Mom Blames Everyone But Herself For Murdering Her Baby

Mom Blames Everyone But Herself For Murdering Her Baby

A married couple from Idaho is visiting Baker City, Oregon. They sit in a restaurant themed around trains where they get a phone call. The woman is pregnant and is due within the next year. They debate when their child will arrive. She says March 6th, he says March 9th. He was right.

Flash forward to March of 2020. The young couple is at the hospital awaiting the birth of their new baby. The extended family comes and goes, waiting with impatient, bated breath. The clock ticks, it’s getting late. Then it’s time to push. The man brings news to his family. He paces in the hospital corridors when it finally hits him. He cries. He is more than just a man; he is now a father. He’s so happy. From this moment on, his responsibility is first and foremost to his baby.

Shortly after their child’s birth, this new family would be shattered. Within the last few days before the United States would officially shut down in the wake of the pandemic, a baby boy named Dawson Jace McKinney was born. Adam McKinney and Danielle Rue McKinney would welcome Dawson into the world from St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho at 11:28 p.m. on March 9th, 2020. Save for a quick case of jaundice that quickly went away, there were no complications during or after his delivery. He was healthy, happy, strong, and so very, very loved.

From the moment of his birth, Dawson stole the hearts of his entire family with his soft dark hair, giant eyes, and toothless dimpled smile. The phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” rang true as Adam and Danielle’s family members happily stepped in to help care for baby Dawson. Adam’s father watched Dawson one day a week, Danielle’s aunt watched him two days a week, Adam’s mother visited on Friday nights, and Adam’s job gave him Saturday and Sunday off. Everyone wanted to be near this brand new bundle of joy.

Adam recalled the time he, Danielle, and Danielle’s parents brought Dawson to a park with a walking trail. Everyone playfully argued about who got to push Dawson in a stroller because it meant they got the attention: “It’s my turn! It’s my turn!” Dawson’s cousin, only four years old, could not say his name, so she referred to him as “baby dolphin.” The rest of the family would adopt this nickname for him. Even the family’s Basset Hound named June would bring baby Dawson her toys to get him to play with her.

Adam McKinney, a former U.S. Marine, was extremely excited to be a father. The moment Dawson was born, he was the most important person in Adam’s life. To Adam, parenthood came before anything else. By extension, Dawson was his number one priority. Every day after work, Adam would come home eager to greet his son, sometimes only to learn he was in the care of another family member. Adam’s father called Dawson his little buddy and bought him matching sunglasses for the two of them. Dawson would wear the small pair of sunglasses without complaint.

Now, according to Adam in an interview, Danielle was sometimes excitedly waiting for Dawson’s arrival and sometimes she was fretful and worried. Danielle was much more hesitant to become a parent. Before Dawson, the couple learned that Danielle was pregnant while Adam was still serving in the U.S. Marines. He said they would figure it out and asked that she not make any decisions without his input. However, she went against Adam’s wishes and terminated that pregnancy. At some point in their relationship, Danielle had an affair. She blamed her behavior and infidelity on her medications. However, the couple ultimately stayed together.

Now, as far as newborns go, Dawson was calm and very low maintenance. His father Adam compares him to a puppy with how easily and quickly he could fall asleep. He was also incredibly quiet. Dawson didn’t scream or cry even when he was hungry. Now, a quiet baby is often a cause for alarm and would cause brief moments of panic for any parent. However, Adam soon came to realize that’s just how Dawson was.

Adam remembers how Dawson would wake up before himself or Danielle without making a sound, waiting patiently for mom or dad to come into his room to get him. Adam said Dawson made a specific signature sound whenever he was hungry, something not unlike a soft laugh. On Mother’s Day of 2020, Adam fed Dawson with a baby bottle while sitting in a rocking chair. He recalls how Dawson, in between sips, drew back from his breakfast to look—really look—into his father’s eyes and flash him his signature dimpled smile.

