Boyfriend to plead guilty in death of mother’s 5-year-old boy found in woods in Massachusetts

The reported boyfriend originally charged with Witness Tampering and Child Endangerment in the death of the mother’s 5-year-old son has agreed to plead guilty and face up to 45 years in prison.

According to multiple reports, the paperwork was filed for 30-year-old Joseph Stapf in the case involving 35-year-old Danielle Dauphinais son, Elijah Lewis of Merrimack, New Hampshire. His body was found in the woods on Chestnut Street in Abington, Massachusetts.

Stapf will plead guilty to falsifying physical evidence, manslaughter, second-degree assault, and witness tampering in a plea deal that garners a sentence of 22 to 45 years in prison.

Dauphinais continues to be held without bail on one count of first-degree murder for purposely causing the death of her son; one count of second-degree murder for causing the death of Elijah Lewis recklessly with extreme indifference to the value of human life; and three counts of tampering with witnesses.

Dauphinais and Stapf were arrested in New York, just days before Elijah’s body was located.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts determined that the manner of Elijah’s death was homicide. The cause of Elijah’s death was determined to be violence and neglect, including facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment and pressure ulcers.