340-Pound Foster Mom Punishes Son By Laying On Him Until He Dies
Dakota Levi Stevens was born in Munster, Indiana, on October 21st, 2013. His closest relatives called him Levi, and his younger sister called him Levy because she couldn’t quite pronounce his name when she first started to talk. As most news articles refer to him by his legal name, we will be doing the same moving forward.
Now, by all accounts, Dakota was an extraordinary kid. He was smart, creative, and passionate. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and a dimpled grin that, according to his aunt, could light up any room he walked into. He had a big heart and strong opinions, and he wasn’t shy about voicing them. His aunt affectionately called him a “master bargainer” because he could be very convincing. His former foster father said he could talk your ear off and that he once talked him into bringing a cricket home so he could keep it as a pet. His favorite foods were chicken nuggets and pizza.
Dakota loved bugs, frogs, sharks, and being outside. He did a school project on cicadas and decided they were the best bug in the world. He also loved Legos, Thomas the Tank Engine, Minecraft, and Pokémon. He enjoyed reading and used his vibrant imagination to tell stories, sometimes even acting out the exciting parts. He liked Katy Perry songs and would often sing, do quirky little dances, and perform, especially anytime someone pulled out a camera. He loved playing board games, and no matter the game, he was always sure he had won. His enthusiasm and energy made him hard to keep up with. His aunt said he gave his teachers a run for their money, but he was very smart. He loved math, and his favorite teacher was Mrs. Tarnavsky.
On February 22nd, 2022, she asked her class to write an essay imagining what they would be like in the future. Dakota’s response gave a glimpse of his big personality. In it, he said, “When I am 22, I will live with Mrs. Tarnavsky, my favorite teacher I love so much. I will be tall, I will have a 100,000 frogs, a big leopard shark, 500 fish, two dogs, and one cat. That’s what I want to be like when I’m 22 years old.” Mrs. Tarnavsky said Dakota had big emotions, and he was always concerned with fairness and respect. While she was teaching algebra, she said he was teaching everyone else patience.
He told his relatives he was going to discover a new species of shark someday, and he practiced his wildlife biology skills by going on bug-hunting expeditions in the backyard. In one picture taken by his foster father, Dakota holds a small snail in the palm of his hand and smiles, proud of his new discovery. His aunt said he loved to bug hunt, and he would tell all the bugs when he caught them, “Don’t worry, I’m your Uncle Levi, I’m going to take care of you.”
Early Life and Foster Care Struggles
Dakota had a big family and many aunts. His aunt, Anna Parish Parker, was there the day he was born. She said, “He stole my heart from the moment I held him in the hospital.” A year later, his younger sister was born. Over the next few years, his parents both struggled with substance use, and eventually, it got so bad they were unable to care for their children. In early 2018, the Indiana Department of Children’s Services (DCS) placed Dakota and his sister in foster care for about two weeks, and in May, they placed the children with their Aunt Anna.
She loved taking care of both children, saying Dakota brought a lot of joy to everyone around him. At 4 years old, he was already showing signs of the energy and enthusiasm he had been known for. “He kept me busy,” she said. “His eyes popped open in the morning, and he was go, go, go.” His passions were digging for bugs and playing outside with his sister. He was always happiest when spending time with his family. She said he was a good big brother who loved his sister tremendously. This love shone through in pictures of the two siblings; often they posed leaning on one another, sometimes with his arm around her shoulder, and always with their matching grins beaming at the camera.
While in her care, Dakota and his sister were required by DCS to go to therapy twice a week. They were still having scheduled visits with their parents twice a week as well. All of these appointments on top of the time they spent at school, she said they didn’t have time to be children. When Anna mentioned Dakota was struggling with behavioral issues at school, the department wanted to add even more therapy sessions. She didn’t think making their schedule even more stressful would help, but she never got a chance to explain why.
After almost a year in her custody, DCS had the children removed from her care and didn’t even give her a reason as to why they would do that. Anna said, “The judge ruled a removal from care on behalf of DCS, and I never had the chance to speak to the judge to tell them I didn’t want the kids to have more therapy.” At one point, he lived with his grandmother Melissa Mayor, but the department wouldn’t let him stay with her either. She said, “Levi was never traumatized until he got in the system. One day he woke up, and nobody he loved was around him no more. He was only 5 years old.”