The extended family arrived at the McKinney home to celebrate. Danielle and her father brought Dawson into another room to change his diaper, and still, he smiled. That moment, Danielle’s father took a picture of Dawson’s face, eyes looking past the camera and at his grandfather, smiling with his tiny fist clenched. Dawson had a sense of serenity, patience, simple joy, and peace during his short two months on Earth that most adults would never come close to in their lifetime, which makes his loss that much more tragic.

At about mid-morning on May 11th, 2020, the day after Mother’s Day, Adam left work and swung by the family home for a short time. He bottle-fed baby Dawson and placed him in the baby swing. Then he pulled out of the driveway to return to work. Six minutes later, as seen on the Google Nest camera, Danielle ran to a neighbor’s house with Dawson in her arms, limp and lifeless. Adam would say that it only took those six minutes to completely change his life.

At roughly 1 p.m., EMTs were alerted to a cardiac arrest call, or a Code Blue, and were sent to North Swenson Avenue. There they were met with an unresponsive infant in his mother’s arms. Danielle had said that Dawson had been having trouble breathing and was throwing up over the course of, in her words, several days, and that he had been to the pediatrician during the previous week. Unable to find her phone, she ran to her neighbors to use theirs.

The EMTs could not resuscitate Dawson at the scene and prepared to bring him to the emergency room. Based on how severe the state of Dawson was, the EMT passed the information on to the Meridian Police. Eighteen minutes after Adam pulled out of his driveway, he answered a phone call that told him that his son was in critical condition. Detectives questioned him upon his arrival at the emergency room.

The EMTs first brought Dawson to St. Luke’s Hospital in Meridian before transferring him to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise. While examining and monitoring Dawson, medical professionals found, and I quote, “evidence of brain bleeding, retinal injuries, and a skull fracture.” In the expert opinions of these medical professionals, Dawson’s injuries were too extreme to be purely accidental. One of the responding officers drove Danielle to the hospital.

When asked how Dawson got hurt in the first place, Danielle’s story would change. She first said Dawson had been sick for days and that they had been to the pediatrician the week prior. Then she told Adam that the dog, June the Basset Hound, jumped on the couch and pushed Dawson onto the floor where she then tripped and fell on top of him. Then she said she set him down from the diaper changing table onto the floor harder than she meant to after she grew irritated by his constant screaming, but she swore it was completely accidental.

In the state of Idaho, the charge of felony injury to a child is defined as knowingly and willfully placing a child in a dangerous situation that any rational person of sound mind would recognize could lead to harm. It can carry up to 10 years in the Idaho State Penitentiary. Now, despite Danielle’s insistence she never meant to hurt Dawson, she was still charged with felony injury to a child and was given a no contact order which prevented her from visiting Dawson in the hospital.

She was released on bail and allowed a supervised visit at the hospital to see her son. During her time out of jail, Danielle would express to Adam how frightened she was of her uncertain future and that her life was over. Adam, meanwhile, frantically read articles about brain damage treatments and got into contact with detectives, victim’s advocates, and caseworkers. He believed that if he left Dawson’s bedside for even a moment, Dawson would feel abandoned by his father.

Baby Dawson fought for his life in St. Luke’s. He went through many procedures such as X-rays and CT scans and was connected to many tubes and wires. He outlived the doctors’ anticipated estimations, but ultimately, he died from his injuries on May 15th at 6:08 p.m. He was in Adam’s arms, surrounded by family. Adam would go on to say: “God must have missed my baby so much that He needed him back. Heaven must have needed a hero and another angel, and I can only imagine how bright Heaven is now.”

Ada County Coroner Dotti Owens determined the official cause of Dawson’s death was his extreme and traumatic closed head injuries. His autopsy showed a skull fracture, bleeding in his retinas, and bleeding in his brain. On May 18th, the coroner would announce Dawson’s death in a press release. The same day as Dawson’s passing, Danielle was arrested for first-degree murder and was sent to the Ada County Jail. The following Monday, John Hawley, an Ada County Magistrate Judge, set her bond at $1 million.

