Background: Tina Beauprey (left) and her attorney during her court appearance on Jan. 28 (WLUK). Inset: Tina Beauprey (Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office).
For more than a year, a Wisconsin mother failed to care for her 12-year-old disabled son, leading to his death at just 56 pounds, authorities allege.
Tina Marie Beauprey, 51, stands accused of child neglect resulting in death, court records say. Her son suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which made him dependent on his caregivers, namely Beauprey, a criminal complaint obtained by local ABC affiliate WBAY stated.
Cops say Beauprey failed to properly feed or give medical care to her son between November 2024 and his death on Dec. 5. An autopsy listed the cause of his death as starvation, citing the manner of death as homicide. The medical examiner reportedly concluded that the boy, who has not been publicly identified, would "still be alive today" if the adults in his life had fed him properly.
But Beauprey's own alleged comments appear to show she had given up on caring for him.
"It's pretty sad that, that it takes your kid dying just to get off of, to get them outta your hair," she allegedly stated, according to the complaint.
Investigators also reportedly learned that Beauprey could have used gift cards supplied by the Department of Human Services to buy food for her son. But the boy only ate a few bites of frozen chicken nuggets and pizza in the weeks leading up to his death, the complaint stated, per WBAY.
Beauprey also reportedly ignored hospital staff who wanted to bring him in to check his weight and never opened his prescription medication. She told investigators that her son was sick the week of Thanksgiving and she "just knew he was going to be gone soon."
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by local Fox affiliate WLUK, which was read in court last week by Judge Laura Lavey, the boy weighed 80 pounds in November 2024 and dropped to 56 pounds in the next year. The documents stated that 15% of his total weight loss occurred in the last five weeks of the boy's life.
Fond du Lac County Assistant District Attorney Kristin Menzl told the court that "care [was] not being provided to the child, including a lack of food." She said the boy's health became significantly worse in the two days leading up to his death, but Beauprey "did not seek out any medical care for the victim, even though it was obvious he was declining."
Beauprey's defense attorney, Michael Queensland, said the family expected the boy to lose a large amount of weight because of his diagnosis. Queensland told the court, "The family had been informed that the child was terminally ill. He was going to lose weight. And soon, was going to need a feeding tube."
Jamie Frevele contributed to this report