The next five years, Melissa, Anna, and other family members fought hard to get Dakota and his sister back, but they had lost them to a system that, as we know all too often, doesn’t seem to have the children’s best interest at heart. Explaining the situation, Anna said, “Our family had him and his sister taken from us by the Department of Children and Family Services back in 2019 for reasons we don’t understand and weren’t in our control. Him and his sister were kept from us despite many and multiple efforts to get them back. There wasn’t a day that went by when Levi and his sister weren’t on our minds and in our hearts.”
A Short Period of Peace
Sometime around mid-2019, before his sixth birthday in October, Dakota and his sister were placed with new foster parents in Hammond, Indiana. Their foster father, Hayden Hetzel, said it was a difficult but also a very happy time. He was only 21 years old when he and his girlfriend Melena Blanchard became first-time parents to 5-year-old Dakota and his 4-year-old sister.
Melena said Dakota was always hopeful no matter how much he struggled. She said, “He was just a baby, but his personality showed from the day we got him. Even with all the trauma he’d been through, he still managed to see the good in things. He was troubled, he was hurt, but his soul was beautiful.”
While playing, Dakota’s imagination shone: “This stand, and I decided, I know I should make another stand. So I made… he does… I made the other stand over here, and it perfectly fits. And I even… this is… this is not a block, this is not a block. Right block? What is that? Bella production.”
Hayden said of the time, “By no means was being a parent easy, especially at 21, starting with a four and five-year-old, but parenting is never easy.” And Hayden said Dakota never went to bed without asking for a hug and kiss. “No matter how bad it was, we never went to bed angry or upset because we would reset the next morning and go to bed at least knowing we both still loved each other.”
Hayden said Dakota struggled with anxiety and mental health issues, and he had his moments, but he responded well to a little TLC. He said he never needed excessive force to be held back. “I had him in his fits, and all he needed was to be heard, held, and sometimes bear-hugged, and he would just melt in your arms.”
Dakota and Hayden bonded quickly. He said from the beginning, the boy looked up to him as a father. “He never didn’t call me dad. He was always like, ‘Dad this, Dad that, let’s go on a walk.'” At his new foster home, he kept his tradition of bug hunting and loved playing outside in the yard. Pictures from this time with Hayden show a happy kid coloring, drawing, posing for the first day of first grade, building with blocks and Legos, and playing with his sister. He also spent time with his foster grandparents, Sabrina and Joe Hetzel. One year, Grandpa Joe even dressed up as a Yeti so Dakota could find one for Halloween, and Hayden got the boy’s initials tattooed on his ankle.
Bouncing Through the System
In September of 2021, Dakota’s biological father, Dakota D. Stevens, passed away from complications of his struggle with addiction. Dakota’s biological mother also relinquished her parental rights around that time. Hayden and his family were trying to adopt Dakota and his sister, but the situation soon got complicated. His sister’s adoption was contested in the courts, which caused a delay. Hayden’s personal circumstances changed. He explained on social media: “Two and a half years in, some really weird, unfortunate circumstances and instances that happened to us that made me have to walk away initially at the time of adoption. Being a single dad at that point and not having help while working 16 hours every day would not have been the life for them.”
However, he emphasized that even though he wasn’t able to adopt the kids on his first attempt, once he was able to overcome the unfortunate circumstances, he tried again to adopt Dakota. DCS and the courts would not let him. Hayden said, “He was always loved, and not for a second did we not want him. We wanted him to be safe, healthy, and loved.”
After the adoption fell through, DCS removed the children from Hayden’s care, and Dakota was placed in a mental institution in South Bend, Indiana, for treatment. He and his sister were split up. She was adopted by a family, but once Dakota was released from the treatment program, he was once again shuffled from foster home to foster home. According to Hayden, Dakota begged for a while to come back because he felt safe and happy at their home.
In October of 2022, Hayden and his parents, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Sabrina, were able to bring Dakota home for a week. But after that short time, a judge denied the placement without giving them any reason or explanation whatsoever. As we’ve seen in countless cases, DCS hides many of their actions behind privacy laws, meaning the public and even the people involved are left with more questions than they have answers.
But during their short week together, Hayden and his family were able to make more memories with Dakota. When it became clear they wouldn’t be allowed to keep him, Hayden told the DCS officials that the ideal placement for Dakota would be in a home where he was the only child. He said he was thriving in an environment with no kids. Hayden posted about his time as Dakota’s father, saying:
“I have and will continue to love you with every part of my heart. I hope the time that I had you, I was able to show you what a good man should be, and I hope you took and lived each day like it was your last. Your memory will live on, and I will make damn sure everyone knows you, knows your story, knows the wonderful human being and soul you were. I’m glad I got to take you for your first real haircut last year at the barbershop. I’m glad I had you for the almost three years that I did, and the one week that I had you last year. Thank you for the laughs, the cries, the sleepless nights, the endless memories. Your excitement and passion for anything that you did and put your mind to amazed me.”
