AJ Hutto was seven years old when he stood in front of court in February 2008 and told the judge and lawyers present that he saw his mother drown his sister. Now at the age of 24, he has had a few more things to say.
The mother stood trial for first-degree murder
Seven-year-old Adrianna Elaine Hutto was found unresponsive in her family’s pool in Esto, Florida on 8 August 2007.
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The mother, Amanda Lewis, who called emergency services saying her little girl had been found not breathing, later stood trial for first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
The incident was deemed accidental drowning
At first, the whole thing was deemed accidental drowning, until Lewis’s son, AJ, told police officers what he saw.
In a videotaped interview with the police, AJ said he saw his mother ‘dunk’ his sister in the pool as a way of punishing her for misbehaving.
He later detailed the incident in court
AJ told the police, “Mama dunked my sister. She done some stuff that she ain’t suppose so my mama got mad, so she throwed her in the pool.”
Later in court, the prosecutor asked AJ to explain why he had drawn stick figures around the family pool.
The boy explained his drawing
“That’s my mama,” AJ explained the drawing. “Killing my sister.”
The then-seven-year-old boy said his mother was ‘putting her hand over her face’. As reported by The Daily Record, Lewis was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in jail following the court ruling. She also received an extra 30 years for child abuse.
The mother insists she’s innocent
Although she has since been sentenced to life in prison, Lewis has maintained her innocence and even appeared on the TV series Killer Women in 2016 in order to ‘prove that I’m innocent’.
As reported by The Independent, Lewis repeated that she was innocent, and spoke about AJ saying, “I love him no matter what, I will always love him. He is in no way blame him for what happened.”
AJ has since reflected on the whole thing
Talking to the Daily Mail this month (April, 2025), AJ reflected on the court proceedings. The now-24-year-old said, “I don’t believe I was, what they’ve called, coached or anything like that.”
“I just told them exactly what I saw word for word,” he added.
He wasn’t even aware his mother was in court at first
Back in court, AJ hadn’t even been initially aware that his mother was in court as he was separated from her for a number of months before the trial.
“It was heartbreaking. You know, she’s my mother,” he said. “But there was also some relief that what we were going through at the time was finally coming to an end.”
AJ spoke about the trauma he endured
“It’s court appointed that we cannot see each other, and I’ve wanted to keep it that way, just so nothing’s getting brought back up,” AJ said.
“All the feelings and emotions and the traumas getting brought back into light,” he added.
He moved on to a better family
The 24-year-old said that his adoptive family who raised him after his mother went to prison was a ‘happier household’.
“The difference between the two families was night and day. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to talk about it, so I kind of remember some things about my previous life,” he said.
AJ said he still remembers the abuse
“And for the most part, I remember the abuse. Sometimes we wouldn’t even see it coming. It was literally sometimes we were blindsided,” AJ added on his and his late sister’s experience.
