NH Man Agrees To Manslaughter Plea In Elijah Lewis Murder Case

CONCORD, NH — The boyfriend of the mother of a Merrimack boy who was killed and found in a Massachusetts park in October 2021 has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

Joseph Stapf, the boyfriend of Elijah Lewis’s mother, Danielle Dauphinais, has agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter, second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence, and witness tampering charges, all felonies, in Hillsborough County Superior Court South. His public defender, Paul Borchardt, filed paperwork agreeing to the plea on Friday. Stapf has agreed to a negotiated total sentence of between 22 to 45 years, stand committed in prison, as well as “additional terms” which will be reflected later as part of a memorandum of agreement to filed before the plea in court.

According to superior court records, Stapf was charged with felony witness tampering; induce another and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child-incompetent. Dauphinais faces first-degree and second-degree murder charges as well as three felony counts of witness tampering and two misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child charges.

Lewis, who was 5 when he went missing, was found dead in Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, MA, on Oct. 23, after it was revealed a week before he had not been seen for about six months. An autopsy determined his death to be “violence and neglect,” with “facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment, and pressure ulcers,” the MA Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Investigators were led to Massachusetts after a cellphone was found in a pond in Ayer, MA. While examining the phone, investigators realized it was connected to the Lewis case.

Dauphinais and Stapf were initially only charged with witness tampering and child endangerment charges after they were arrested in New York City. Later, murder charges were issued against Dauphinais. She was indicted on the murder charges in April.

All investigatory documents connected to the case are sealed.

A felon, due to drug, burglary, attempted burglary, violation of probation or parole, and other convictions dating back to 2011, Stapf is due back in court for a status conference on Oct. 7. A plea and sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2023.

Dauphinais is due back in court for a motion hearing on Oct. 26.

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