It’s not exactly clear where Dakota spent the next year, but reports say he bounced between staying with relatives and foster care. Another aunt, Nicole Rubalcava, had custody of him for some time, but DCS removed him from her care as well. Wherever he went, and despite his struggles, he was always doing something creative. In early 2024, he started making paper boxes and selling them for $2 a box. He sold one to Aaliyah Stewart, who he knew from a local youth center. But along with her box, she said she got much more from the young entrepreneur. She said he held her to her accountability when she missed her arranged pickup time, leaving her a stern voicemail message. He also talked her into downloading a free version of Minecraft. According to one of his relatives, he always dreamed of starting his own business, and this project was one step down that path to making that dream come true.
The Move to the Wilsons’ Home
He was staying with one of his aunts in April of 2024 when he moved yet again. This time to Liberty Township, in the home of Jennifer Lee Wilson and her husband, Robert Wilson. Robert worked as the principal of the nearby Lake Ridge New Tech Middle School. The couple became licensed foster parents in 2017 after completing what DCS described as the “required training and education required to achieve and maintain licensure.”
The couple had adopted three children they fostered, and according to Jennifer, they were ready to stop fostering. But they knew Dakota because they had provided respite care for him a couple of years earlier, which means they took him for a short time so his caretakers could have a break. So despite their plans to stop, they decided to take him in. And despite Hayden’s suggestion that they find Dakota a home where he would be the only child, DCS decided to place him with the Wilsons and their three children.
On April 5th, 2024, he moved into their home on Falcon Way in Valparaiso, Indiana. Though all of his foster parents admitted he could be a handful sometimes, Jennifer painted a much darker picture of Dakota. She said he had, quote, “verbal and physical aggression issues,” though it is hard to imagine that she found him physically intimidating because the 10-year-old was a small, slight boy who weighed only 91 pounds. And Jennifer was much larger than that. According to her driver’s license, she stood 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 340 pounds.
The Tragic Incident of April 25th
On April 25th, Jennifer said Dakota woke up agitated because she had told him not to run in the house while playing Nerf guns with the other children. She told all the children they could go outside to play once they finished their chores, but she said Dakota refused to complete his. As a consequence, she said he wasn’t allowed to play outside, but he said he was leaving and went outside anyway. She said he had not done this before, so she planned to give him about five minutes to, in her words, “cool off.” But when she went out in the backyard to confront him, she realized he had run away down the street.
Dakota was talking to a neighbor. He asked the woman if she would adopt him and asked her to call the police. He said his current foster parents hit him in the face and didn’t let him call his caseworker. Concerned, the neighbor looked for signs of child abuse but said she didn’t see any injuries on his face or any other area she could easily observe. While they were talking, Jennifer drove up in a car and asked Dakota to get in. He refused. The neighbor told her she was worried something was wrong because Dakota asked her to call the police. Jennifer told her to mind her own business because she didn’t know what was going on. Eventually, unable to get help, Dakota got in the back seat of the car, and Jennifer drove him back to the house.
It’s worth pausing here to point out that the neighbor, who was just trying to help, might have inadvertently made the situation even more tense. If you tell a regular parent that their kid asks you to call the police, they’re likely to be embarrassed. But if you tell a complete monster the same thing, you risk making them even more angry and putting the child in even more danger.
Now back at the house, Jennifer said Dakota wouldn’t get out of the car, so she got out and opened the back door. She said he acted up by screaming and telling her he was going to leave. She said she isn’t exactly clear about what happened next. She said she wanted to get him under control and keep him from leaving, but she isn’t sure if she tackled the boy or if they fell down accidentally. Somehow they ended up on the ground, and her heavy body pinned him beneath her for more than seven minutes.
The Wilsons’ home had a Ring video camera installed, and the camera captured the altercation in several clips. She was also able to speak to her husband through the Ring camera, and the video clips were sent to his cell phone. The first 20-second clip showed Jennifer sprawled across Dakota’s head and neck while he screamed and flailed around. This time, Jennifer used her phone to FaceTime Dakota’s caseworker. She kept her body on top of the boy during this call. She was holding the phone with one hand; she could only support herself with her one free hand. The caseworker tried to calm him down but had little success, likely because Dakota knew he was in danger. After her call to the caseworker, she used the Ring doorbell to speak to her husband, telling him Dakota was “having one of his days.”
