New York Parents Sentenced to Maximum Four Years After Toddler Dies from Lice-Induced Anemia and Chronic Neglect

What Happened to Joycelynn Dylewski

Joycelynn Ann Dylewski was three years old when emergency responders brought her to Saratoga Hospital on February 19, 2025. She was struggling to breathe. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Saratoga County Sheriff Jeffrey Brown told reporters she died of acute and chronic neglect. According to WAMC, First Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Buckley laid out the chain: an untreated lice infestation caused severe anemia, which damaged her heart and organs over time. Joycelynn had not seen a doctor in approximately 10 months before her death, even though her four siblings had received medical care, Buckley said.

The medical examiner also found clonidine, a prescription blood pressure medication, in Joycelynn's system. Her mother, Samantha Dylewski, told investigators her daughter's older brother had accidentally misplaced it. Prosecutors weren't satisfied with that explanation.

What Prosecutors Say About the Clonidine

First Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Buckley told the court that text messages between the parents told a different story. According to WAMC, Buckley said Matthew Dylewski told his wife she could give the medication to Joycelynn. Then, the Express reported, a search was conducted on a cellphone shortly after Joycelynn's death for how long clonidine would remain in a person's system.

No separate charge related to the clonidine was established in these sources. Both parents pleaded guilty in March 2026 to criminally negligent homicide, not to any drug-related count. Whether the text messages factored into the plea negotiation or a potential future charge is not established by the available record.

The Apartment

The conditions investigators described were not borderline. According to WAMC, the home was filled with flies, boots were literally stuck to the floor, and the kitchen sink was clogged with sludge. The New York Post, as cited by Daily Wire, reported Joycelynn's teeth were "rotten and black" and a cockroach fell out of her winter hat. Investigators found bugs on her face and scalp.

Dan Shippee, owner of Phoenix Property Maintenance, was contracted by the landlord to clean the apartment after Joycelynn's death. "I've never really been in too many places where I had to shovel so much trash off the floor," Shippee told the Express. "There were dead flies and bugs all over that apartment."

The four surviving Dylewski children, all under age 17, were removed and placed with relatives, according to Daily Wire.

The Sentences

Samantha Dylewski, 33, was sentenced on June 8. Matthew Dylewski, 34, received his sentence on June 23. Both got 16 months to four years in state prison, the maximum allowed under current New York law for criminally negligent homicide.

Saratoga County Judge James Davis did not hide what he thought of that ceiling. "Your entire job was to keep her safe. She was 3-years-old. And you failed in the most horrific way," he said, per WAMC. Davis also said the crime was "certainly deserving of more" than the law allowed him to impose.

Matthew Dylewski spoke before sentencing. "I totally wish that didn't happen. I wish it was me that died instead of my daughter," he said, according to WAMC.

Both parents are barred from contacting their four surviving children until 2038 under full protective orders signed by Judge Davis.

The Case for More Prison Time

The strongest argument in favor of the Dylewskis receiving more than four years is straightforward: a child died a preventable, prolonged death over months while adults in the same household continued their daily lives. The lice infestation that killed Joycelynn was not sudden. Anemia doesn't develop overnight. The dental decay described by prosecutors took time. Sentencing a parent to a maximum of four years for this outcome strikes many observers, including the sentencing judge himself, as inadequate.

New York State Senator Jim Tedisco, Assemblyman Matt Simpson, and Saratoga County District Attorney Brett Eby stood together on June 23 to advocate for legislation called "Joycelynn's Law," according to Daily Wire. The proposed bill would raise the maximum sentence for criminally negligent homicide of a child to 20 years to life. "The sentence these individuals got under the current law is not justice for Joycelynn," Tedisco said.

As of June 25, 2026, the bill has been introduced but has NOT been passed into law.

The Counterargument on Sentencing

Critics of mandatory sentencing increases argue that longer maximums don't automatically produce longer sentences, and that judges already have discretion within existing ranges. Under New York's current structure, both Dylewskis could serve far less than four years with good behavior. Advocates for sentencing reform also note that extremely long sentences for negligence cases, as distinct from intentional killings, raise proportionality questions and can complicate plea negotiations in future cases where prosecutors need cooperation to establish facts. That concern is legitimate.

Neither argument changes what happened in that apartment in Corinth.

What Comes Next

The immediate legal chapter is closed: both parents have been sentenced, the children are with relatives, and the protective orders run through 2038. The unresolved question is whether Albany will act. Joycelynn's Law would need to clear both chambers of the New York legislature and reach Governor Kathy Hochul's desk. No vote date has been announced in these sources. Whether a higher sentencing ceiling would have changed the outcome for this specific family, given that both parents pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, is something prosecutors and legislators have NOT addressed publicly.