Credit: Court TV
Boy Who Told Court His Mom Killed His Sister When He Was 7 Speaks Out As An Adult 17 Years Later
A young boy who testified against his mom in court after witnessing her drowning his half-sister has spoken out 17 years after the ordeal.
AJ Hutto, as he was known before being given a new identity, was just seven years old when he told a Florida court he had seen his mother, Amanda Lewis, killing his sister Adrianna.
An ‘accidental’ tragedy
On August 8, 2007, Amanda made a panicked 911 call, claiming she had found her seven-year-old daughter lying face down in their pool and she was not breathing.
Emergency services arrived and rushed Adrianna to nearby Bay Medical hospital, where she was tragically pronounced dead around an hour later.
Amanda told authorities that her daughter had been cleaning flies out of the family’s four-foot deep pool, before slipping and falling into the water.
She said she had not long gotten home from night shift at work, and when she had returned, her children begged her to let them use the pool.
The mom told ABC News that although she had told the children they couldn’t go in the pool, when she went back outside she found Adrianna in the water.
Initially they had no reason to doubt this version of events, and believed Adrianna’s death had been nothing more than a tragic accident.
AJ told a different version of events
The investigation took a completely different turn, however, when AJ, who had been just six at the time of the incident, told authorities a differing tale.
According to the Mirror, the youngster told cops that his mom ‘dunked’ his half sister under the water as a form of punishment.
“She done some stuff that she ain’t suppose so my mama got mad, so she throwed her in the pool,” he told the Florida court.
Following AJ’s claims, a criminal investigation was launched and authorities discovered some other alarming details.
During their investigation, police discovered that Adrianna had been diagnosed with ADHD and Amanda admitted that she had initially struggled to bond with her daughter but that they had gotten closer over the years.
Cops also noted that neither of the siblings seemed to have many toys in the house, with Amanda claiming they had been taken away and placed in the shed as a form of punishment.
However, investigators found no toys in the shed or around the house, with the exception of a little red wagon and two inflatable toys for the pool.
During the investigation, Amanda took part in a lie detector test in which she claimed she had not killed her daughter. She passed the test.
The defense argued that at such a young age, AJ could not be a reliable witness, stating that his story had changed several times during questioning.
By the end of the February 2008 trial, the mom was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, and was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
AJ speaks out 17 years later
Now, 17 years after his half-sister’s death, AJ has spoken out for the first time.
Following the trial, he was adopted by another family and given a new identity, and both he and his mom were instructed not to contact one another.
Speaking to the MailOnline, without revealing his new identity, AJ has doubled down on his testimony, stating he just ‘told them exactly what I saw’.
Responding to claims the prosecution had coached him in what to say in court, he said: “I don’t believe I was, what they’ve called, coached or anything like that. I just told them exactly what I saw word for word.”
He also spoke about seeing his mom in court six months after his sister’s death and not recognizing her in the courtroom.
“It was heartbreaking. You know, she’s my mother,” he said. “But there was also some relief that what we were going through at the time was finally coming to an end.”
Now 24, AJ has not had any contact with Amanda since then, despite her maintaining her innocence all this time.
“It’s court appointed that we cannot see each other, and I’ve wanted to keep it that way, just so nothing’s getting brought back up,” he said.
“All the feelings and emotions and the traumas getting brought back into light.”
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