A Tennessee judge on Friday ordered a 23-year-old mother to serve an additional 33 years on top of a life sentence after she was convicted in the death of her 15-month-old daughter, a ruling that officials said all but ensures the defendant will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Megan Boswell was convicted earlier this year of murdering her daughter, Evelyn Mae Boswell, whose body was found inside a child's playhouse. A jury in February returned a life sentence with the possibility of parole, but Judge Jim Goodwin imposed the extra decades after sentencing Boswell on a slate of felony charges.
Court records and prosecutors' statements laid out grisly details of the crime. Authorities said Evelyn, then 15 months old, was suffocated and her body was wrapped in blankets and aluminum foil before being placed headfirst in a trash can inside the playhouse, where it began to decay. Photographs from the crime scene were shown during court proceedings. Prosecutors said Boswell, who was 18 at the time of Evelyn's disappearance in late 2019, gave investigators inconsistent statements during the ensuing missing-child probe.
At the sentencing hearing, Goodwin described Boswell as a "dangerous offender" who showed no remorse or empathy and said the community must be protected from what he called the "evil that lurks in her heart." The judge's decision to add consecutive felony terms to the earlier life sentence will make it exceedingly unlikely Boswell will ever be eligible for release.
The disappearance of Evelyn in late 2019 triggered one of the state's most intensive missing-child investigations, according to court filings and local officials. The case drew attention from law enforcement and the public as questions mounted about Evelyn's whereabouts and the circumstances that led to her death.
Defense attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the hearing. Prosecutors have previously said the evidence presented at trial supported the murder conviction, and the additional felony sentences stem from related counts that were adjudicated alongside the homicide charge.
Under Tennessee law, judges may impose consecutive sentences for multiple convictions, a practice that can effectively eliminate the possibility of parole when added to a life term. Goodwin's remarks at the sentencing underscored his view that the combination of the life sentence and the newly imposed terms was necessary to protect the public.
The case is likely to proceed through the appeals process, where defense lawyers can challenge convictions or the severity of the sentence. Meanwhile, the ruling closes a chapter in a case that began with a missing-child report in 2019 and culminated this year in a murder conviction and expanded sentencing that state officials said reflected the gravity of the crime.