The day after Dawson’s death, a fundraiser for Dawson’s medical expenses went live on GoFundMe. Despite only reaching just below half of their $20,000 goal, it was still no doubt a small weight off the family’s shoulders. Still, nothing can alleviate the heavy burden of a newborn’s passing. Danielle pled not guilty to the charges against her. Prosecutor Kai Wittwer pursued a life sentence with 30 years before parole eligibility.

Prosecutor Wittwer pointed to Danielle’s change in story and the extent of Dawson’s injuries as reported by hospital staff. He also requested her bond be kept at the initial $1 million. The prosecution believed Danielle to be a flight risk, which meant they thought she was likely to flee and miss her trial. Danielle’s defense lawyer, Edwina Elcox, tried and failed to reduce the bond amount to $30,000. Attorney Elcox argued her client needed mental health treatment and that the Ada County Jail did not have the necessary resources to treat Danielle. She added that while initially out of jail, she did not break her release regulations.

Attorney Elcox pointed to the hour-long supervised visit to St. Luke’s that Danielle was granted, claiming that she wouldn’t have been granted that visit if the state thought she was at risk to herself or others. Danielle’s previous criminal history only showed a misdemeanor charge for inattentive driving. Attorney Elcox stated that Danielle lived the majority of her life in Meridian and Boise, perhaps implying that Danielle would not escape the area because she had nowhere else to go. These arguments for and against lowering Danielle’s bond were presented twice to Ada County Magistrate Judge Adam Kimball and once again to Judge Patrick Miller of the Fourth District. Each time, they denied lowering the bond, even though Judge Miller said he did not consider Danielle a flight risk.

Before representing Danielle, Edwina Elcox was one of three lawyers representing Lori Vallow Daybell, known for her infamous involvement in the Vallow-Daybell doomsday murders. Among the four murder victims were Lori Vallow’s own children, Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow. Attorney Elcox, along with Brian Webb, withdrew from the case on March 19th of 2020. More recently, Attorney Elcox has, for lack of a better term, inserted herself into the case against Bryan Kohberger, the suspect and defendant in the University of Idaho killings. She has given her professional opinions and analyses of the goings-on inside and outside of the courtroom. She, alongside former defense attorney Brian G. Buckmire, was interviewed by Dan Abrams of NewsNation, where they discussed the nuances of the insanity defense in the state of Idaho. According to Attorney Elcox, state-of-mind evidence is always relevant when it goes to one of the necessary elements of the crime. Make of that information what you will.

Dawson’s funeral services were held at the Cloverdale Funeral Home on the 26th of May, 11 days after his passing. He was buried in Terrace Lawn Memorial Gardens. Adam would say he fell victim to anxiety, depression, and worst of all, thoughts of removing himself from the earth. But the thoughts of causing his loved ones even more pain stopped him from doing anything irreversible. Adam quit his job at a hospital when the sight of a newborn infant gave him an anxiety attack and went to counseling provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

He stated in his victim impact statement: “I will never see Dawson’s first steps. I will never hear Dawson’s first words. I will never know the sound of Dawson’s laugh or the way he’ll call me Dad. I’ll never hear the words ‘I love you’ from him and I’ll never know his ambitions or goals in life. I’ll never see Dawson graduate high school or start a family of his own. I’ll never know his favorite sport or his favorite car. I’ll never know what it’s like to teach Dawson how to fish or ride a bike or drive a car. I’ll never get the opportunity to be patient with him and teach him everything I’ve learned in life. A billion firsts with Dawson and I are gone because of Danielle’s actions.”

Despite Attorney Elcox’s failure to lower that $1 million amount, Danielle was released on recognizance in September. She stayed with her mother and father. Adam said in an interview that not long after Danielle was released on bond, her father took her to what was once Adam and Danielle’s marital home. Adam did not state the specific purpose of her appearance, only that it was sudden and it caught him by surprise. Danielle’s father returned after time passed to get her to leave. Danielle snapped at her father in front of Adam, freaking out and yelling so much that Adam would decide to put a no contact order in place to distance himself from the mother of his son.

