A. Deakin at the indictment arraignment of Jeffers's foster mother, Corinne Stephen, who is charged with second-degree murder in Dontel's death on March 6.

Stephen, 24, again pleaded not guilty to the charge, which could lead to a mandatory life sentence if she is found guilty. Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson kept her bail at $100,000 cash and ordered her to surrender her passport and report any travel outside Boston.

Dontel's family sat in the second row and quietly wept as Deakin described the injuries. After the hearing, the family released a statement saying they are ''determined to see this through and find out what went wrong and why someone capable of killing a child would be left to care for this sweet, happy boy."

The neck injuries indicated the ''forceful squeezing of the child's neck," Deakin said. An autopsy found bruising in the neck tissue almost to the hyoid bone, located at the base of the tongue.

Deakin said the abdominal injury, which occurred one to two days before Dontel died, caused him substantial pain or even unconsciousness. The autopsy also revealed ligature marks on Dontel's wrists, fingernail gouges on his forehead, and a bruise under his left eye. He had swelling in both hands, which the autopsy said may have resulted from ''tight and painful ligatures" left in place for at least 45 minutes.

Doctors at Caritas Carney Hospital tried for 45 minutes to revive Dontel, who is alleged to have been beaten and restrained during an 11-day period before his death. Investigators believe he was dead for as long as three hours before being brought to the hospital.

''With proper medical care, the child would have been spared," Deakin said.

Dhayne White, a 20-year-old female cousin of Stephen's, is charged with being an accessory after the fact, accused of destroying evidence at Stephen's Dorchester apartment after Dontel was taken to the hospital. Deakin described White as a fugitive from justice, but Stephen's attorney, Carl N. Donaldson, said she left the country because her visa had expired.

White allegedly spent three hours inside the apartment, ignoring police, Deakin said.