Mom Accused Of Killing 5-Year-Old Son Allegedly Compared Child To Serial Killer

A New Hampshire mom accused of killing her 5-year-old son allegedly described the boy as "the next Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer" months before the child was found dead.

Danielle Dauphinais, 35, has been indicted on multiple charges, including first-degree murder, in connection with the death of her son Elijah Lewis in Merrimack, New Hampshire, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

Elijah was reported missing to police on Oct. 14, 2021, by the New Hampshire State Department of Children, Youth and Families after it was brought to the department's attention that the boy had not been seen for about a month.

The child's buried remains were discovered on Oct. 23, 2021, in a wooded area near Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, Massachusetts, by a state police cadaver dog. The discovery came six days after his mother was arrested in New York City, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said at a news conference.

On Monday, Dauphinais was indicted on one count of first-degree murder for "purposely causing" Elijah's death, one count of second-degree murder for causing his death "recklessly with extreme indifference to the value of human life" and three counts of tampering with witnesses, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella announced.

The child's mother previously was charged with witness tampering and child endangerment, to which she pleaded not guilty. Dauphinais has not yet entered a formal plea to the new charges.

Months before the child was found dead, Dauphinais allegedly complained about her son to a friend via Snapchat, including comparing him to serial killers, Boston Globe reported.

"I call him the next Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer," Dauphinais allegedly wrote on Snapchat to childhood friend Erika Wolfe in June 2021, according to screenshots of the conversation reviewed by the outlet.

The conversation started when Dauphinais commented on Wolfe's post, in which the latter discussed her experience with raising her son. Before that, Wolfe said she and Dauphinais had not talked in years.

During the conversation, Dauphinais allegedly said that Elijah was difficult to control and that her son urinated on his clothing and bed and played in his waste. Elijah, who was previously under the custody of his father Timothy Lewis, had been living with Dauphinais since May 2020.

“His father took him at the age of one and never returned him until last May 2020. He's been getting worse and worse. I want him gone. I can't handle it anymore,” Dauphinais allegedly wrote.

An attorney for Dauphinais declined to comment on the alleged Snapchat messages and said she would only do so once they are proven to be real.

“I have no information that these text messages are from my client,” the lawyer said. “Unless I had documentation verifying from a phone company their authenticity, until that happens, I would contest their validity.”

In November 2021, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts ruled Elijah's death a homicide. The cause of death was determined to be violence and neglect, including facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment and pressure ulcers.

At the time of his reported disappearance, Elijah was living with his mother and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, 30, in Merrimack.

Stapf was arrested along with Dauphinais. He is being held without bail on charges of witness tampering and child endangerment after the pair's Oct. 17, 2021, arrest in New York City, said the attorney general's office.

Dauphinais is also being held without bail, with a later arraignment to take place in Hillsborough County Superior Court, Southern District, in Nashua.