CHEYENNE — Accused of starving his adopted teenage son almost to death last year, Darrick Mittlestadt testified Wednesday that he didn’t see or talk to the boy for “three or four months,” despite living in the same house for part of that time.
Whenever he was asked by either his own attorney or the prosecutor how he could be unaware of the child’s life-threatening medical condition — he weighed 50 pounds at age 13 — the former fire chief of Laramie County Fire District No. 1 repeated the same answer.
His wife Angela told him that she had their son’s behavioral problems under control and Darrick trusted that the boy was being fed.
The boy, referred to as “EM” in the courtroom, was dropped off by his mother at a Douglas, Wyoming, group home on June 22, 2025.
A Colorado child abuse pediatrician testified Tuesdaythat the then-13-year-old was so malnourished he looked like “a concentration camp survivor.”
Darrick Mittlestadt testified that although his wife told him she had "found a place” that could take care of EM, now 14, she refused to tell him where it was located.
He said their son was skinny and short “from Day One” when they adopted him in 2019, and he was concerned that his body wasn’t getting any “thicker.”
Assistant Laramie County District Attorney Jack Hatfield asked why he wasn’t upset when his wife refused to tell him where she was taking his eldest son.
Darrick Mittlestadt said they argued about it, as they did throughout their troubled marriage, and he ended up walking out of the home that night and went to the fire station.
‘You Just Walked Out?’
“So, you just walked out and left him there?” Hatfield asked. “Didn’t that seem strange to you?”
“In retrospect, yes,” Mittlestadt answered.
“No concern about EM at all?” the prosecutor said.
“No,” the father replied.
EM, who testified on Tuesday, said his mother dropped him off at the Douglas group home and told him to ring the doorbell and give whoever answered the door a fake name and age.
He said she then drove away.
Darrick Mittlestadt said he didn’t know about what his wife did until a law enforcement officer he knew stopped at their house and asked him about John Diaz — the name EM gave authorities. Employees at the group home called police to report the teen’s severe medical condition.
Why No Medical Treatment For 7 Years?
Hatfield asked why EM had never been taken to see a doctor during the seven years since the family adopted him, even though the boy — in addition to being chronically underweight — also had behavioral issues.
Darrick had testified earlier that he returned home one night and saw his wife removing “poop” from EM’s bedroom wall. Angela told him that their son also urinated on himself and smeared feces on the walls on other occasions.
Throughout the trial, Darrick Mittlestadt's attorney, Crystal Stewart, has maintained that the couple did not have a traditional joint sharing of childcare. His primary responsibility when he was home was to take care of NM, EM’s half-brother, who was a baby when he was adopted in 2020.
Angela, Darrick testified, assumed responsibility for feeding EM, disciplining him and his day-to-day care.
Hatfield asked Darrick why he didn’t inquire about EM’s condition once he learned he’d been dropped off in Douglas and the police were called.
Darrick said he was upset to find out about his wife leaving their son there but wasn’t aware the teen was severely malnourished because he always saw him clothed.
When he first took the stand to answer questions from Stewart, she showed Darrick a series of photos that depicted EM at various family events. The slender teen was always skinny, but Darrick said it didn’t merit medical treatment.
“What I envisioned of EM was those pictures,” he said. “I didn’t know EM looked the way he looked.”
Darrick said he had asked his former attorney why everyone was so upset with him, and that’s when he saw the graphic photos.
“I was shocked and embarrassed,” he said.
‘I’m Not A Good Dad’
“Obviously, I missed some signs [about EM’s condition],” Darrick said. “I’m not a good Dad. I’m not observant. I trusted that Angela was feeding him.”
Looking at the size of their grocery bill each month, Darrick said he didn’t doubt his wife.
But he told Hatfield that he failed his son by not confirming what his wife said was the truth, and by not taking him to be examined by a doctor.
When the prosecutor pointed out that EM was locked up in his room for a year and a half and not allowed to wander and play like NM was, Darrick disputed what happened. He said EM liked his door closed.
“I don’t believe he was locked in his room,” Darrick said. “I don’t think I failed him on that.”
One of the last questions Hatfield posed was whether Darrick failed EM from the first day they moved into their Cheyenne home in 2023.
Darrick, his face flushed, paused for at least 20 seconds.
“Yeah,” he finally answered. “Yes.”
Hatfield finished his cross-examination of the 50-year-old former fire chief shortly before 5 p.m., but Stewart said she has more questions to ask on re-direct. That will conclude her case, she said.
Hatfield said he will recall a Douglas police detective who investigated the case and interviewed the family after the Douglas incident.
After that, both sides will deliver their closing statements before the case is handed to the 10-man, four-woman jury. Two alternates will be dismissed at that time.
Judge Denies Motion To Acquit
Earlier, Stewart moved for a judgment of acquittal on both the aggravated child abuse and attempted abuse charges after the prosecution rested its case before the lunch recess.
Laramie County District Judge Peter Froelicher denied the motion.
Stewart argued that the witnesses the state called and evidence introduced pointed to Angela Mittlestadt as the person responsible for reducing EM’s meals to one a day and confining him to his room, and not her client.
Stewart pointed to EM’s testimony Tuesday about how infrequently he saw his father.
“He hadn’t seen Darrick in months,” she said.
A major point of contention during the trial has been whether there was a conspiracy between the couple to deliberately harm the boy.
When Angela Mitttlestadt reached a plea bargain with prosecutors Monday, she pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse but the conspiracy count was dropped.
“Aren’t both parents responsible for their children?” Froehlicher asked.
Stewart conceded that they are, but maintained there was no evidence presented that there was any agreement between the parents about withholding food from EM.
“There’s no admission that my client knew what was going on,” she added.
But Hatfield said there was “very clear evidence of an agreement.”
He said the couple had a specific discussion about what they were going to do about EM’s behavior, and they decided to table the issue because they were worried about what might happen to them if people saw how malnourished their older son was.
“[Darrick] knew what was going on and he still let it happen,” Hatfield said.
Froehlicher said there is sufficient evidence for the jury to consider whether the defendant committed any crimes, including seven graphic photos of an emaciated EM that were taken on June 22, 2025, after Angela Mittlestadt dropped him off at the group home and told the teen that’s where he was going to be living.
The trial began its second day Wednesday morning with the state calling several of the Mittlestadt’s Cheyenne neighbors as well as some of the fire chief’s co-workers.
Most witnesses remembered seeing or meeting NM, but said if they interacted with EM it was only once.
The prosecution, which is trying to show that Darrick Mittlestadt was frequently home, asked Kimberly Hall how frequently she would see the fire department truck that the chief drove at his house, which is across the street from her.
“He was home often, he’d come and go,” Hall said.
Two of Hatfield’s witnesses who worked with Darrick Mittlestadt readily agreed when Stewart asked them if he was a “workaholic.”
The trial begins its third day Thursday morning.
