Stepfather Receives Sentence for Killing 4-Year-Old in Hot Bathtub Incident

A 40-year-old man from Montana is likely to remain in prison for life after he killed his 4-year-old stepson by beating him and forcing him into a scalding hot bath, resulting in the boy’s death in 2021. On Wednesday, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Collette Davies sentenced Kristopher Michael Harasymczuk to 80 years in a state correctional institution for the murder of young Jaxsynn Gatlin.

Judge Davies specifically sentenced Harasymczuk to 80 years for the charge of intentional homicide and an additional 15 years each for charges of assaulting a minor and tampering with evidence. All sentences will run concurrently, which means they will be served at the same time. His conviction was delivered in March following a jury trial.

The boy’s mother, Lana Marie Harasymczuk, aged 37, is also facing charges related to her son’s death. She has been charged with three counts each of child endangerment and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

According to a report from the Billings Gazette, officers with the Billings Police Department and emergency medical personnel responded to the family’s home on Woodgrain Drive on Oct. 22, 2021 regarding an unresponsive child. Upon arriving, first responders said they found Jaxsynn on the ground in the bathroom next to the bathtub.  Medics noted that the child was already dry when they arrived and his skin was warmer than normal.

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The boy was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short while later. An autopsy determined his death to be a homicide with the likely cause of death being hyperthermia, noting that on the day of his death the child’s temperature reached 102 degrees. Bruising was also noted on the boy’s face and other signs of abuse.

In subsequent interviews with Jaxsynn’s siblings, all of them reportedly confirmed that they had been physically abused by Kristopher Harasymczuk.

The boy’s mother initially claimed that Jaxsynn had gone to take a bath by himself, asserting Kristopher Harasymczuk was not present and that her son fell and drowned on his own, Great Falls, Montana CBS affiliate KRTV reported. However, after being confronted with signs of abuse, she reportedly confessed that her husband was the last person in the bathroom with the victim before he died and that just prior to his death, she heard the boy screaming.

“This is the worst one I’ve been involved in for sure,” John Ryan, Yellowstone senior deputy county attorney, told jurors, according to KRTV.

Billings, Montana CBS affiliate KTVQ reported that in addition to hyperthermia, Jaxsynn’s cause of death could have been blunt force trauma to the head or swelling caused by drowning.