A three-year-old girl died in her family’s filthy upstate New York apartment after a severe lice infestation left her dangerously anemic, prosecutors told a court.
Joycelynn Dylewski was discovered struggling to breathe at a home in Corinth, roughly an hour from Albany, on February 19, 2025.
The toddler was taken to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. A medical examiner classified her death as a homicide, citing deeply troubling signs of both acute and long-term neglect.
Her parents, Matthew and Samantha Dylewski, admitted to criminally negligent homicide over the death of their youngest child and were handed the maximum sentence this month: up to four years behind bars.
According to the Times Union. Joycelynn’s lice infestation was so extreme that it caused anemia, a blood disorder that damaged her heart and other organs.
The medical examiner also determined that clonidine, a medication commonly used to treat high blood pressure, was present in the child’s system.
Following Joycelynn’s death, Samantha, 33, appeared to shift responsibility onto the child and her siblings, according to investigators.
The mother allegedly told authorities that Joycelynn had “fought her too much” when she tried to treat the lice on the girl’s scalp, a remark that seemed to place blame on the dead toddler.
She also told police that clonidine pills were left out by her son and that is how Joycelynn ingested them, per the report.
Joycelynn Dylewski was found struggling to breathe inside an apartment in Corinth, about an hour outside of Albany, on February 19, 2025. Her body was severely infested with lice, which led her to be anemic
Her parents, Matthew and Samantha Dylewski, pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in connection with the death of their youngest child and were hit with the maximum sentence this month
But, text messages between Samantha and her husband showed that they had a conversation about the drug, Saratoga County First Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Buckley said in court.
‘Her husband tells her she can give it to Joycelynn. Shortly after Joycelynn’s death, there’s an internet search on the cellphone to search for how long it would stay in the system,’ Buckley said, according to the outlet.
Samantha also claimed that her daughter had a weak heart, but according to Buckley, Joycelynn’s heart was normal.
The walls were also covered in grime, garbage was scattered all over the place and the carpets were stained and matted.
Disturbing photos shared by Phoenix Property Maintenance, the cleaning company that was tasked with cleaning the place up after Joycelynn’s death, showed the full extent of the messy apartment.
One image showed expired food items and wrappers strewn across a bedroom.
Another showed garbage bags and crumbs surrounding a teal couch, along with what appeared to be children’s toys.
Other insects, including a dead cockroach, were found on the little girl’s body. Her teeth were also ‘rotten and black,’ an investigator said, Saratoga County Judge James R Davis said when he imposed Samantha’s sentence in early June.
Disturbing photos shared by Phoenix Property Maintenance, the cleaning company that was tasked with cleaning the place up after Joycelynn’s death, showed the full extent of the messy apartment she died in
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Another showed garbage bags and crumbs surrounding a teal couch and what appeared to be children’s toys
Both she and her husband were sentenced to up to four years in state prison over the death of their daughter. They were also issued a full restraining from their four surviving children, whom they cannot talk to or see until 2038.
Other than the severe lice infestation living inside the squalid home, there were also flies, rotting food, and a kitchen sink that was clogged with muck.
During Samantha’s sentencing hearing, Davis said the couple’s presentence report was ‘the most horrific he has ever read,’ Times Union reported.
Davis told Samantha as she sobbed: ‘Your daughter suffered over a long period of time.
‘Even the other children could see that she suffered because of your neglect. It’s a gift to have a child.’ You had several children, and all of them suffered at your hands.’
Her defense attorney, Matthew Maiello, did not speak during her sentencing, but Samantha did address the court.
She told the court that she loved her children and she ‘doesn’t know how it got this far.’
‘As their mother, it’s my duty to protect them from harm, and I failed. I also failed my other children. Many things have happened things that I should have know to do and actions I should have taken.
At the time of Joycelynn’s death, Samantha, 33, suggested that it was Joycelynn and her siblings’ fault that she died
Samantha (left) sobbed in court during her sentencing hearing earlier this month. Matthew (right) told the court that he wishes it was him that was dead, not Joycelynn, during his court appearance on Monday
‘Since that day, I can’t find the words to express all my emotions I feel, but I don’t want sympathy. I do not want forgiveness. I don’t deserve any of that. The only thing I’ll ever want is my baby girl,’ Samantha said.
During his sentencing hearing on Monday, Matthew told the court that he wishes it was him that was dead, not Joycelynn.
‘I totally wish that it didn’t happen. I wish it would be that I died instead of my daughter. I still think that to this day. I constantly think about it.
‘Nothing is ever going to change. I still want to die so I can be with her.’
Following their sentencing, New York State Senator James Tedisco and Assemblyman Matt Simpson proposed a new legislation, known as Joycelynn’s Law.
If passed, it would see the maximum sentence for criminally negligent homicide increased to 20 years.
