New Hampshire
‘Gonna kill this kid’: N.H. mom was depriving son of nourishment before his death, texts reveal
A New Hampshire mother on Thursday pleaded guilty to murder in the 2021 death of her five-year-old son, Elijah Lewis.
Danielle Dauphinais of Merrimack appeared in Hillsborough County Superior Court on Thursday morning, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit. She pleaded guilty to second degree murder and two counts witness tampering in the death of her young son.
“Elijah was assaulted, starved, isolated, and neglected. He was tortured,” a prosecutor said.
The state said Elijah died between Sept. 21, 2021 and Sept. 24, 2021.
The boy was found face down in the fetal position in a shallow hole at Ames Nowell State Park in Abington.
According to prosecutors, had this case gone to trial, Dr. Richard Atkinson, who was at the burial site and conducted Elijah’s autopsy, would have said, “Elijah died as a result of violence and neglect including facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment, and pressure ulcers.”
“I am sick to my stomach and I can’t believe what I heard today. That’s not the person I knew,” MJ Morrison, Elijah’s aunt, said after Thursday’s court hearing.
Dauphinais was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges in connection with her son’s death in April 2022. Dauphinais and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, were originally charged with witness tampering and child endangerment. Both remain in prison.
Prosecutors said Thursday that the investigation into Elijah’s whereabouts began after Dauphinais gave birth to a baby boy and Stapf dropped the child off at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester.
The Division of Children, Youth, and Families began questioning Dauphinais about where Elijah was.
Prosecutors said she told them “Elijah was gone” and then said he was living with her sister Tracy in California. Her sister later told the social worker and investigators that Dauphinais asked her to lie and say Elijah was with her in California, but she refused.
According to cell phone records, Dauphinais was confronted again by DCYF workers, at which point she told them she sent Elijah to her brother’s house in Texas.
Her brother, Bruce, told DCYF workers he had custody of Elijah since September, not knowing it was more than a wellness check, but couldn’t provide any information on him like where he went to school. He was told to call them back but never did.
DCYF then went to Merrimack Police to report Elijah as missing.
Text messages between Dauphinais and Stapf revealed she was depriving the child of nourishment, prosecutors said in court.
“I gave him a small bowl of cereal so he would shut the **** up. But that wasn’t enough. He said he wants food and wants me to stop starving him because it’s not nice,” read one message.
“I’m gonna kill this kid joe, ****ing screaming at the top of his lungs ****ing water,” said another from Dauphinais to Stapf.
Prosecutors outlined how and when the couple buried Elijah.
Merrimack Police tracked the couple’s cell phones, finding that the pair traveled through Boston to Abington, 14 hours after investigators started asking questions.
Prosecutors said Stapf buried Elijah’s body and put a white birch tree over his grave. Then, the couple drove to Mohegan Sun, had a bite to eat, went to a country music concert and boarded a bus to New York City.
The two were arrested at a subway station in the Bronx.
Cristee Chasse went to the courthouse on Thursday wearing a shirt that read, ‘Justice for Elijah.’
“Absolutely disgusting, disgusting. And that could have been prevented. A lot of this, according to what happened today and what I heard, happened after the fact, that he went to the doctors and bruising was seen,” said Chasse.
Prosecutors also said that Elijah weighed 32 pounds at his last and only doctor’s visit with his mother, and weighed 19 pounds when his body was found in the state park.
“I’m just hoping she gets the absolute maximum. That’s what Elijah deserves,” added Morrison.
Dauphinais is expected to be sentenced on Oct. 25.
She could face between 58 years to life in prison.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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New Hampshire
Trans athletes drop lawsuit to gain access to girls’ sports in New Hampshire after SCOTUS ruling
Fighting the transgender sports ban is ‘utterly misogynistic’: Riley Gaines
Fox News discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold transgender sports bans. Former NCAA All-American Riley Gaines states it’s ‘insane’ to challenge biological sex in sports, asserting boys should not compete in girls’ sports. She calls the opposing movement ‘misogynistic,’ advocating for female athletes’ rights and fair competition, a view echoed by Education Secretary Linda McMahon. This highlights the contentious issue in women’s sports.
A pair of trans athletes in New Hampshire have dismissed their lawsuit to challenge the state law that protects girls’ sports after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Title IX ruling on June 30.
The trans teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, originally filed the lawsuit in 2024 to challenge a current New Hampshire state law prohibiting trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports. The lawsuit later expanded to add President Donald Trump’s administration to the defendants after Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5, 2025.
The lawyers for the trans athletes claimed Trump’s executive order, along with parts of a Jan. 20 executive order that forbids federal money from being used to “promote gender ideology,” subjects the teens and all transgender girls to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
A transgender athlete and the Supreme Court (Getty Images)
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire then ruled last year that female athletes represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys were permitted to intervene in the case to defend the state’s women’s sports law and the administration’s executive orders.
Now, after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, which protects state laws that ensure only females compete in girls’ sports, there is no room for the trans teens to fight the law in New Hampshire.
“Women and girls deserve privacy, safety, and equal opportunities. That can’t happen when males are competing in women’s sports, taking spots on women’s athletic teams, and winning women’s championships,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
USA POWERLIFTING, ONCE IN TRANS ATHLETE LAWSUIT, SUPPORTS SCOTUS RULING: ‘LAW HAS CAUGHT UP WITH THE SCIENCE’
“President Trump’s executive orders and New Hampshire’s law recognize common sense and track Title IX, the federal law that ensures equal opportunities for women in athletics. We are grateful this case is coming to an end and that New Hampshire is free to protect its female athletes.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Tirrell and Turmelle’s attorneys at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) for a response.
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A protester waves a transgender pride flag outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Advocates organized a rally in response the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in US v. Skrmetti, in which the justices ruled to uphold state bans on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The SCOTUS rulings in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, the high court upheld state laws requiring student-athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity, in a 6-3 decision.
However, there are still 23 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, that don’t have any such laws, and some of those have laws to protect trans athletes in girls’ sports.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire Gov. signs law requiring schools to out trans kids
New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte (Getty Images)
New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte has signed legislation requiring public school employees to disclose information about transgender students to their parents or legal guardians, reversing a 2024 state Supreme Court ruling that upheld students’ privacy rights in certain circumstances.
Ayotte’s office announced on 2 July that the legislation had been signed into law. Under SB 430, educators must respond to written requests from parents for “material information” about their child, even if a student has asked that the information be kept confidential or fears negative consequences at home.
Supporters of the legislation, such as Republican state Senator Tim Lang, argue the measure strengthens parental rights and enables families to better support children who may be struggling. “If you don’t tell the parent, the parent can’t watch for the signs of self-harm,” Lang told New Hampshire Public Radio.
Educators and LGBTQ+ advocates, however, say the law places teachers in an impossible position by forcing them to choose between complying with the law and protecting vulnerable students. Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that the legislation is “vaguely written and risks putting educators in a position of outing a student.” She added that schools should remain places where every student feels “safe, seen, and free to be themselves.”
Aimee Terravechia, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group 603 Equality, warned the law could erode trust between students and educators while speaking with New Hampshire Public Radio. “Schools should be a place of learning… and a place of critical self-examination,” she said. “Placing educators into a role of monitoring and reporting removes the trust necessary for a thriving academic environment.”
The legislation also effectively overturns a 2024 New Hampshire Supreme Court decision, in which justices ruled that keeping a student’s gender identity confidential did not unlawfully interfere with parents’ rights, noting that parents still retained numerous ways to support and communicate with their children outside the classroom.
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