Mom Suffocates Baby, Caught Years Later After Killing Second Child in Chilling Twist
(Fairbanks Police Department via AP)
An Alaska mother will spend decades behind bars after pleading guilty to the murders of her infant daughters, who died two years apart under eerily similar circumstances.
On Monday, Stephany Elizabeth Bilecki, 30, formerly known as Stephany LaFountain, was sentenced to 130 years in prison—with 85 years suspended—by a Fairbanks court. She will serve a total of 45 years in state prison after pleading guilty in July to two counts of second-degree murder.
The plea deal saw prosecutors drop additional charges, including two counts of first-degree murder. During the sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crail said, “The mandatory minimum for both of those is, in fact, 20 years because this was her child in each case.”
The first tragedy occurred in September 2015 when Bilecki called her boyfriend and mother to announce that her 4-month-old daughter, Chyanne, was dead. Ten minutes before her mother arrived, Bilecki dialed 911. Initially, Chyanne’s death was attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but later investigations revealed signs of strangulation.
Two years later, in November 2017, a chillingly similar incident occurred. While her husband was deployed, Bilecki called her in-laws after failing to reach him, claiming her 13-month-old daughter, Jasmine, had stopped breathing. Once again, she placed a 911 call shortly before the family arrived.
Prosecutors revealed disturbing evidence, including Bilecki’s online searches leading up to Jasmine’s death. Her phone history included phrases like “ways to suffocate,” “ways to kill a human with no proof,” and “16 steps to kill someone and not get caught.” Jasmine’s autopsy confirmed she died from oxygen deprivation, leading investigators to reexamine Chyanne’s death.
In August 2018, a grand jury indicted Bilecki, and after years of legal proceedings, she accepted a guilty plea earlier this summer. Superior Court Judge Patricia Haines described Bilecki’s acceptance of responsibility as “barely audible.”
“The conduct forming the basis of defendant Bilecki’s convictions shocks the conscience,” said Fairbanks District Attorney Joe Dallaire in a statement.
“Although we cannot pretend that anything will ever make up for the losses suffered by the fathers of these babies or their other family members, I do hope the convictions and the sentences imposed afford some measure of justice to the families of Jasmine and Chyanne and to the Fairbanks community at large.”
Bilecki will remain under strict conditions upon her release, including a prohibition on unsupervised contact with minors under 16 in private settings. The tragedy leaves lingering questions and heartbreak for the families of the two young girls, as the Fairbanks community grapples with the profound loss.
