BEAUMONT, Texas — The 24-year-old sister of a 4-year-old Port Arthur boy who was found dead after being malnourished and locked in a closet in 2022 has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Kirsten Alexia Louis pleaded guilty Tuesday morning, August 27, 2024, to two first-degree felony counts of injury to a child in the May 2022 death of her little brother, King Dewey. He was 4-years-old and weighed only 19 pounds at the time of his death, according to file stories.
When 252nd District Court Judge Raquel West asked her how she was pleading, Louis responded, "guilty," in a hushed voice as she stood before the court in handcuffs with her hands clasped together.
Louis was sentenced to a 30-year sentence on each of the charges but they run concurrently. She will receive credit for the time she has served in jail while awaiting adjudication.
Because she pleaded guilty she has given up her right to appeal both her plea and her sentence.
Back in May of 2022 Port Arthur police arrived at a home in the 300 block of Richmond Ave where they found the severely malnourished body of her 4-year-old brother locked in a closet with a padlock.
Family members told police that he had a form of Down syndrome, according to file stories.
Louis told police in 2022 that she was Dewey's caregiver and that he had been losing weight, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
She told officers that she had reached to her mother about it but had been told that the weight loss was normal for his condition and that she should feed him milk and vitamins the affidavit said.
Louis told officers that while she thought this wasn't enough to feed him she did not seek further advice and did not seek medical help for the boy because she was afraid that CPS might take him and her two other siblings away from her.
Justice of the Peace Ben Collins told 12News at the time that the case was the worst case he had seen in 42 years.
Her mother, Tina Louis, is facing two first-degree felony counts of injury to a child in the 4-year-old's death but has yet to be adjudicated.
Jaylin Jevon Lewis, 25, is standing trial this week before Judge West on two first-degree felony counts of injury to a child in the case.
He is facing up to 99 years or life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 on each of the two charges, if he's found guilty
Because a child was involved, Judge West could order that Lewis' sentences be "stacked" to run consecutively should he be found guilty by the jury.