NASHUA, N.H (WHDH) - A 30-year-old New Hampshire man pleaded guilty for manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son, Elijah Lewis, who was found dead in a Massachusetts park.
Joseph Stapf plans to plead guilty to manslaughter, second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence and witness tampering. He could face a sentence of 22 to 45 years behind bars. He wasn’t previously charged with the boy’s death.
Elijah was found dead under soil in a wooded area near Ames Nowell State Park in Abington on Oct. 23 after being missing for about a month. An autopsy showed he died from violence and neglect, including facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment, and pressure ulcers.
Neighbors said news of the case broke their hearts and shook the whole town.
“He just came into this world and had a bad shake,” neighbor Steve Jaynes said. “It’s heartwrenching.”
The Merrimack boy’s mother, 35-year-old Danielle Denise Dauphinais, and Stapf were arrested in New York and held without bail on charges of witness tampering and child endangerment in connection with Elijah’s death. Dauphinais, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, was later indicted on first-degree and second-degree murder charges in connection with her son’s death sometime between Sept. 27, 2020 and Sept. 14, 2021. She is also accused of telling two people to lie and say Elijah was with them in October and telling another not to speak with investigators.
She remains imprisoned and is scheduled to go on trial for her son’s murder.
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