A Utah woman who pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of her 12-year-old stepson appeared before a judge to receive her sentence.
Nichole Lea Scott, 50, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder of 12-year-old Gavin Peterson, who died of sepsis, malnutrition, and other illnesses in July 2024. Scott initially pleaded not guilty, but changed her plea after the boy’s father, Shane Peterson, 47, and brother, Tyler Peterson, 22, pleaded guilty in connection with Gavin Peterson’s death.
Prosecutors detailed Scott’s adjudicated abuse of her stepson in court on Monday, as she awaited her sentence from 2nd District Court Judge Camille Neider.
According to KSL, a local NBC affiliate that was present in the courtroom, Neider told the defendant, “Sometimes people sit in that chair, and I want to say, ‘Do your best, because at some point you’re going to get out’ — a glimmer of hope, a ray of hope, something for you to hold onto as you’ll be going to prison. Truthfully, I will not be that ray of hope for you. I’m not sure if you’ll get out, and frankly, I hope you don’t.”
The judge sentenced Scott to up to a lifetime in prison.
While Scott avoided a trial by entering a plea, she sat as prosecutors described Gavin Peterson’s horrific treatment at the hands of his own family members, particularly his stepmother.
According to prosecutors, the boy was kept in a bare room with no carpeting and forced to stay in a spot where “blue tape mark[ed] out a box of less than three feet long and wide.” He was constantly monitored by cameras while in the room and had to wear a diaper because he was not allowed to leave.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, charging documents describe some of Gavin Peterson’s security footage, which includes him “curling up on the carpetless floor” without any bedding or blankets, often with a “saturated diaper.” He was given half a glass of water and a piece of bread with mustard every day, if he was fed at all.
In a memorandum read aloud in court, prosecutors claimed Gavin Peterson was subjected to “nothing short of a prolonged death camp” while at home.
Prosecutors stated that while other children in the home were cared for and loved, “the only images or videos of Gavin were of him locked in the cell, laying in a dirty diaper, covered in feces and wounds.” The only text messages regarding Gavin were about how much [Scott] despised him, how terrible he was, and how much she and the codefendants enjoyed torturing him.”
One of these texts was read in court. In a text message Scott exchanged with Shane Peterson in May 2023, after being told by Gavin Peterson’s school nurse that his fingers were showing symptoms of an infection, Scott texted the boy’s father, “He does this [expletive] for attention and I [expletive] hate it, and it makes me hate him more and more!”
Prosecutors said Gavin Peterson was 11 years old when those messages were sent. He was expelled from school after that incident, and less than a month later, “Nichole and Shane remov[ed] Gavin from the public eye for the last time.” School personnel had begun reporting signs of abuse to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, so the parents apparently made sure school personnel could no longer see him.
On the day Gavin Peterson died, July 9, 2024, prosecutors said Scott “lied to the police regarding the events of that day,” and delayed getting help for the boy after discovering him unresponsive.
According to court documents obtained by local Fox affiliate KSTU, she called 911 and reported that her stepson had “been ill for several days, experiencing vomiting, and was now not breathing.”
In court, prosecutors claimed that when Scott discovered Gavin Peterson in such a critical condition, he texted Shane Peterson to inform him that his son was not breathing.
She also spoke with him over the phone for more than 11 minutes. Prior to calling 911, Tyler Peterson and her “hid surveillance cameras, removed other items from the room and removed and replaced the door knob in an effort to mislead the police and hide the abuse and isolation that had been happening in the home.”
Scott discovered Gavin Peterson twenty-one minutes before she called 911.
The boy died of sepsis complications, with pneumonia, dehydration, and untreated infections all contributing to his death. His body also showed signs of starvation and a number of other physical injuries.
Neider sentenced Scott to 15 years to life in prison for first-degree murder, two sentences of one to 15 years for second-degree aggravated child abuse, two sentences of one to 15 years for second-degree obstruction of justice, up to five years for third-degree child endangerment, and up to 364 days for possession or use of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.
As part of the plea agreement, the sentences must be served consecutively.
