A 31-year-old West Allis mother has pleaded guilty to child neglect resulting in death and chronic child neglect after her 4-year-old son, Dante Campbell, died last October following months of abuse inside their apartment. Charlotte Kurek admitted she failed to intervene as her boyfriend, Devario Cruz, repeatedly beat the boy, and that she turned up music at times to drown out his cries. Cruz, who is also Dante's father, faces separate charges including first-degree reckless homicide and is scheduled for a court appearance next month.
Dante was found unresponsive in a Dairy Queen parking lot near a West Allis fire station on October 18, 2025, according to Shore News Network. Emergency responders attempted lifesaving measures before he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Medical staff at Children's Wisconsin who examined him that day documented at least 12 distinct bruises on his face alone alongside extensive bodily trauma, determining his condition was entirely inconsistent with an accidental fall down stairs, as reported by WTMJ.
Cruz initially told investigators Dante had fallen down a flight of stairs the previous evening, but the boy's stiffness and bone-white gums indicated prolonged oxygen deprivation, and his clothing smelled of urine. Court filings state that as Cruz and Kurek drove to drop off Dante's twin sister at a friend's house before eventually calling 911, Cruz repeatedly told Kurek, “I killed my kid, I want to kill myself.” The twin sister was later found with a swollen eye and scratches, and told police, “Daddy hurt me.”
A Pattern of Abuse Documented for Months
Criminal complaints allege Cruz subjected Dante and his twin sister to physical abuse that included forcing them to stand on Legos as punishment, striking Dante in the forehead with a wooden bed slat, and throwing him across rooms and against walls, according to CBS 58. Cruz reportedly rated the force of his strikes as a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, and told investigators he used only his hands. Three older children from Kurek's previous relationship also lived in the apartment and told investigators they witnessed repeated abuse and heard Dante screaming, per the same outlet.
A neighbor reported the children were sometimes left home alone overnight and could be heard crying, according to Shore News Network. Kurek acknowledged she knew Cruz was “heavy-handed” with the children but said she initially claimed Dante's injuries were caused by a fall down the stairs and admitted she lied out of fear for her own safety. She told investigators her son looked as if he had been beaten by a grown man, and she did not call 911 immediately after learning he might be dead.
Warning Signs Missed by Child Welfare System
The abuse was not entirely hidden from authorities. In July 2025, three months before Dante's death, a regular babysitter observed severe bruising on both twins' buttocks and anonymously reported it to Child Protective Services after Kurek brushed off the injuries by claiming Cruz was simply “heavy-handed,” according to reporting cited by East Idaho News. Criminal complaints also revealed that Kurek had saved a CPS worker in her phone contacts under a derogatory label, reflecting prior friction between the family and child welfare officials before Dante's death, per Law & Crime.
Police searching the couple's West Allis apartment after Dante's death also recovered two firearms and nearly 600 grams of marijuana, more than 1.3 pounds, leading to additional drug distribution charges against Cruz. They also found children's shoes containing a red substance believed to be blood. A law enforcement officer, per the criminal complaint, described the child's injuries as among the most extensive and severe witnessed on a child.
Court Reaction and What Comes Next
At the couple's initial court appearance on October 23, 2025, Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Barry Phillips called the allegations “literally might be the worst case I've ever seen” in his career, setting cash bond at $100,000 for Kurek and $250,000 for Cruz while issuing a no-contact order between Kurek and her surviving children, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. Cruz was previously convicted in an unrelated 2022 case, when he was charged with felony child sexual assault before pleading guilty to fourth-degree misdemeanor sexual assault, receiving a sentence of time served and a requirement to register as a sex offender for 15 years.
Kurek's guilty plea to child neglect resulting in death and chronic child neglect resolves her case ahead of sentencing set for September 29, but Cruz's prosecution remains ongoing. He is scheduled to appear in court September 11 on charges that include first-degree reckless homicide, repeated physical abuse of a child causing death, and repeated acts of physical abuse of a child causing bodily harm. A GoFundMe set up for the family described Dante as a happy and loving boy who deserved better.
A Wider Pattern in Wisconsin
Dante's death adds to a grim statewide picture. According to 2024 Wisconsin Department of Children and Families statistics, child neglect is the state's most frequent form of confirmed child maltreatment, with 19 child fatalities tied to substantiated maltreatment out of 19,621 screened-in referrals that year, as Hoodline previously reported in a separate Milwaukee County case involving a child found dead near 63rd Street. The system's repeated contact with Dante's family before his death has become a central focus for prosecutors weighing how the warnings went unheeded.
