LAPORTE COUNTY, Ind. – A mother in LaPorte County, Indiana, has been sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison for the brutal slaying of her 4-year-old son and the abuse of another child. Mary Yoder, 28, pleaded guilty to felony neglect of a dependent in the death of her son, Judah Morgan, who was tortured and beaten to death over potty training.
Yoder also pleaded guilty to a separate felony domestic battery charge for abusing her youngest child when he was 23 months old. The abuse and killing took place in the family’s home near Kingsford Heights, a small town in Union Township, south of Lake Michigan and about 30 miles southwest of South Bend.
Prosecutors said Yoder did nothing to stop the ongoing torture and abuse Judah received by his father, 30-year-old Alan Morgan, who is serving a 70-year prison sentence for his son’s murder and other charges.
During a hearing, Judge Thomas Alevizos sentenced Yoder to 42 years in prison for the attacks on her children − a combined 37 years for the neglect charge on Judah and 5 years for the battery charge on her other son.
The La Porte Sheriff’s Office reported deputies responded to the family’s home on Oct. 11, 2021, for a report of an unconscious child. According to officials, Yoder called 911 and said Morgan lost his temper and hurt the boy. Judah was found naked and covered in a blanket with bruises all over his body and on his face and head. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy conducted the next day found the boy died as a result of a homicide.
Court records obtained by the outlet show Judah was duct-taped in a basement and ultimately starved. Yoder told investigators the boy was sent to the basement about three times a week as punishment for not being potty-trained like his other three siblings in the house.
The boy spent the first four years of his life with his foster parents until the Indiana Department of Child Services gave custody back to his parents. “Ultimately, there is no real justice for Judah, but we pray for some sense of it,” Jenna Hullett, the boy’s former foster mother, said during Friday’s court hearing. “The only solace we have is knowing that Judah is no longer suffering.”