Eagan Women Sentenced For Role in Foster Child’s Death: Reports

EAGAN, MN — An Eagan woman was sentenced in Dakota County District Court this week for her role in the 2017 death of her 3-year-old foster child. Zeporia Fortenberry, 32, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree manslaughter in connection to the death of Zayden Lawson.

Fortenberry admitted in court to allowing her boyfriend to punch her 3-year-old foster child in the stomach for weeks. Judge David Knutson immediately sentenced Fortenberry to serve a prison sentence of slightly less than 3½ years and ordered her to pay restitution and a $500 fine, according to reports.

With credit for time in jail since her arrest, Fortenberry will serve the first 2¼ years in prison and the balance on supervised release. A second manslaughter charge alleging child neglect or endangerment was dismissed.

On June 7, 2017, around 3 p.m., Eagan police officers and paramedics were dispatched to a townhome on a report that a boy was not breathing. The child, later identified as Lawson, was found to be cold to the touch and without a pulse. He was transported to Children's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to investigators, on June 6 Fortenberry was working the night shift and had left her two children in the care of Charles Homich (her live-in boyfriend). The next day, Lawson told Fortenberry that his stomach hurt. He vomited a couple times and Fortenberry said he was acting lazy, the criminal complaint states. She eventually put him in his pajamas and laid him on a mattress next to her bed.

While on the phone with Homich, she noticed the boy wasn't conscious or breathing and called 911. An autopsy revealed his death was due to multiple blunt force injuries.

Homich, 28, pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 13.

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