New Castle, Indiana – A New Castle woman who admitted guilt to maltreatment last Thursday was given a 30-year prison term.
The investigation into the death of a 4-year-old boy in 2020 led to the case. The maximum punishment allowed by the provisions of the agreement was a 30-year sentence, which the judge handed down.
According to court records, Michelle Maylee Key, age 37, pled guilty to a Level 1 felony charge of abandonment of a dependent resulting in death.
When they were initially charged with murder and abandonment of a dependent after his son, 4-year-old Darrien Davis, died in January at a trailer home off Glenwood Drive, Key was Jacob Thomas Davis’s girlfriend, age 31.
After claiming to have discovered Darien unconscious in the living room, the father dialed 911. At the scene, the boy was pronounced dead.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the temperature inside the trailer was 85 degrees when the boy passed away, despite the thermostat being set to 90 degrees.
Darien’s body was warm and rapidly approaching the rigor and livor mortis stages. He died as a result of neglect, starvation, and dehydration, according to an autopsy.
Davis reached a bargain that resulted in the murder charge being dropped, admitted guilt to negligence in December, and was eventually given a 40-year jail term.
Last Thursday, Key reached a compromise in which the murder charge was withdrawn and she admitted to neglecting a dependant and causing death. Key was given a 30-year prison term by the Indiana Department of Corrections after the judge accepted his plea.
She received a 1,473-day prison credit.
