A stepfather is alleged to have murdered his toddler stepson by repeatedly throwing him into a pool to teach him how to swim. Dakota Shawn Hays, 20, and his wife Annastacia Atkins, 24, were apprehended earlier this week after the child died due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. The couple from Van Buren, in Arkansas, have since been charged with first-degree murder, according to an arrest warrant.
Hays was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child while Atkins also faces charges of permitting the abuse of a minor, according to prison records held by the Crawford County Sheriff's Office. The 2-year-old boy died on June 17 last year, three days after Atkins and Hays rang emergency services.
They said the child became unresponsive after swimming in a pool at his aunt's house, according to an affidavit for warrant of arrest that was filed on January 2, according to People. When officers arrived at the home they found the boy's body was freezing and his "eyes were stuck," Atkins allegedly said according to an affidavit - a written statement used as evidence in court.
She stated the boy's heart stopped and that he was no longer breathing and that she started to push on his chest and that he choked up water when he did. Hays is alleged to have told deputies that he was teaching the boy to swim alongside another boy, 4, and a girl, 6.
He continued: "The three kids would hang onto him on the chest and he would grab their noses and sink to the bottom with them, sit there, and go back up to the surface." The 4-year-old boy who is alleged to have told police he nearly drowned after Hays threw him into the pool.
