LACROSSE, Wis. – An autopsy concluded that 6-year-old AJ Pedrin died of blunt force injuries at his mother’s rural house. The autopsy, by pathologist Reade Quinton at Mayo Clinic, found the bludgeoning injuries on the head and neck, as well as multiple chest and back bruises and a fractured rib. The tranquilizer Xanax also contributed to the death, Quinton said. Meanwhile, sheriff’s investigators reported learning from other children that AJ’s mother, Josie Dikeman, had a pattern of hitting and choking the boy. In mid-January, Dikeman bent one of his AJ’s legs forward, toward his head, and broke the leg, the children said. At the time, she blamed the injury on a younger child pushing AJ down some stairs. On the day before AJ died, a deputy made a welfare check at the home but the boy was sleeping. The mother, the deputy said, explained that the whole house, including AJ, was just getting over Covid and that she had just given him melatonin, a drug that induces sleep. The deputy reported small bruise on AJ’s outer left thigh but saw no imminent danger, . The mother said little bumps or bruises came from rough-housing with other kids. Fifteen hours later, AJ was dead.
