The upstate New York parents convicted after the appalling death of their lice-infested 3-year-old daughter reportedly sought donations just one day after the child died.
Samantha Dylewski, 33, and Matthew Dylewski, 34, were each sentenced this month to as much as four years behind bars in connection with the death of their daughter, Joycelynn Ann Dylewski. Authorities said the little girl was found with decaying teeth and insects on her face after dying Feb. 19, 2025, amid the squalid conditions inside the family’s Corinth apartment.
A day later, Samantha Dylewski posted a GoFundMe link on Facebook seeking contributions for what the fundraiser described as helping give Jocelyn a “beautiful goodbye.”
In a Feb. 20 post, Samantha wrote that her heart could not bear the loss and that she needed her baby girl back.
The online fundraiser, which was created by the child’s grandmother, has since been removed.
Using her husband’s Facebook account to respond beneath the donation link, Samantha admitted the couple had been criminally charged but angrily claimed the case stemmed from their home not being “immaculate.”
She argued that officials had charged them only to be cruel, insisting that anyone who knew the family understood how closely Joycelynn was bonded to both parents and how much she was loved by her siblings.
Samantha also lashed out at critics, saying the family had just seen their “beautiful princess” for the final time and asking people to allow her husband, children and relatives to grieve while staying away from posts and photos connected to her daughter.
Joycelynn’s fatal lice infestation was so severe that she was diagnosed with anemia, which damaged her heart and organs.
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She also had clonidine, a blood pressure medication, in her system, Saratoga County Sheriff Jeffrey Brown reportedly said.
The combination of those factors led to her death, which was ruled a homicide.
Horrifying photos show rooms in the hoarder home were packed to the gills with garbage and debris.
The conditions were so disgusting that the property was condemned, WRGB reported.
A cockroach even crawled out of Jocelynn’s winter hat when it was removed from her head by authorities. An investigator also reportedly found her teeth “rotten and black.”
The unfit parents pleaded to criminally negligent homicide earlier this year. The disgraced couple were slapped with up to four years in prison this month, with a minimum of 16 months served.
“She was a 3-year-old, and you failed in the most horrific way,” Saratoga County Judge James Davis told Matthew Dylewski at his sentencing hearing Monday.
“She was completely reliant upon you. … This was completely preventable, and it’s unconscionable, and I want you to think about that fact.”
Samatha Dylewski was sentenced on June 8.
Both parents are prohibited from having any contact with their four surviving children until 2038.
“As their mother, it’s my duty to protect them from harm, and I failed,” Samantha Dylewski said at her sentencing.