In the next 20-second clip, she was still on top of him, but she seemed to be resting some of her weight on her right arm and elbow, which was planted on the ground. At this point, Dakota was still moving and able to scream, but his efforts began to fade. By the third clip, he had fallen silent and gone still. His arms were stretched above his head. Jennifer was still on top of him, but she had moved down his body and was laying across his hips. This clip was longer, lasting 6 minutes and 48 seconds, and during that entire time, Dakota doesn’t move at all.
In the next clip, neither had changed position. She was still crushing him. He wasn’t moving. She claimed she thought he was faking it when he stopped trying to get away. In the fifth video clip, Jennifer had hoisted herself up onto one knee. Dakota was motionless beneath her, face down on the ground. She rolled him over. She noticed his eyelids were pale. Finally realizing he was unconscious and unresponsive, she screamed his name several times and asked one of her children to call 911. She said, “I was laying on him. He was acting bad.”
At some point during the altercation, a neighbor noticed what was going on, and she started CPR on the boy. A firefighter who lived nearby heard the call and ran to help, taking over the CPR. At around 3:37 PM, police and EMTs arrived in response to a call about a medical emergency. When they arrived, Dakota wasn’t breathing, and he had no pulse. They noticed bruising on his neck and chest. Paramedics rushed him to Porter Memorial Hospital, and from there he was airlifted to the larger South Bend Memorial Hospital, where he was placed on life support. But he’d been without oxygen for too long and couldn’t recover. Two days later, on April 27th, he was taken off life support and pronounced dead.
The Investigation and the System’s Failures
Shortly after, police said Jennifer looked visibly distraught. They took her statement, but they didn’t arrest her. The next day, she sent them the Ring video footage from her husband’s cell phone. Based on their actions, police treated her more like a witness rather than a murderer. Relatives were told that Dakota had suffered a medical emergency but weren’t given many details. DCS officials first said that neither his family members nor his former foster parents could even attend his funeral because he was a ward of the state. Understandably, they were heartbroken, angry, and afraid that they wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye to the little boy that they loved.
On April 29th, his grandfather, George Stevens, posted a desperate cry for help on social media. It read: “Okay Facebook people, I need help. My grandson Dakota Levi Stevens was in DCFS custody ’cause my son and his girlfriend lost custody and gave up their parental rights. We just found out that my grandson is dead. Can’t get any help through DCFS or information. Worst of all, there’s nothing on the news about it, and supposedly whoever was taking care of him or possibly going to adopt him somehow suffocated him in the process of getting control in some type of fit that he was having. He ended up going to the hospital, put on life support, found out that he was brain dead, they pulled the plug, and he died. I can’t get any information to clear any of this up or to be able to attend my grandson’s funeral through the DCFS office.”
Relatives reached out to local news outlets searching for answers. A week after his death, Hayden told reporters he still had no answers. Two weeks later, one of his aunts told reporters, “We have not heard anything from the police.” Eventually, DCS officials changed their minds and allowed the family to attend his funeral. The department released a public statement through their spokesman Brian Hinman, who said, “Our entire staff is heartbroken by this news. DCS works with stakeholders and partners across the state to investigate the death of a child anytime there is suspected violence or neglect and will take the appropriate action.” He said that Jennifer and Robert’s foster license had been put on hold pending review and substantiation of child abuse; it could be revoked.
Remembering Levi
After the department’s change of heart, his family was allowed to plan his funeral, which was held on May 6th at the Geisen Funeral Home in Crown Point. His family set up a huge inflatable shark over the driveway outside of the funeral home in honor of the boy who wanted to discover a new species. Mourners walked through the shark’s open mouth on their way to the entrance. Inside, family members set up pictures of Dakota, as well as his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine trains. School projects and things he made were displayed on the wall. A large Lego creation sat on each side of his blue casket.
Over 100 people attended his service, including his favorite teacher, Mrs. Tarnavsky. She said she had learned a lot from him, and that knowing him and seeing how he handled his struggles helped her accept traumatic experiences from her own life. She said the love he shared with his family was his greatest strength, saying: “I’ve heard many bad things about what happened to this child. He told me all of it, but it was never about his family. Dakota was his own hero each day, and the reason for that was the foundation from his family. I just need you to know he loved you too, every single day.”
