A Bradenton woman is going to prison, about 14 years after her 4-year-old daughter was found dead in her closet.
Judge Stephen Matthew Whyte sentenced Dominique Marie Brewer, 43, to 20 years in prison on Wednesday at the Manatee County Judicial Center in downtown Bradenton. Brewer received the maximum possible penalty after negotiating a no-contest plea to manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter of a child charges in October 2023.
Before Brewer pleaded to the lesser manslaughter charges, she was initially charged with the second-degree murder of her daughter and was set to go to trial the week a deal was reached between the defense and the State.
Brewer’s defense attorney, Jennifer Joynt-Sanchez, said that while Brewer maintains her innocence, the plea was entered on the basis that if Brewer were convicted during the trial, she would likely spend the rest of her life in prison.
Brewer, who has been in prison since 2019, will get credit for time served.
The sentencing comes more than a decade after 4-year-old Kelis Shontay Rucker was found lifeless in the closet of Brewer’s home on Aug. 14, 2009. By the time the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrived, Kelis was already cold to the touch, her jaw was stiff and hospital workers later found marks on her neck suggesting she may have been strangled, the Bradenton Herald previously reported .