2-Year-Old Boy Is Allegedly Beaten to Death at Unlicensed Day Care

A Wisconsin mother is speaking out months after her 2-year-old son was allegedly beaten to death by his day care provider.

“I’m confused. I’m hurt. I’m angry,” Katherine Bolinski told WITI of the tragic death of her son, Matthew. “That was my life. My son was my life. My life didn’t start until I had my son and now I feel like I don’t even know what’s going on. How this is even happening and how this is even my reality?” 

On March 27, Matthew Bryce Bolinski died while in the care of 23-year-old Hunter Jones, who ran an unlicensed day care with his wife out of their Kenosha home, according to WITI, WISN and the Kenosha News.

“I still pretend like he’s sleeping in the other room,” Bolinski told WITI. “Now it’s just like an ongoing nightmare of waking up and there are moments where I just wish he could be with me still.”

The last time Bolinski son saw her son alive was when she dropped him off at day care.

In a call to 911, Jones told a dispatcher the boy had jumped out of his playpen and hit his head, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WISN.

“This child has some sort of a mental issue, his mother, we babysit for her frequently, and he throws tantrums, he threw a tantrum… He jumped out of the playpen and hit his head, and stuff like that,”  Jones said, the complaint states.

Four minutes into the call, Jones revealed Matthew wasn’t breathing. When authorities arrived at the scene, Matthew’s body was cool to the touch. He had more than a dozen injuries to his head and neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“His eyes went from a deep blue, to really, really light blue. Bruises all over his face. I lost it,” Bolinski said of the moment she saw her son’s body at the coroner’s officer, WITI reports. “I just couldn’t hold it back.”

Jones told investigators he and his wife sometimes watched 12 to 15 children at a time. 

An obituary describes Matthew as having a “contagious smile.”

Jones was arrested on July 3 on charges of first degree homicide. He has not entered a plea. Attorney information was not available Monday.

He is scheduled to next appear in court on Aug. 1.