One of the truly special things about Dakota was his ability to stay optimistic no matter what he went through. His Aunt Nicole Rubalcava said, “Even if he battled stuff, this kid’s heart truly was not made for this world. He taught me so much. He truly did, and I didn’t think a kid could teach you stuff like that.” At his funeral service, Aunt Nicole told a story from the time he spent with her about three days before he was placed back in foster care. She said they sat down and had a talk. She told him, “Promise when you make it out of the system, I just want you to tell me everything you make with your Legos.” She said he agreed, and that the two of them touched their thumbs together to seal the promise. It was a way for them to both keep their spirits up while they had to be apart. It wasn’t the way she hoped for, but she said in a way, Dakota kept the most important part of his promise. Looking over at his casket, she said, “He came back to me. He made it out of the system.”
Later that day, after his funeral, a vigil was held in his memory in the Eagle Ridge Subdivision where he died. The vigil was organized by Monica Jimenez, a resident of the community who was also a relative of Dakota’s foster father, Hayden. The vigil was held at the community playground, and residents hoped to raise money to put up a plaque there in his memory. More than 100 people attended. Dakota’s name was spelled out in silver balloons tied to the top of a swing set, and everyone ate pizza, one of his favorite foods. Attendees lit candles and held up the flashlights on their cell phones during a moment of silence and prayer. Many wore black T-shirts with a photo of Dakota on the front and “Justice for Dakota” on the back.
Hayden told the gathered crowd, “I don’t know if anybody knew Dakota, but Dakota would have loved everybody being here together. He would have talked your ear off the whole time.” Hayden’s mother, Sabrina, spoke of holding DCS accountable, saying, “We’re heartbroken over the events that took place. We’re here because we want justice for Dakota. There needs to be changes. A child lost his life and it was senseless. It was a system that was supposed to protect him and it failed.”
The Fight for Justice
Though they were able to lay Dakota to rest, his family and foster family still didn’t have answers, and no one was being held responsible for his death. On May 20th, foster father Hayden posted the following on social media. It read: “How is it that the smallest infraction of a crime, whether it be driving without a license or petty theft from a store, those people get charged and taken in right away? But the murderer of a 10-year-old boy is getting swept under the mat. 25 days. Say it with me, 25 days since the murder of Dakota Levi Stevens. 25 days later and his murderer is walking free.”
Near the end of May, Dakota’s Aunt Ava Parish felt like she had to do something, so she started a protest calling for justice. At this first protest, she wanted police to charge Jennifer with a crime, arrest her, and lock her up. She missed her nephew and said, “The days of us being reunited will never happen. It’s really hard on my daughter, and it’s been really hard on my husband. That’s why we’re out here, because he doesn’t have a voice. We have to be his voice.” When the family still didn’t have the answers, next month she held another protest. In late June, she and other members of his family, along with supporters, gathered at a busy intersection on Indiana 149, carrying signs and bullhorns and letting the public know that Jennifer had messed with the wrong family.
Investigators say the death of a 10-year-old boy in foster care was a homicide. Dakota Stevens died back in April, two days after he suffered what was described as a medical emergency at his foster home in Northwest Indiana. An autopsy determined that he died from mechanical asphyxiation, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing. No one has been charged in Dakota’s death; authorities say they are still investigating.
In July, the St. Joseph County Coroner’s Office completed the autopsy report. Dakota’s cause of death was listed as mechanical asphyxia, which happens when an object or physical force stops a person from breathing. In this case, the weight of Jennifer’s body literally stopped him from breathing. His brain had severe swelling because he had been deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time. He also had suffered organ damage and hemorrhage from his liver and lungs. His manner of death was ruled a homicide.
On July 12th, Jennifer was charged with reckless homicide, which is a Level 5 felony in Indiana—one step up from the lowest level felony possible. If convicted, she would serve a maximum of just 6 years in prison. Now, if you remember earlier cases we’ve covered in Indiana, you might remember that they have “credit time” laws. What this means, to spare you the details, is that if she was considered a model prisoner, she would only need to serve half her sentence, meaning she would only serve 3 years for killing Dakota.
Around 1:00 p.m., officers went to her home to arrest her but didn’t find her there. She was out of town and had left the state. A warrant for her arrest went out the next day. A license plate reader captured her car in Berrien County, Michigan, just north of the Indiana border. The evening of July 13th, a deputy there located her vehicle, arrested her, and held her on a fugitive of justice warrant. She was extradited back to Indiana and held on a $20,000 cash bond. Despite obviously demonstrating that she was a flight risk, her case was assigned to Porter Superior Court Judge Mary DeBoer. On July 17th, she made bond with help from her family and was released. She returned to her home on Falcon Way. According to posts made by Dakota’s family, her next hearing is scheduled in August. As Jennifer has yet to be convicted of a crime, she is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for updates when and if they become available.
