(La Porte, IN) - A near maximum sentence has been given to a LaPorte County woman for doing nothing to stop the ongoing torture and other forms of abuse that resulted in the death of her four-year-old son.

 

Mary Yoder was given a 37-year prison sentence in LaPorte Circuit Court for Level 1 felony Neglect of a Dependent Causing Death.

 

Her live-in boyfriend and the victim’s father, Alan Morgan, is currently serving a 70-year sentence handed down in November of 2022 for murder and battery.

 

Morgan reportedly cited potty training as the reason for his cruel and, ultimately, fatal punishment of his son, Judah, who died in October of 2021 in the family’s home near Kingsford Heights.

 

Yoder received another five years on Level 5 felony Domestic Battery for beating her youngest then-23-month-old child.

 

“She struck him multiple times and threw him to the floor and kicked him,” said La Porte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan, who also noted that the toddler was not seriously injured.

 

Before being sentenced on Friday, an often emotional Yoder in the courtroom said she did not go to the authorities, feeling she could influence Morgan at some point to stop abusing her son. She also described herself as being “selfish” for placing her fears over what might happen to her family if she reported the abuse over the needs of Judah.

 

“This has taught me in the hardest way possible how important it is to reach out and ask for help and when it’s offered to listen and accept. I wouldn’t have tried to handle things myself and hope things would change,” she said.

 

Yoder went on to express regret over not protecting him as a mother should have, saying that the only thing that eases her pain is knowing that Judah is in “a better place” where “all of his wounds have been erased.”

 

“I pray that someday you can forgive me,” she said.

 

Judah had been living with a foster family until being placed with his biological family during the last six months of his life, during which he was punched and choked by Morgan and left alone in a dark basement in urine and feces without food for days at a time while bound in duct tape following mishaps with potty training.

 

An autopsy revealed Judah had internal bleeding on many of his organs and bruises from head to toe, the cause of death was ruled as being blunt force trauma to the head which resulted in a massive brain injury.

 

A security camera at the family’s home captured Morgan abusing the child just days before his death, authorities said.

 

LaPorte County Deputy Prosecutor Julianne Havens dismissed the remorse shown by Yoder in the courtroom, explaining that Yoder wanted Judah out of the family’s home a month before his death and told a family member not to contact the police about the abuse. Havens said there was also no evidence she was ever afraid of retaliation by the boy’s father, and also noted that Yoder never kept up with the housekeeping. The living conditions were described as horrific by authorities who entered the home to remove the boy’s corpse.

 

“She knew for months what to do to stop the madness. She just didn’t care to,” Havens said.

 

Defense Attorney Ryan Beall said Yoder was doing well in complying with requests of Child Protective Services and her scheduled visits with her son before he was placed back into the home. However, he said her biggest stumbling block in trying to get her life back together was smoking marijuana.

 

“She wasn’t always this monster she’s portrayed to be,” he said.

 

Judge Tom Alevizos also expressed doubt over Yoder’s expression of remorse and displayed a photo of the boy’s naked body for her to realize the consequences of her not going to the proper authorities.

 

“This is what your son looked like after he was tortured systematically by you and your boyfriend,” he said.

 

Yoder then briefly screamed and turned her head before Alevizos resumed speaking to her. 

 

“Look at him.  You won’t look at the picture, will you?  Unbelievable,” he said.