CALHOUN, Ga. (Court TV) — A Georgia woman has been sentenced to 200 years in prison plus 200 years of probation in a horrific child abuse case involving her nine children.
Stephanie Danielle Davis (Gordon County Sheriff’s Office)
Last year, 37-year-old Stephanie Danielle Davis pleaded guilty to 42 charges in a case that began in Feb. 2020, according to Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace.
Her husband, 43-year-old Christopher Matthew Davis, was found guilty of 47 charges and sentenced to two life terms in prison plus 841 years.
Authorities began investigating the couple two years ago when a teenage boy escaped the home and reported the abuse to the Calhoun Police Department.
He told investigators that his stepfather had beat, strangled and burned him, and locked him in a closet. Authorities said he had visible injuries in “varying stages of healing,” including a broken eardrum.
Christopher Davis (Gordon County Sheriff’s Office)
A search warrant revealed horrific abuse of the children, ages 3 to 17. Investigators determined the couple had withheld food and water from the children, restricted their bathroom use, forced them to eat spoiled food and locked them upstairs when they were left home alone, according to the news release.
The children were homeschooled at the time of the arrests. The couple had pulled them from public school after counsels reported suspected abuse to the Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) in 2019.
Prosecutor Katie Gropper said Stephanie Davis “not only held the children down while they were beaten and burned by her husband Christopher Davis, but also crafted stories for the children to tell their teachers and DFCS if they were ever asked about their injuries. Her efforts to influence and manipulate the children to recant their allegations continued even after her arrest.”
The children are now in the care of foster homes.
