WEST ALLIS, WI- On October 18, 2025, four-year-old Dante Campbell was found unresponsive in his bed by his father, Devario Cruz, who described him as “stiff.” When Cruz picked the child up, he said he looked “unreal” and “smelled bad,” Law & Crime reported, citing a WITI report. Cruz claimed the child had fallen down a flight of stairs the previous evening.
Investigators later determined that Dante had been severely beaten, with a responding officer, according to court documents, saying that, “This was the most extensive and severe injuries that I have witnessed on a child.”
Dante Campbell, 4
After finding the child, Cruz told the child’s mother, Charlotte Kurek, 31, “I don’t think [the victim] is alive, I think he is dead,” authorities said. Kurek allegedly began screaming and saying they needed to go to the hospital, but neither called 911 right away.
Law & Crime previously reported that an hour after finding the child, the pair drove to a friend of Kurek’s–leaving three children “home alone”--and dropped off Dante's twin sister. They kept Dante in the car and only then did Kurek call 911. The 911 operator told them to pull over because they were near the West Allis Fire Department and firefighters there could help them.
While waiting for the first responders, Cruz allegedly said, “I killed my kid. I want to kill myself.”
The pair drove to a nearby Dairy Queen and waited for emergency personnel to arrive. According to authorities, Dante was “stiff,” and his gums were “bone white,” which led officers to believe that the child had been oxygen-deprived for a while. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
During an examination of Dante, investigators found “substantial bruising” on his body and his clothes “reeked of urine,” according to court documents.
Kurek repeated the tale that Dante fell down the stairs of their home and that bikes and other items tumbled on top of him, but officers were skeptical, believing his injuries didn’t comport with the alleged sequence of events.
Kurek later admitted that she lied “out of fear for her own safety,” authorities said, changing her story where she was “earlier denying any previous domestic violence” by Cruz. She also made a stunning statement, saying, “My son looked like he got his ass beat by a grown man.”
Kurek acknowledged that Cruz could be “heavy-handed” but claimed she “addressed the issue” with him. Despite other incidents of violence, she never reported Cruz to police. She told officers she would simply turn up the music to drown out the child’s painful cries for help.
“Defendant Kurek watched Defendant Cruz abuse the twins and did not call the police or threaten Defendant Cruz in order to try and get Defendant Cruz to stop,” police wrote. “It appeared as Defendant Kurek cared more for Defendant Cruz than the twins.”
Just prior to his death, Dante had been in the care of other family members, but was returned to his parents, NBC affiliate WTMJ reported.
Child Protective Services apparently had prior involvement with Cruz and Kurek, with Kurek having a CPS worker in her phone as “CPS b****.”
According to a former neighbor, abuse of the children was nothing new, noting there had been a pattern of the same. The children would often be left “home alone” at night, and the children would cry out for their parents, the criminal complaint said. There were also guns in the home, and it is believed Cruz was dealing marijuana from his car parked in front of the residence.
Aside from the twins, Kurek had three other children from a previous relationship who spent alternating weekends there, police said.
Dante’s twin sister was also interviewed and showed signs of abuse, with a bandage over her right eye. When asked by police what happened, she said, “Daddy hurt me.” Also, her eye appeared swollen, and she had scratches on her face and bruises across her body.
Investigators found “children’s shoes with a red substance on one of the shoes that appeared consistent with blood,” court documents revealed. Investigators also found more than a pound of marijuana in the home.
Under questioning, Cruz told detectives that “on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the hardest,” he could possibly strike another human being; Cruz “admitted that it was a ‘7 or 8,' ” the affidavit stated. Upon seeing photos of Dante, Cruz began to breathe heavily and said, “I only used my hands.”
This week, Kurek pleaded guilty to child neglect with death and chronic child neglect in connection with Dante’s death. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.
Cruz is facing charges of first-degree reckless homicide, repeated acts of physical abuse of a child causing death, and repeated physical abuse of a child causing bodily harm, along with child neglect charges.
His next court date is Sept. 11.
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