Chelsea Duperon, a Michigan mother who claimed to hear “bad spirits” before fatally beating her eight-year-old daughter, was sentenced Monday to 28 to 50 years in prison. The case, marked by disturbing forensic evidence, conflicting accounts, and wrenching victim impact statements, has stunned even seasoned courtroom observers.
In March 2024, police responded to a call at Duperon’s home in Wayne, Michigan where they discovered her daughter, Lila, unresponsive in a bedroom. Wearing only a diaper, the girl showed evidence of extensive physical abuse. Authorities carrying out the autopsy concluded that she dided of blunt force trauma. Her injuries were so severe that she was “unrecognizable.” According to authorities, Duperon assaulted her daughter days earlier and failed to seek medical care, despite Lila’s deteriorating condition.
Initially, Duperon claimed that her child fell down the stairs. Her boyfriend told investigators that she had spoken of hearing a spirit or ghost that made her feel “crazy.” But prosecutors dismissed her shifting stories, pointing instead to the evidence: bruises from head to toe, diapers purchased for a bedridden child, and days of neglect that contributed to Lila’s death.
Originally charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse, Duperon eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this month. At sentencing, prosecutors argued for the maximum penalty, due to the brutality of the crime. The prosecutor stated, “There was not one spot from head to toe that was not bruised or marked. This was sadistic. This was torture.”
The court agreed, increasing several offense variable scores based on the level of violence and psychological injury inflicted on the family. The judge described the photos of Lila’s injuries as “the most horrific” she had ever seen, adding that the child “sat for two to three days in the condition that she was in” with no medical attention—while her mother bought diapers and thermal wraps instead of calling 911.
In a tearful victim impact statement, Lila’s paternal grandmother, Terry Castle, described years of being kept from the child due to what she claimed were false allegations. “We never gave up faith that one day she would come back to us,” she said. “But now, we’ve lost her forever.”
Duperon made a brief statement in court about her daughter, but took no accountability. The complete lack of remorse combined with the severity of the injuries led to the court’s sentence.
