Danielle Dauphinais: Elijah Lewis’ mom called him ‘next Ted Bundy’, wanted him 'gone'
MERRIMACK, NEW HAMPSHIRE: A New Hampshire mother, whose five-year-old son’s remains were found buried in a Massachusetts wooded area, has once called him “the next Ted Bundy” and claimed that she wanted “him gone”. Elijah Lewis was found dead in Abington by Massachusetts and New Hampshire authorities on October 23. And just months before that, his mother Danielle Dauphinais had complained about him to a friend in a series of Snapchat messages.
Dauphinais allegedly sent messages to her friend Erika Wolfe in June that read, “I call him the next Ted Bundy and Jeffery Dahmer. It’s so sad but I have no connection with this child. He’s been getting worse and worse.” The 35-year-old also stated that she did not let the boy leave his room because she couldn’t “trust him anymore” after complaining that she once saw him playing with his own feces and urinating on clothes and beds. “I want him gone. I can’t handle it anymore,” Dauphinais reportedly added.
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According to reports, Wolfe is Dauphinais’ childhood friend, but they were not in touch for several years. However, when Dauphinais replied to one of Wolfe’s Snapchat posts that detailed the latter's teen son’s misconducts, their exchange began. At the time, Lewis’ mother had also told her friend about the New Hampshire child welfare agency’s involvement. But did not tell much about it.
Lewis was reportedly living with his mother since May 2020 after his father sent him to her. However, it’s not clear why he was sent to live with Dauphinais, who has six kids. About the Snapchat message exchange, Wolfe said she had forgotten about it until she got to know police were looking for her friend.
Lewis’ remains were found after the New Hampshire Division for Youth, Children and Families (DYCF) alerted the authorities about his disappearance on October 14, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella's office said. The young boy was reportedly last seen around six months ago. On October 17, Dauphinais and her boyfriend Joseph Stapf, 30, were taken into custody on witness tampering and child endangerment charges in New York City, as stated by Attorney General John Formella's office in a press release.
The release noted, “On October 17, officers of the New York City Transit Authority in the Bronx, New York, located and then arrested Danielle Denise Dauphinais, age 35, and Joseph Stapf, age 30, on warrants issued in this investigation in New Hampshire charging them with Witness Tampering and Child Endangerment. The witness tampering charges allege that they each asked other people to lie about Elijah and where he was living knowing that child protection service workers were searching for Elijah. The endangerment charge alleges that they violated a duty of care, protection or support for Elijah.”
It continued, “Dauphinais and Stapf will be arraigned in the Bronx County Criminal Court located at 215 East 161st Street in New York City, New York” on October 18, before adding: “Based on the information currently known to investigators, there does not appear to be any danger to the public. The investigation is ongoing and additional information will be released as it becomes available while protecting the integrity of the investigation.”
Meanwhile, no one has been charged with Lewis’ death yet as police are waiting for autopsy results.