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Chelsea Crossland, a 28-year-old woman from Indiana has been found guilty of the torture and death of her 5-year-old son. The trial jury found her guilty of one count of murder and one count of neglect of a dependant resulting in death and recommended a life sentence without the possibility of Parole on Thursday, July 20, 2023.
On March 24, 2022, officers from the Portland Police Department received information about an unresponsive kid in a house located at the 600 block of South Western Avenue in Portland, Indiana. When the police arrived, Chelsea told them that Christian had fallen and died.
However, the officers continued to investigate the death and found that the victim was routinely abused and starved. The death was ruled to be a homicide, and police arrested Chelsea as the chief suspect. Chelsea was arrested in March 2022 after officers found her son, Christian Crossland, lifeless at the family home. After being convicted, Chelsea Crossland will receive her final sentence on August 24, 2023.
Chelsea Crossland starved her son for 74 days
Upon suspicions regarding the cause of Christian Crossland’s death, police continued to investigate the matter. They were concerned as they found Christian’s sisters, aged nine and ten, in really bad hygiene and also observed that Christian was wearing only a diaper when they arrived. As per the documents from the prosecution, Chelsea Crossland made no attempts to get any immediate help for her son, when he was injured.
Upon interviewing the victim’s 9-year-old sister, authorities learned that Chelsea Crossland routinely punish the victim by beating, choking, and starving him, as reported by WPTA. Crossland’s husband also stated to the police that Chelsea had told him that she wanted her son dead. Further evidence regarding child abuse came to light during the trial.
The Commercial Review reports that a specialist in child abuse, a pediatrician testified that the victim showed all the tell-tale signs of abuse, claiming that Christian was starved for the last 74 days of his life. Jay County Prosecutor, Wes Schemenaur, said,
“What do you say about a case like this? Seventy-four days is what keeps coming back to me. Seventy-four days is how long it takes to starve a 5-year-old boy — every second of every minute of every hour for 74 days, she made a conscious decision to not feed her son…This was a horrific way to kill somebody. It took 74 days of methodically sticking to the program of not feeding Christian and beating him.”
She has a history of run-ins with the authorities, having been convicted of invasion of privacy, driving under the influence of alcohol, resisting law enforcement, and fleeing the site of an accident in the past. After being found guilty by the jury, Chelsea Crossland awaits her final sentencing, which is scheduled for August 24 in Jay County Circuit Court before Judge Brian Hutchinson.
