An Idaho mother who attempted to disguise the suffocation death of her 12-day-old baby as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has pleaded guilty to more serious charges than she originally planned to accept after new information emerged in her case.
Allysen Armenta, 28, was initially set to plead guilty on July 30 to one count of failure to notify and one count of injury to a child. Two additional charges , destruction of evidence and resisting arrest , were expected to be dismissed as part of a plea agreement with the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the Idaho Statesman, Armenta was at her plea hearing explaining why she was guilty of failing to notify authorities of her son’s death when the judge halted the proceedings and announced that the court would take a recess. “I’m going to speak with the attorneys, and we’ll come back and we’ll resume in a few minutes, and proceed as we may be able,” the judge reportedly told the courtroom.
After roughly half an hour, the judge returned and said a legal complication had arisen that required rescheduling Armenta’s plea hearing for a revised agreement.
“A legal issue has come up,” Judge Thomas Witney told the court, according to local CBS affiliate KBOI. “It is necessary to give the attorneys time to conduct more legal research before we move forward.”
On Thursday, Armenta appeared at her rescheduled plea hearing and pleaded guilty to three felony counts: one count of injury to a child and two counts of evidence destruction. The two evidence destruction counts were entered as Alford pleas, meaning she maintains her innocence while acknowledging the evidence could likely lead to a conviction.
Armenta was accused of rolling over on her baby, Benjamin, who was called “Benji,” while they were sleeping together. She and the child’s father, Brian Lemke, 32, exchanged texts after their child’s death rather than calling police immediately, according to court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KTVB. Both were charged with four felony counts of injury to a child, destruction of evidence, failing to report or delaying reporting a death, and resisting and obstructing law enforcement. They claimed to have discovered Benji unconscious in a bassinet.
At her canceled plea hearing, Armenta was walking through the elements of the charges and described how she would co-sleep with Benji, admitting she kept him in a home that was “unfit for living” for a baby, according to KBOI. She also acknowledged she had a cellphone she could have used to contact first responders about Benji’s death just before Judge Witney stopped the proceedings.
It remains unclear who directly caused Benji’s death. Police believe the child suffocated inside the trailer, which was allegedly filled with trash, food, dirt, cigarettes, and animal feces.
Nampa police responded to a 911 call from Lemke on Dec. 16, 2025, around 3:32 a.m., according to a press release posted on Facebook. Police said they went to a property in the 300 block of Lone Star Road and spoke with Lemke at a house where he claimed Benji died , not the “filthy” trailer where the infant actually died. Armenta was not at the scene.
“After further investigation by detectives, it was determined the infant passed away in a different location and was later moved into the house,” police say in reference to the trailer. “Officers also found the infant’s mother hiding in a camp trailer in the backyard. She was taken into custody without incident on an unrelated out-of-county warrant.”
Lemke was sentenced in late July to serve between six and 15 years in a state correctional facility after pleading guilty to failure to report a death and destruction of evidence.
Court records show that the couple has multiple prior convictions for injuring children in Idaho. They had other children removed from their home in recent years and placed in foster care, some for hazardous living conditions, KTVB reports.
Armenta is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3.
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