Rhode Island needs to envoke the death penalty. It's cases like this (to a moral certainty!!!) why it was implemented. These monsters deserve to never see the light of day ever again.

I think that going to jail is way to good for these 2, they should get the same thing done to them that they did to that poor little boy.

This is a very sad case. They should both go to jail.

You pull a three year old out of bed and slap his face and even as sickening " pour milk on his head" and throw him arouund like he is suppose to know that he did something wrong, you deserve at the very least, life in prison. I very seldom comment on things but this makes want cry knowing the horror that litle TJ went through while his life was being snuffed out.

they are both guilty as sin who in thier right mind (more so ) when they are drunk how can they remember both drunk blaming the other they spent the money they got from the state on them selves maybe the people that put T.J. in their care should be looked at also

What kind of a "Monster" would go out on the town drinking at a bar and come home at 2:00 AM to wake up a "BABY" who has no idea that he has created such a problem. I can't get this out of my head. That poor little boy! We as adults are supose to protect our children not beat them because they made a little mess. To pour milk on the childs head and beat him so badly. Pure Evil what went on here!
GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY! May you rot in prision. I can only wish you to live to at least 100 years old so you can suffer for the rest of your life before rotting in ____!

Who is to blame? DCYF should have never placed this child with a couple who have substance abuse problems and a tendency toward violence but they have few healthy and well-balanced people willing to take in children. The mother of this child should have never become involved in the illegal activities and drug trafficking that ended in her incarceration. The aunt should have never agreed to take in a child she was not emotionally able to care for. The boy friend should have never taken it apon himself to "discipline" the child for making a mess. Delestre and Bunnell should not have gone out drinking until 2:30AM leaving the child with a baby sitter. Blaming someone will not bring this child back but jailing this couple for life might prevent another senseless death of a child.

This underscores the need to get rid of DCYF and put foster care back into the hands of the Church and orphanages. Regardless of whether Brunnell was a relative, she never should have been allowed by DCYF to care for this child. I blame DCYF for this horrific murder. They have no control and would rather put kids in foster homes than ensure the health and well-being of these kids. But for St. Alyoisius Home, I wouldn't be here today. END FOSTER CARE NOW!

This story makes me sick to my stomach! No matter what the situation they both belong in jail so they can get the same treatment done to them as they did to that little boy. I cant even imagine what was going threw that little boys head at the time! Lock them both up for life...if they make that long!

It makes me want to cry every time I think of the horror that poor child had to endure at the hands of a moron in a drunken rage. In many ways A.J. is better in heaven than having to live in the hell he was in with his aunt and her boyfriend. The tears of the aunt are tears for herself. I doubt she even remembers all the horrid things she did. Drunks have lousey memories. I hope she rots at the ACI and is never let out. What a dispicable human being she is!! AND the boyfriend taking the Fifth puts him in the same league. May that poor child rest in peace and be embraced by the Angels who surround him.

These 2 should ROT in jail!!!! 3 yr olds make messes!!! Thats how they learn, you DONT BEAT them for it....it is sick. And to pour milk on him???? make more of a mess worse than yogurt, this whole thing makes no sense to me...Katherine rot prison!!!

Both Bunnell and Delestre share responsibility in this murder. Bunnell was the first to pull TJ out of bed, severely beat him just as the babysitter said she did. And, then when Bunnell left the house to take the babysitter home, we can only imagine what Delestre did to the child. The couple had both been drinking and obviously were both out of control.
Furthermore, I cannot understand why Bunnell's sister(TJ's mother) ran out of court yesterday when she saw Delestre who had been brought to court to testify. If she, TJ's mother, had not been in jail and home to take proper care of her children, TJ would probably be still alive. The whole family are degenerates.

Every Rhode Islander who reads this story, who follows the trial and feels awful (as I do----have been filling with tears every time I see another headline)----stop and remember that your tax dollars paid for the care (or lack thereof) that this little boy received, from the tax-funded agency whose job it was to protect him.

The same agency that our taxes paid to protect Eric Dunphy from his murdering father (also in Woonsocket), to protect a good number of children who were killed by those whose care they were placed in.

As another commenter said, it really does no good to blame, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Life in prison for these two animals is a START. More scrutiny and accountability in this so-called child welfare system is the next step. Right now, as we read this, our taxes are paying for any number of other kids who are in totally marginal-quality DCYF placements, or are returned to parents who will harm them.

I cannot even imagine what kind of person could take a 3 year-old child out of his bed at 2:30 in the morning and pour milk on his head, let alone beat them. This child had no life worth living for, and the State is the one that put him there. The State should be ashamed of themselves and these two should rot in jail forever. I find it hard to believe that there is no where for these kids except in the homes of druggies, drunks, welfare recipients, murderers and child molestors? And if the answer is that there are not enough "homes" for them then maybe the "right" to reproduce needs to be evaluated in this state. Is anybody thinking of the children?