Kevin G. Stevenson
An Indiana man is accused of killing his own mother. Deputies say Etta Stevenson, 83, succumbed days after the attack to a neck fracture.
Kevin G. Stevenson, 55, was booked into the Vigo County Jail back on Aug. 19 for a domestic violence case, but prosecutors bumped up charges on Tuesday to murder and aggravated battery, records show.
Deputies said they responded to a home in Terre Haute on the day of the arrest. Stevenson pushed his mother down, said the defendant’s father.
“However, prior to Deputies arrival, Etta was transported by Trans Care ambulance to Union ER to be treated for injuries,” authorities wrote. “Kevin was still at the residence and when asked what happened he stated that ‘Mom hit me’ and ‘mom came at me.’ Kevin was heavily intoxicated.”
Stevenson’s father described him as an alcoholic, deputies said. Defendant Stevenson did not answer any other questions about why his mother was injured, authorities said.
One of the deputies managed to speak with Etta at the hospital. She said that she and her son “had been arguing. And that Kevin had pushed her down,” authorities alleged.
Etta got hurt on the back right side of her head, authorities said. Medical staff said she had a goose-egg sized bump developing on the back of her head.
Kevin Stevenson was put in handcuffs and taken to the hospital for medical clearance before he was booked into jail.
The situation allegedly began to fall apart further by the end of the month. On Aug. 31, a staffer at Gibson Hospice of the Wabash Valley said that Etta Stevenson was sent to them after she went to several different facilities for her injuries and pain, and that she was likely to die.
“Affiant was also advised that the victim was deemed competent yesterday but as of this morning she has not woken up,” deputies said. The staffer also said that Etta’s husband and daughter were with her “and her daughter had made allegations of previous injuries.”
A CT scan revealed Etta sustained what was called an odontoid unstable fracture, which is a fracture of a part of one of the bones of the neck, specifically the second cervical vertebrae.
“The report also stated that along with the unstable fracture there was vertebral artery dissection at the level of the fracture on the left with likely ICA Spasm,” authorities said.
Etta died on Friday at 3:55 a.m., deputies said, citing the hospice center.
The doctor who performed the autopsy determined that Etta died due to complications of the fracture. The official manner of death was homicide.
[Booking photo via Vigo County Jail]
