Left inset: Nicholas Stemen (Allen County Sheriff's Office). Right inset: Lillyanna Stemen (Harter and Schier Funeral Home). Background: The area in Allen County, Ohio, where Nicholas Stemen saved himself from a burning vehicle while leaving his 2-year-old daughter inside to die (Google Maps).
An Ohio father is headed to prison for leaving his 2-year-old daughter to die inside a burning car while saving himself, with cops finding the child "in a forward-facing car seat" after the dad tried telling them "no one" was in the vehicle.
Nicholas Stemen, 34, was sentenced Monday to a minimum of 22 years in prison and a maximum of 27 years and 6 months for the death of his daughter, Lillyanna, in September 2024, according to court records.
Stemen pleaded guilty in October to aggravated arson, involuntary manslaughter and endangering a child. His indictment and arrest affidavit, which was obtained by Law&Crime, outline how he was drunk off nearly a dozen beers and "driving erratically" before his 2013 GMC Terrain caught fire with Lillyanna in the back seat.
After leaving the roadway, Stemen's SUV — which was missing a tire — caught on fire after coming to a complete stop. The vehicle was "fully engulfed in flames" when Allen County Sheriff's deputies, called to the scene by another driver, arrived and found Stemen attempting to stand near it, according to the affidavit.
"[Cops] could smell an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from Stemen's person, and he was unsteady on his feet, actually falling to the ground," the affidavit says. "After the American Township Fire Department had extinguished the fire, [a battalion chief] asked Stemen who else was in the vehicle. Stemen answered no one."
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Asked if he had any children, Stemen answered that he has a daughter who was with her grandfather. One of the firefighters on scene was asked to look inside the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
"Upon doing so, she observed a small body, in a forward-facing car seat," the document recounts. "She stated she could tell it was human due to seeing skin and blood on the thighs."
Stemen was taken into custody and questioned about what happened, with the drunk father telling detectives he spent the night "consuming at least 10 alcoholic beverages, namely beer, prior to and leading up to the incident," according to the affidavit. It's unclear where he was going.
"He had blacked out, and can not remember all the details," the affidavit says.
A letter written by Lillyanna's mother was read at Stemen's sentencing on Monday, according to The Lima News. "My baby girl is gone. And for what? For her father enjoying a night of drinking?" the letter said. "He killed her. He took her from everyone who loved her so much. He should spend his life behind bars."
Stemen reportedly spoke at the hearing and apologized for his actions, saying, "I know what my actions caused. Now I won't get to see my little girl grow up, and that hits me to my core. I'm sorry I took her away … I'm sorry she's gone. I have no recollection of what happened."
The judge overseeing Stemen's case told him he was being sentenced to a "lifetime of thinking what your daughter could have been doing," the Lima News reports.
"I feel bad for you," the judge concluded. "I feel bad for everybody."