PORTLAND, INDIANA: An Indiana mother is likely to be sentenced to life after she brutally killed her five-year-old son last year. On March 24, 2022, Portland Police Department officers responded to a call about an unresponsive child at about 11.30 pm at a home located in the 600 block of South Western Avenue in Portland, Indiana.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders found Chelsea L Crossland, 28, who informed them that her child lost consciousness after falling from the stairs. He was pronounced dead a short while later.
Who is Chelsea L Crossland?
Chelsea L Crossland tortured and murdered her son. On Thursday, July 20, a Jay County Jury found her guilty on one count of murder and one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death over the March 2022 slaying of young Christian Crossland per the court documents. The jury subsequently recommended that Crossland serve a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. She is set to appear in Jay County Circuit Court before Judge Brian Hutchinson on August 24 for her formal sentence hearing. The probe was handed over to the Indiana State Police, citing “suspicious circumstances” of the child's death.
What did the investigators say?
Investigators said that the home where Crossland lived with the victim and her two young daughters, ages nine and 10, was “unkempt and filthy,” and noted that when authorities arrived, the boy was “only wearing a diaper.” Prosecutors also said in court documents that the killer mom did not dial for immediate assistance after her son was injured and talked about “disposing” of his body.
Christian Crossland's autopsy report
An autopsy conducted on Christian revealed that his death was a homicide and the cause of death was “complications from blunt force trauma to (his head and mouth).” The report further stated, “the child had ‘failed to thrive’ and that he was malnourished and dehydrated.”
Christian Crossland's painful death
Authorities interviewed Crossland’s nine-year-old daughter, two days after Christian's tragic death. It was at that time they came to know that Crossland would regularly punish Christian by beating and strangling him and keeping him starved for many days, as per a report from Fort Wayne, Indiana ABC affiliate WPTA. Besides, the boy's father reportedly told police that Crossland previously told him that she “wished the boy were dead.”
According to The Commercial Review newspaper, a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse testified in court that Christian’s injuries clearly indicated the enormity of torture that he had to endure. She reportedly explained that child torture occurs when a caretaker inflicts at least two separate physical assaults on the child or a single “prolonged assault resulting in distress,” along with at least two psychological abuse elements that include deprivation or isolation. The doctor reportedly confirmed that Christian was tortured.
The outlet also reported that Jay County Coroner Michael Brewster testified and reportedly concurred that the little boy was tortured. He referred to the child’s final months of life as “a prolonged 74-day horror show”. The doctor reportedly said Christian appeared to have been consuming close to zero calories per day during his final two months.
“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 five-year-old boy — every second of every minute of every hour for 74 days, she made a conscious decision to not feed her son” Jay County Prosecutor Wes Schemenaur reportedly said during his closing argument. “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.”
Fortunately, investigators informed that Crossland’s daughters appeared healthy and well-nourished. Prosecutors initially charged Crossland with molesting her nine-year-old daughter but later dismissed those charges without prejudice.
