Inset: Allysen Armenta. Background: Allysen Armenta’s newborn baby (KBOI).
An Idaho woman accused of trying to portray her 12-day-old son’s suffocation death as sudden infant death syndrome has now admitted to more serious felony charges than the plea agreement she was originally expected to enter.
Allysen Armenta, 28, had been set to plead guilty on July 30 to one count of failure to notify and one count of injury to a child. Under that earlier arrangement with the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutors were expected to dismiss two additional charges: destruction of evidence and resisting arrest.
But the hearing took an unexpected turn. According to the Idaho Statesman, Armenta was explaining in court why she was guilty of failing to notify authorities about her infant son’s death when the judge abruptly paused the proceeding. “I’m going to speak with the attorneys, and we’ll come back and we’ll resume in a few minutes, and proceed as we may be able,” the judge reportedly said.
Roughly 30 minutes later, the judge returned to the courtroom and said a legal issue had surfaced, forcing the plea hearing to be postponed while the parties worked through a revised agreement.
“A legal issue has come up,” Judge Thomas Witney told those in court, according to local CBS affiliate KBOI. “It is necessary to give the attorneys time to conduct more legal research before we move forward.”
When Armenta returned for the rescheduled plea hearing on Thursday, the deal had changed. She pleaded guilty to three felony counts: one count of injury to a child and two counts of destruction of evidence. The evidence-destruction pleas were entered as Alford pleas, meaning Armenta did not admit guilt but acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence that a jury could convict her.
Investigators alleged Armenta rolled over onto her newborn son, Benjamin — known as “Benji” — while the two were sleeping. Court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KTVB said Armenta and the child’s father, Brian Lemke, 32, exchanged text messages after the baby died rather than immediately contacting police. Both parents were charged with four felony counts: injury to a child, destruction of evidence, failing to report or delaying the report of a death, and resisting and obstructing law enforcement. Authorities said the pair claimed they found Benji unconscious in a bassinet.
At her canceled plea hearing, Armenta was going through the elements of the charges and explaining how she would co-sleep with Benji and she admitted to keeping him in a home that was “unfit for living” for a baby, according to KBOI. She also admitted to having a cellphone that she could have used to alert first responders about Benji’s death right before Judge Witney shut things down.
It’s unclear who directly caused Benji’s death, only that police believe the child suffocated inside the trailer, which was allegedly filled with trash, food, dirt, cigarettes, and animal feces.
Nampa police responded to a 911 call from Lemke on Dec. 16, 2025, around 3:32 a.m., according to a press release posted on Facebook. Police said they went to a property in the 300 block of Lone Star Road and spoke with Lemke at a house where he claimed Benji died, not the “filthy” trailer where he actually died. Armenta was not at the scene.
“After further investigation by detectives, it was determined the infant passed away in a different location and was later moved into the house,” police say in reference to the trailer. “Officers also found the infant’s mother hiding in a camp trailer in the backyard. She was taken into custody without incident on an unrelated out-of-county warrant.”
Lemke was sentenced in late July to spend between six and 15 years in a state correctional facility after pleading guilty to failure to report a death and destruction of evidence.
Court records show that the couple has multiple prior convictions for injuring children in Idaho. They had other kids removed from their home in recent years and placed in foster care, some for hazardous living conditions, KTVB reports.
Armenta is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3.
The post Mother who tried to pass off suffocated 12-day-old baby in ‘filthy’ trailer as SIDS death admits to more serious charges after new info comes to light first appeared on Law & Crime.