Dakota’s family, including his army of aunts, are furious that she only faces a maximum of six years, and they also want to hold DCS and Jennifer’s husband accountable for their part in his murder. They have created three petitions online at the Change.org website and are asking the public to sign in support. One of the petitions asked the department to provide more training for foster parents to prevent similar deaths in the future. It says, “More comprehensive classes should be introduced, focusing on child psychology, trauma-informed care techniques, and emergency response skills, among others.”
The second petition asked Lake Ridge New Tech Middle School to remove Robert from his role as principal since he is a mandated reporter and got no help for Dakota despite seeing the incident via video call. The school released a press release that said, “No charges are filed against Mr. Wilson, nor are any anticipated. Lake Ridge New Tech Schools has not received any reports that would cause suspicion about Mr. Wilson’s qualifications as an educator to ensure the safety and security of Lake Ridge students. While we understand that the legal proceedings affect Mr. Wilson’s family, Lake Ridge will continue to monitor these proceedings as any determination is made related to Mr. Wilson’s wife.” Dakota’s family disagrees, saying, “Lake County, Indiana deserves school principals who are genuine protectors of children’s safety, not those who will willingly turn a blind eye to child abuse.”
The last petition demands more serious charges to be filed against Jennifer—charges that would result in a harsher penalty than 6 years. They believe that Jennifer was acting intentionally and she knew her actions were harming the boy. They said, “It seems the system yet again failed to protect Dakota. We believe that Wilson’s charges should be elevated from reckless homicide to manslaughter or even murder, for her actions were far from reckless, they were lethal and appeared intentional.”
Continuing His Legacy
After they found out that Jennifer had been released on bond, some family members protested on the sidewalk outside of her home, chanting, “Justice for Dakota… Where you at Kenny, come put me up, where you at baby… Want your neighbors… Justice for Dakota… Tell MD we said hello.”
Aunt Ava is also still holding monthly protests. At the most recent one, they held signs that featured a QR code that linked to the online petitions. The family also printed yard signs that feature his image. They’re asking community members to display them to raise awareness. Mary Snell, one of Dakota’s many cousins, joined in the protest. She said, “Our voice is his voice now. She took his voice away. That’s all we’re trying is to be his voice… Justice for Dakota.”
Aunt Anna, the one who held him the day he was born and one of the many aunts who loved him unconditionally, wants everyone to remember the Levi she remembers—the little boy who is so full of life and love. In a post online, she said:
“You matter, Levi, to me and to all that loved you. We can’t stop, won’t stop, not until justice is served. Not only on Earth but in the afterlife too. Not until you are remembered for all you are and all you would have been. You must be remembered for the strong and brave person you were. You were so much more than her victim, and I will not let you be remembered as that. Remember he was brave enough to seek help, he was intelligent enough to do all he could to get help and try to prevent this. At times I feel like his identity is being lost in all this. Yes, we want justice and a more appropriate charge and sentence. Yes, we want DCFS held accountable too for their part in his homicide and all their nonsense actions. But most important to me, I want his memory and legacy to live on.
A lot of the information out there focuses on what happened and the facts surrounding his death, and focuses on the monster that took his life. While I’m grateful for the coverage, please keep in mind he was a person, a one-in-a-million kid. He was a son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend. He was loved and always will be. How many news stories or TikToks or YouTube videos take more than a second to mention him as a bright and loving kid? Mention his IQ or his interests or how much he loved his sister? How many have truly covered him as a person and not a casualty? Levi was and is more than a sensational reaction to violence and abuse that has been legally happening for years.
Please, I ask, when you speak his name, don’t speak it solely as a victim or a statistic. Speak it full of life and love, just as he was in his short life. We will keep shouting your name, Brother Bear. You live on in all of us. Keep his name going, not the person who took his life. I choose to remember his smile and his laugh, his Levi ways, not the ugliness. I miss you so much, Levi, so much, and think of you and your pirate smile all the time. You should be here, but I take comfort in the fact you’re in heaven and you’re free, my baby. Free from all the bad and ugly in this world. Keep flying high. I take comfort in all the little signs you are still near. Keep them coming. They keep me going. I will hold you in my heart until I can hold you in heaven.”
