An Indiana mother will spend the rest of her life behind bars for starving, torturing and beating to death her young son, the Commercial Review reports.
On Thursday, 28-year-old Chelsea Crossland was sentenced to life in prison for the death of 5-year-old Christian last year. She will not be afforded an opportunity for parole.
Police in Portland, Indiana, responded to Crossland’s home around 11:30 p.m. on March 24, 2022, for a report of an unresponsive child. Crossland claimed that the boy fell down the stairs, which had rendered him unconscious.
However, investigators determined the death was suspicious and caused by the effects of blunt force trauma to the boy’s mouth and head. He also appeared to be dehydrated and malnourished.
Officers also found the residence “unkempt and filthy,” according to WPTA-TV, and Christian was reportedly wearing only a diaper when police arrived.
Authorities alleged that Crossland did not call 911 immediately for assistance, and that she had discussed disposing his body at some point.
Police interviewed Crossland’s 9-year-old daughter, who allegedly said that her mother punished the boy regularly with beatings, choking him and forcing him to go without food for days, WTHR-TV reports.
Christian’s final months amounted to “a prolonged 74-day horror show,” Jay County Coroner Michael Brewster said, according to the Commercial Review.
Crossland allegedly told the boy’s father that she had wished the boy was no longer alive, according to WPTA-TV.
Still, the woman’s daughters seemed healthy and did not have evidence of malnutrition.
Authorities had initially charged Crossland with molesting the 9-year-old daughter but later dismissed the charge, although it could be refiled at some point.
At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Crossland’s defense attorney requested 55 years in prison for her conviction on charges of murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death. But Jay County Judge Brian Hutchison noted that Crossland did not seem remorseful.
“There are people out there who hope you get the (same treatment as Christian),” Hutchison said, according to the Commercial Review. I would rather the scales fall from your eyes and you live the remainder of your years in horror.”
Hutchison added, “I think life without parole is a very appropriate sentence.”
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[Feature Photo: Christian Coleman/Williamson Spencer & Penrod Funeral Home]
