Woman sentenced to 30 years for killing her two-year-old stepson by dropping him twice on concrete floor because he wouldn't stop crying

An Indiana woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for causing the death of her two-year-old stepson by intentionally dropping him in a fit of rage.

Autumn Dunn, 30, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony neglect and lying to paramedics after initially facing a murder count for her role in the death of two-year-old Skyler Dunn.

Dunn admitted to police after her arrest in May that she dropped her stepson twice on the concrete floor because he wouldn't stop crying. The boy was rushed to a local hospital, where he later died from head injuries.

According to a police report cited by the Indianapolis Star, the first time the boy was allegedly dropped by accident, but the second time Dunn hurled him to the floor on purpose.

'I just lost my temper,' Dunn told an investigator, who reported that the woman told him that she just released her hold of the young boy by opening her arms and letting him fall because 'he wanted down so bad.'

According to police, Dunn dropped the toddler on purpose to the floor and then took him to Riley Hospital for Children, where she reportedly lied to medical personnel about the nature of Skyler's injuries.

The boy died at the hospital two days later. An affidavit indicates the toddler suffered two skull fractures and massive brain hemorrhage.

And according to Jean Seal, this may not have been the first time that Dunn abused her son.
Months before the boy's tragic death, his mother began noticing bruising on the boy's face after his weekend visits with his father and stepmother.

When questioned by Seal, Autumn Dunn told her that the child fell, but a doctor later told Seal that her son’s bruises were inconsistent with a taking a spill.

Records show a Department of Child Services caseworker visited the Dunns in January. Seal said the worker questioned her as well as Skyler's father, stepmother and grandparents, but not the children.

She said DCS interviewed the kids only after Skyler suffered fatal brain injuries. In an interview with the dead toddler’s stepsister, the child told the caseworker her mother ‘hits him in the face.’

Seal blamed the agency for her son’s death, saying that had DCS thoroughly investigated Skyler's injuries in January, her child could have been saved.