LaPorte Co. mother sentenced to 42 years for role in death of 4-year-old boy
LAPORTE COUNTY, Ind. (WNDU) - More tears were shed, and more punishment was doled out today in connection with the death of four-year-old Judah Morgan.
The boy’s naked and badly bruised body was found in October of 2021 on the basement floor of the family home in LaPorte County.
Police say that’s where Morgan was tortured both physically and mentally.
Today, Judah’s mother, Mary Yoder, was sentenced to spend 42 years in prison for her neglectful role in the death.
She addressed the court today, saying she missed her “sweet boy, full of joy.” She missed his drawings and his laugh. Yoder said she wished she would have done more to protect him.
The speech drew an intense response from the judge, who picked up an autopsy photo of Judah, pointed it in Yoder’s direction, and said, “Look at him. Unbelievable.”
Judah was placed in foster care at the tender age of four months, and he was reunited with his biological mother at age four.
About seven months after being reunited, Judah was dead.
“We’ve got to do everything we can do for Judah because he’s not here, but he has to have a legacy. His four short little years meant something. I want everyone to know that it was preventable, and people say all the time, ‘If you see something, say something,’ and I said something, and nobody would listen. That’s the problem with this system is they fail these children all the time and then these children grow up and are a productive part of society and they turn into foster parents and they still see the system fail the kids they are fostering,” said Jenna Hullett, the foster mom of Judah.
Hullet is now suing Indiana’s Department of Child Services over the placement.
“They made the decision to put Judah in that home knowing things that were red flags, knowing things that I had told them, knowing Judah had told them, videos that I had sent them of Judah telling me that he was afraid that Mary would hurt him. I have all kinds of evidence to prove that he should have never been placed in that home,” Hullet explained.
Judah’s father, Alan Morgan, was previously sentenced to 70 years in prison for the murder of Judah.
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