A mother has been sentenced to life in prison after beating her four-year-old son to death because she believed he was gay.
Jessica Dutro, 25, from Portland, Oregon, assaulted four-year-old Zachary Dutro-Boggess and two of his siblings on a number of occasions, eventually leading to his death in August 2012.
In a Facebook message to her boyfriend, Brian Canady, Dutro made said that Zachary “walked and talked” as if he were homosexual, and suggested that Canady should “work on” him to turn him straight, according to Pink News.
The pair brutally beat Zachary, who eventually died as a result of blunt force trauma to his abdomen, which caused intestinal tears as it was pushed against his spine. This beating, along with the two-day delay in seeking medical treatment, led to his death, according to prosecutors.
Dutro will face a minimum of 25 years in prison for the murder of her son, with Canady receiving a 12 and a half year sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault.