Danielle would be arrested a third time for breaking this no contact order in October, and she would plead not guilty in front of a judge. The specific case against her would be dismissed in August of 2022. Following her third arrest, Adam filed for divorce. The officer who arrested Danielle for breaking the no contact order was one of the same officers who answered the call for EMS on May 11th and even drove Danielle to the hospital. This officer witnessed Dawson being resuscitated by EMS three times and would tell Adam he lost sleep at the thought of this helpless, innocent infant in such a state of danger.

Danielle’s trial was initially scheduled for the 5th of January, 2021. It was first pushed to June, and then finally to April of 2022. The case number was CR01-20-17441. The trial took place during the weeks of April 11th and April 18th. The prosecution, led by Kai Wittwer, used Danielle’s inconsistent stories, testimony from medical professionals and law enforcement, and the severity of baby Dawson’s injuries to argue their case. They brought Matthew Cox, a specialist in child abuse pediatrics from St. Luke’s, to testify as an expert witness. Under oath, Matthew Cox would say on the stand that Dawson’s wounds were caused by a very violent force, which was also reflected in the medical reports.

The state of Idaho does not allow for the insanity defense. A defendant on trial cannot plead that they are not guilty by reason of insanity, but their defense can present evidence that the accused did not have the intent to cause harm. In criminal law, this is called mens rea, and would be the basis for Attorney Elcox’s defense. The defense argued that Danielle was not of sound mind while caring for her son. They cited the pandemic, postpartum depression, insomnia, and being laid off from her job as the factors that led to Dawson’s passing. Danielle claimed that she did not have a perfect memory of Dawson’s injuries.

An important part of the defense’s argument was Danielle’s state of mind and well-being. Attorney Elcox argued her client’s marriage with Adam McKinney was not a happy one and that Adam mistreated her. They brought on Dr. Nicole Cirino, an educator, expert, and authority figure on psychiatry and women’s health at Oregon Health & Science University, and she was brought on as an expert witness. During her time in custody, Danielle would meet with Dr. Cirino. She diagnosed Danielle with postpartum depression exacerbated by previously untreated mental illnesses. Danielle, Attorney Elcox argued, suffered from PTSD and anxiety because of the mistreatment from Adam.

Dr. Cirino testified it is very, very rare for a woman with a prenatal psychiatric condition to harm her child, but said there were more factors at play here, including Danielle’s PTSD, which developed into postpartum anxiety and depression, which also led to sleepless nights, insomnia, and hypervigilance. While testifying to the court over Zoom, Dr. Cirino described Danielle’s hypervigilance as extreme worry that her child was constantly in some sort of peril. The doctor called the circumstances surrounding Danielle’s environment—that being the pandemic, the mistreatment, and Danielle’s undiagnosed mental ailments—a perfect storm of events that ultimately led to Dawson’s passing. In Dr. Cirino’s words, a new mother experiencing hypervigilance feels that their child is always in danger, yet Dawson was often in the care of family members at Danielle’s request.

Adam denied ever having hurt or mistreated Danielle. The courts had records of text messages between the couple dating back before Danielle’s pregnancy with Dawson, which Judge Miller reviewed. He told the court he did not find evidence of the mistreatment that Danielle alleged. Adam was interviewed in 2022 by Lanie of the Suffer the Little Children podcast, where he would, knowingly or not, challenge much of Danielle’s changing narrative. As you know, we love Lanie and the work she does to hold those who harm our most vulnerable accountable. We’ll have a link to the episode in our show notes for you to check out.

Danielle told police that Dawson had been sick and that she had brought him to the pediatrician one week before his rush to the hospital. Adam remembers Danielle took Dawson to the pediatrician for what she thought was a blockage, and the doctor said that he was perfectly fine. Adam also does not mention Dawson being sick on Mother’s Day of 2020, the day before his fatal injuries. From his memory, and even from Danielle’s if her statement at her sentencing is of any worth, Dawson was as healthy and happy as any baby could have been.

