California mother, boyfriend guilty of murder in boy’s death

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California mother and her boyfriend have been convicted of murdering a 5-year-old boy after inflicting “extensive abuse” on the child. The Sacramento Bee reported Monday that the boy’s mother, 37-year-old Jessica Prater, and her boyfriend, 45-year-old Adam Caldwell, were found guilty on several counts related to the 2016 death of Prater’s son, Zachary Prater-Stokes. The mother and child had moved into Caldwell’s home in the Sacramento suburb of Orangevale. The district attorney’s office said Caldwell frequently punished and abused the child, both psychologically and physically. The boy was found unresponsive in June 2016 and an autopsy found he died of extensive abuse that included “blunt force injuries and water submersion.”