Woman Sentenced in Death of Son, 3, Hidden in Car Trunk for 5 Years

A woman who hid her 3-year-old son’s dead body in a car for five years apparently felt no remorse over the death, a Kern County Superior Court judge said.

In sentencing DeEtte Stewart to 11 years in prison, Judge Roger Randall said Stewart failed as a mother. Stewart’s boyfriend, William Bell, 36, was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday for failing to get medical help for Brandon Stewart.

Bell and DeEtte Stewart, who were facing second-degree murder charges, last month pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in a plea bargain, said Cheryl Mestaz, Randall’s court clerk.

Forensic pathologist Armand Dollinger testified that Brandon may have suffered from two skull fractures for two days before he died in May, 1988. Stewart lied to investigators and showed no remorse over her son’s death, the judge said.

In handing down Bell’s sentence, Randall said the crime involved “a high degree of callousness.”

Authorities acting on a tip questioned Bell and Stewart last May, and the couple took Colton police to a remote part of the San Bernardino Mountains where they claimed the body was buried.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Glenn Johnson said Bell later admitted he never removed the body from his car trunk.

Brandon’s skeletal remains were found under a mound of blankets in the trunk of the couple’s 1965 Ford Mustang at a Bakersfield motel where they were living.