Life in prison

A 28-year-old Portland woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars for the death of her 5-year-old son.

A Jay Circuit Court jury recommended imprisonment for life without parole after finding Chelsea Crossland guilty Thursday of both murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death.

Following court formalities, she will be officially sentenced by Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison at 11 a.m. Aug. 24 for killing her 5-year-old son, Christian.

As Hutchison read aloud the jury’s decision to put Crossland behind bars for life, two individuals in the crowd quietly cheered. Crossland remained stone-faced.

“What can I say?” responded Wes Schemenaur after the trial. “It was probably the most difficult case I’ve ever had the displeasure of being a part of.”

He thanked professionals who worked on the case, including Indiana State Police.

“I think the jury reached the right outcome in this case,” he said.

The jury needed barely more than an hour to reach its verdict after the prosecution and defense gave their closing arguments Thursday morning. (Both sides had rested their cases Wednesday.)

Jurors were then asked to take into consideration witnesses for “phase two” of the trial, which determined whether Crossland would be sent to prison for life without parole.

Jay County prosecutor Schemenaur called Jay County coroner Michael Brewster and child abuse pediatrician Tara Holloran of Riley Hospital in Indianapolis to the stand. Schemenaur asked Holloran various questions about the difference between child torture and child abuse. 

To be defined as child torture, she explained, a caretaker must have made at least two physical assaults or one prolonged assault resulting in distress as well as created two psychological abuse elements, such as isolation or deprivation.

Holloran mentioned the injuries on Christian’s neck and ear, which she said could not have been sustained from falling or playing rough.

Touching on aggravating circumstances required to sentence a person to life without parole, Schemenaur noted Christian’s age and said he was a victim of torture. He referenced the “prolonged 74-day horror show” that Christian Crossland endured.

Gladys Lanette Crossland, Chelsea Crossland’s mother, shared information about her daughter’s upbringing in Texas. (The family moved to Jay County in 2012.) Chelsea Crossland’s father, Randy, has been in prison most of her life. She confirmed mental health issues in the family — she said Randy has anxiety and schizophrenia — as well as with herself and her daughter.

Upon questioning by public defender Jacob Dunnuck, Gladys Lanette Crossland confirmed her daughter had voiced a desire to self-harm or kill herself. She also said each of her daughter’s boyfriends over the course of her life had beat and strangled her.

Dunnuck noted mitigating factors, such as Crossland’s minimal criminal history — she had never been convicted of a felony — as well as other factors, such as her mental health, family history and limited resources.

He said justice had already been achieved for Christian with the two guilty verdicts the jury delivered that day.

“(I) just ask you put the brakes on a little bit with this phase,” he said. “Don’t dismiss the mitigating factors … justice was served.”

Holloran initially took the stand Wednesday as the prosecution’s final witness. She testified that Christian’s caloric intake over the course of the last two months of his life was nearly zero calories a day.

The defense also shared its case, which lasted less than two hours.

Nick Riddle, Christian’s father, said he saw Christian a few weeks before his death. He testified Christian looked “happy and smiley.”

Gladys Lanette Crossland confirmed different times she saw Christian over the course of his life, including on her birthday, Feb. 8, 2022. She told the jury he appeared normal that day.

She confirmed it took her an hour and a half to get to her daughter’s home after she called about Christian on the day of his death — March 24, 2022. She said she didn’t have a car available, and she lived in Albany.

Landers then showed her a picture police took of Christian after he was found dead.

“That’s not what I saw,” she said, beginning to sob audibly. “He didn’t look like that.”

Answering a question from Jay County deputy prosecutor Zechariah Landers, Gladys Lanette Crossland admitted to learning about what other witnesses said during the trial via a phone call Tuesday from her daughter, a violation of the court’s separation of witnesses order.

She left the courtroom in tears after being dismissed.

Crossland chose not to testify.

During closing arguments Thursday, Schemenaur explained to the jury he was called by police to Crossland’s home after Christian died.

“That image of him has never left my mind,” he said. “It’s never probably going to leave my mind. It’s never probably going to leave yours.”

“What do you say about a case like this?” continued Schemenaur. “Seventy-four days is what keeps coming back to me. Seventy-four days is how long it takes to starve a 5-year-old boy … Every second of every minute of every hour for 74 days, she made a conscious decision to not feed her son.”

He pointed to testimonies given by Crossland’s daughters. Her 8-year-old daughter testified she would sneak food to Christian when Crossland was asleep. They also testified, and Crossland also said via text message, that Christian ate his own feces.

“How could anybody, let alone his own mother, inflict horror on a little child?” Schemenaur asked.

He noted that Crossland’s 10-year-old daughter testified that her mother asked what she would do with Christian’s body and also got out a trash bag to put him in.

“This was a horrific way to kill somebody. It took 74 days of methodically sticking to the program of not feeding Christian and beating him,” he said. “We treat animals better than she treated Christian.”

Chief public defender Brandon Murphy pointed to Indiana’s definitions of murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and he argued the prosecution had not proved the former. (Murder in Indiana is defined as the intentional killing of another human being. Neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony, stipulates a person knowingly or intentionally placed their dependent in a situation that endangered the dependent’s life or health resulting in death or catastrophic injury.)

“Murder requires an act,” said Murphy.

Murphy added that Christian had not been to a doctor and his death could have been preventable with treatment.

“That’s neglect, not murder,” he said.

He noted Crossland had given birth to another son in November 2021 and indicated she had postpartum depression. Murphy also mentioned Crossland’s family and friends who he said had been around Christian and took no action.

“Not one of them picked up the phone to call CPS,” he said. “His death was preventable. It took one phone call from somebody else who cared.”

Responding to Murphy’s closing argument, Schemenaur told the jury Murphy has a unique view of the case. He said the “act” of murder was demonstrated in Crossland withholding food and beating Christian.

“Adopting Murphy’s logic, if I really don’t like you, really want to see you dead, all I have to do is lock you in a cage and not feed you for a few days,” he said.