Indiana woman allegedly beat her stepson to death after returning home from Christmas party, police say

An Indiana woman is under arrest after she allegedly beat her stepson and he died from his injuries, police said.

On Dec. 21, police took Alesha Miller, 30, into custody in connection to the death of 9-year-old Elijah Ross and charged her with aggravated battery resulting in death, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and two counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WPTA-DT2, on Dec. 18, Alesha Miller and her wife, Jenna Miller, brought Elijah to Lutheran Downtown Hospital in Fort Wayne, where a security guard who helped carry they boy inside noted he was “cold and limp and liver mortis and rigor mortis was starting to settle into his body.”

The affidavit states staff at the hospital observed the child had suffered bruising on his arms, face, back and buttocks as well as a small laceration at the base of his penis.

Efforts to save the child’s life were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead around 2 a.m. on Dec. 19

An Allen County coroner conducted a preliminary autopsy and determined the boy likely died from a subdermal hematoma caused by multiple blunt force injuries.

A Child Advocacy Center representative learned from witnesses that Elisha Miller allegedly “went hard on” her stepson and would “slam” him to the ground and hit him “multiple times” with a wooden paddle.

The child’s mother, Jenna Miller, allegedly told detectives in an interview that she and Alesha Miller were at a Christmas party when they learned Elisha and his older brother had gotten into an altercation. When the couple returned home, the probable cause affidavit states, Alesha Miller “started whooping the victim with a wooden paddle that has writing on it and that the handle has been broken off.”

Jenna Miller, the affidavit continues, said her son “went limp” during the alleged beating “and they thought he was playing dead.”

Alesha Miller is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on Dec. 29.