West Seattle woman sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison for kicking boyfriend's son to death

SEATTLE -- A 20-year-old woman who kicked her boyfriend's 17-month-old son to death in West Seattle last year was sentenced Friday to 11 1/2 years in prison.

Alicia Goemaat, who lived with the toddler's father and his son and her own toddler, had been charged with second-degree murder.

Police responded to a 911 call made from the couple's residence in West Seattle on Sept. 27, 2015, and found the man's toddler son dead. An investigation was launched after detectives observed blood and bruises on the child.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the toddler, Drue Lehto, suffered “substantial abdominal trauma that included a transection of his small bowel, liver lacerations and a lacerated pancreas.”

The coroner said the toddler died from "abdominal trauma and internal bleeding." The child also had a fractured clavicle.

The couple denied any wrongdoing, but police said Goemaat later admitted to kicking the toddler in the abdomen twice after becoming angry with him when he and her own son, a few months older, fought over a toy. She said that the first blow knocked the boy down and she kicked him again, police said.

According to court documents, she said she then put the toddler in his playpen and discovered he wasn't breathing a short time later.