On May 24, 2017, the life of 26-year-old Tyvitta Dischler was tragically cut short in her Milwaukee home. The harrowing events of that day unfolded in the presence of her five-year-old son, who would later provide a chilling account to investigators. The young boy witnessed his father, James Edward Hutchins, Sr., in a state of anger before he shot Dischler. After she fell to the ground, Hutchins also physically harmed the child, causing him to hit his head on the floor.
Following the incident, Hutchins took his son to his sister's house and left in Dischler's car. His sister noticed bruises and a cut on the boy's head and promptly took him to the hospital. It was there that the child disclosed the horrific events, telling doctors, "my momma stood in front of the gun, and my daddy killed my momma." This courageous testimony prompted police to enter the home Hutchins shared with Dischler.
Inside, they discovered a gruesome scene. Tyvitta Dischler was found with a gunshot wound that traveled from behind her right ear to her left frontal lobe. In an attempt to conceal the crime, her body had been set on fire, resulting in severe burns over sixty percent of her body. A pathologist later confirmed that her death was a homicide.
James Edward Hutchins, Sr., was subsequently arrested and faced a series of serious charges. Initially charged with first-degree intentional homicide, physical abuse of a child, and possession of a firearm by a felon, he later reached a plea agreement. Hutchins pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide, mutilating a corpse, and causing mental harm to a child. For the homicide conviction, he was sentenced to a fifty-year term of imprisonment, with thirty years of initial confinement followed by twenty years of extended supervision. He also received concurrent sentences for the other charges.
