Overview
- In June 2026 Matthew and Samantha Dylewski pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and each received the maximum sentence under current law of 16 months to four years, and a court order bars them from contacting their four surviving children until June 2038.
- The medical examiner concluded Joycelynn’s February 19, 2025 death resulted from acute and chronic neglect, finding a severe lice infestation that caused anemia and organ damage and detecting clonidine in her system.
- Investigators described the family’s Corinth apartment as squalid and later condemned, citing rotting food, flies, clogged sinks, stained furnishings, boots stuck to the floor, insects on the child and severe dental decay.
- Prosecutors introduced phone records, text messages and internet searches showing the parents discussed giving clonidine to the child and searched how long the drug would remain in the system, which contradicted the parents’ accounts.
- State lawmakers have proposed ‘Joycelynn’s Law’ to reclassify criminally negligent homicide of a child and raise the maximum sentence to about 20 years if passed, a change that would require approval by the New York legislature.