WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — The Rhode Island Parole Board unanimously denied the release of a woman convicted in the death of a Woonsocket toddler two decades ago.
Katharine Bunnell, 41, is serving a life sentence for the 2004 beating death of her 3-year-old nephew Thomas “T.J.” Wright. Bunnell was convicted by a jury back in 2008 of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Prosecutors said Bunnell and her live-in boyfriend, Gilbert Delestre, became enraged with Wright after returning home to find out he had spilled his milk and yogurt in the living room.
Bunnell berated and brutally beat the toddler, according to prosecutors, throwing him down a flight of stairs, repeatedly slamming his head on the floor and pouring milk over his head.
Delestre, 42, was also convicted of second-degree murder in a separate trial and sentenced to life in prison.
Wright and his two siblings had been living with Bunnell, their maternal aunt, and Delestre in foster care after their mother was imprisoned for marijuana possession.