Prosecutors said Kyron Kelemen died after repeated warning signs were missed.

CHARLOTTE, Mich. — A Michigan woman was sentenced April 23 to life in prison without parole for murdering her 6-year-old stepson in a Delta Township hotel room after a jury convicted her of first-degree felony murder.

Elysa Ella-Ann Kelemen, 34, formerly of Flint, received the mandatory sentence in Eaton County Circuit Court for the Jan. 12, 2024, death of Kyron Kelemen. Prosecutors said the case was not only about one fatal attack, but also about earlier complaints, bruises and missed chances to remove the boy from danger.

Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Lloyd said Kyron was killed by someone who should have protected him. Lloyd said the boy’s death resulted from Kelemen’s actions and from failures in the child welfare system that, in his words, ignored clear dangers. He said jealousy and cruelty drove the crime. The sentence followed a multiweek trial that ended March 10, when an Eaton County jury found Kelemen guilty. Judge Janice K. Cunningham imposed life without parole, the required punishment for the conviction.

Prosecutors said the fatal injury happened inside a hotel room in Delta Township, where Kelemen and Kyron were living. Investigators said Kelemen admitted she became angry after Kyron knocked over her laptop. She told officers she came down on the boy’s stomach with her knee. The medical examiner ruled that Kyron died from blunt force injuries to the abdomen and classified the death as a homicide. Court records and testimony described severe internal injuries, including damage that prosecutors said the child could not have survived for long.

The case began with a 911 call from the hotel on Jan. 12, 2024. Kelemen first said Kyron had been doing homework, then became lethargic and started vomiting. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Investigators and doctors found injuries that did not match that account. An Eaton County sheriff’s detective later testified that Kyron had bruises on his face, knees, arms, legs and hip. Prosecutors said Kelemen’s story changed during questioning before she admitted placing her knee into the boy’s midsection.

During trial, prosecutors also presented testimony about Kelemen’s feelings toward Kyron. A former friend, Stephanie Tlajonick, testified that Kelemen had spoken badly about the boy, saying he had a speech impediment, that she was sick of caring for him and that she considered him stupid. Tlajonick said Kelemen did not like Kyron. Defense attorney Conrad Vincent Jr. argued that Kelemen was afraid of her husband and had falsely confessed to protect him. Prosecutors said the timing and severity of Kyron’s injuries pointed to Kelemen.

The jury’s verdict came after a trial that had delays. Testimony began Jan. 12, 2026, two years to the day after Kyron stopped breathing in the hotel room. The trial paused in late January after a health issue involving the defense attorney and resumed in early March. Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Adam Strong and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Andrea Marti prosecuted the case. Eaton County Sheriff’s Office detectives Ted Johnson and Brendan Cissel investigated with help from Michigan State Police.

Beyond the hotel room, the case drew attention to complaints made to Children’s Protective Services months before the killing. In September 2023, CPS was told Kyron had come to school with bruises over his face, a black eye and another eye that was bloodshot red. A complaint said his face, chest and rib cage were bruised. The report was not substantiated. Another report in October described a face full of bruises and broken blood vessels in both eyes. That allegation also was not substantiated.

A November 2023 complaint was more direct and named Elysa Kelemen. It said she was physically abusing Kyron and called it a recurring problem. Another complaint said Kyron had been hit frequently by both his father and Kelemen and that school staff had noticed bruises and injuries. Kyron’s biological mother, Angelina Foghino, said she was notified about the bruises and messaged Kelemen herself. Foghino later said she believed officials could have removed Kyron but instead kept closing cases.

Foghino has said she lost custody of Kyron years earlier because of her own drug addiction and carried guilt for not protecting him. “I feel like I failed him,” she said in an interview after his death. Records reviewed by reporters showed Kelemen had been on CPS’s radar years earlier, with three separate allegations made in 2020 that were denied. Michigan health officials later called Kyron’s death a profound tragedy but cited privacy laws in declining to discuss specific CPS complaints about him.

Investigators also learned that another child had died while in Kelemen’s care. In 2020, her 4-year-old son, Carter Krammer, was found unresponsive after Kelemen said she got out of the shower. Police found no visible injuries or bruises, and no charges were filed. CPS later found no evidence of abuse or neglect. The medical examiner listed Carter’s cause and manner of death as undetermined. Flint police reopened or continued looking at that case after Kyron died, but Kelemen has not been accused of wrongdoing in Carter’s death.

After the sentencing, prosecutors thanked investigators, victim advocates and law enforcement officers who worked on the case. Lloyd said life without parole could not measure the harm done to Kyron or his family. Outside the courthouse, family and supporters marked the end of the criminal case while still facing unanswered questions about the months before the boy’s death.

Kelemen remains sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The murder case is closed at the trial-court level, while the separate inquiry into Carter Krammer’s death remains without charges or a named suspect.

Author note: Last updated May 19, 2026.