In his victim impact statement, Adam McKinney said he knew Danielle was responsible for Dawson’s death when she told him the story about June knocking Dawson off the couch. He would recount how Danielle previously blamed June for bruising around Dawson’s eye, and that she denied knowing how Dawson once obtained a handprint on his arm and a scratch on his leg. He said that Danielle called him abusive as a way to get out of the consequences of her actions and called her spoiled. According to Adam, Danielle will always choose herself over others. She will always have a ready answer for why she has done anything, and it will never have anything to do with her. It’s always going to be someone else’s fault.

Danielle had her own prepared statement in which she recalls Dawson smiling at her on Mother’s Day. She said the memory of it was the greatest gift she could have ever received, and she said, and I quote: “I’m lucky to have that personal memory to hold on to. He was so loved by everyone and I can’t put into words how hurt I am that his days were so short on this Earth.” She still insisted she could not remember the events of May 11th, 2020, but also said she could have and should have taken preventative measures so that her son would still be here to this day.

Finally, she expressed a wish to be a free woman once again, saying: “I do hope that I can be given the earliest chance to re-enter society, which is still no guarantee with a life sentence, but no life sentence will hurt as much as a life sentence I’m living without my son.”

In between Adam and Danielle’s divorce and the sentencing hearing, Danielle met and married Trevor Farmer. He knew of the case against her and believed Danielle’s series of events. Trevor was present in the courtroom during Danielle’s sentencing, along with members of her family.

In April of 2022, Danielle took an Alford plea, which means a defendant maintains innocence while still accepting sentencing. Danielle’s sentencing hearing took over 7 hours. Between Danielle’s changing story and the supposed gaps in her memory, neither investigators, lawyers, hospital staff, Judge Miller, nor even Adam himself know exactly what happened to Dawson. All they do know is how badly he was hurt while in his own mother’s care.

Judge Miller did note that Danielle’s series of events seemed unnaturally fast. According to her, it only took 6 minutes to lift Dawson from his baby swing, bring him to the changing table, try to calm him down, put him on the floor, realize her mistake, realize her phone is missing, run to her neighbor’s house, and then call 911. Judge Miller called it an awfully fast reaction. He also blatantly declared the legal tactics the defense team used—such as calling Danielle’s memory retention and psychological state from before, during, and after Dawson’s injury and death into question—impeded law enforcement and legal experts’ abilities to piece together the entire story. He did not, however, hold this against Danielle.

Judge Patrick Miller gave Danielle a sentence of up to life in prison with parole eligibility after 18 years. He said: “Failure to take responsibility is a major concern here for the court. We want to set a very high standard for parents and for people taking care of children.” Danielle looked back at her family members in the courtroom audience, including her new husband Trevor, before she was taken into custody. It should be noted that even though Danielle is a married woman, that didn’t stop her from posting a personals ad on the website jpay.com.

Danielle’s legal team tried to appeal the court’s decision on December 28th of 2022. She had an appearance in Idaho’s Supreme Court of Appeals on September 11th, 2024. The February 2024 issue of The Idaho Advocate, a legal magazine, described the appeal as a basis in evidence, and I quote: “…whether the district court violated defendant’s constitutional right to present a defense by excluding expert testimony that due to her mental state, defendant’s use of force or violence upon the minor victim was not willful.”

Danielle is currently serving her sentence in the South Idaho Correctional Institution in Boise. She will be eligible for parole in 2040.

When all was said and done, Adam says he did think Danielle experienced postpartum symptoms. For this, he had some sympathy for her, but he could not forgive what she had done to him, to Dawson, and to his family. He said in an interview: “Who I married and who I proposed to were two different people.”

Now, inspired by a video on social media, Adam gifted his father Mike a Build-A-Bear plush with a recording of Dawson’s heartbeat. A friend of Adam’s brother made a bear plush from scratch using two of Dawson’s blankets, which Adam cuddles up with every night when he goes to sleep. Because of his niece’s nickname for Dawson, “baby dolphin,” Adam sees images of dolphins and is reminded of the joy his son gave him. He has since remarried and has started a new family. He would say in an interview that if his unborn child were to be a boy, his middle name would be Dawson.