Josie Dikeman took the stand in her trial on May 12, 2026, and denied any responsibility for the death of 6-year-old Alexavier Pedrin. The 33-year-old woman, charged with first-degree intentional homicide, chronic neglect of a child resulting in death and repeated physical abuse of a child, told jurors, “He was my son.”

Dikeman said she loved Alexavier “with all my heart, just as if he came out of me,” and insisted, “I treated them all equal.” Her testimony came after other children in the home described a far different household, one in which Alexavier was singled out under special rules, not allowed to have food or drinks, and sometimes had hot sauce poured on his food.

Those children also testified that Alexavier was only allowed to eat discarded pizza crusts left by the other children. Dikeman denied that account. She said everyone had to eat their own crust because she was finding half-eaten pizza and the family could not afford waste. The testimony mattered because it went to the heart of the state’s case: whether the boy was being deliberately deprived and punished in the months before he died.

Children in the home also said Dikeman pushed Alexavier down the stairs and bent his leg back as far as she could. Dikeman denied pushing him and said she did not see him fall. “I was going upstairs to get their clothes for the day and I heard ‘thump thump.’ I heard that and then I heard Alex screaming,” she said. That account was part of a longer denial of the abuse allegations that have defined the trial from the start.

Dikeman appeared to have a flat affect while testifying and at times struggled with memory. She took a break to take medication for a headache. Her attorney said those symptoms stemmed from traumatic brain injuries she suffered at the hands of Alexavier Pedrin’s father and his ex-girlfriend, an explanation the defense has used to address the way she has presented herself in court.

She also recounted alleged abuse by Derek Pedrin against both her and Alexavier. Dikeman said Derek Pedrin shoved Alexavier’s dental crown back into his mouth. “Derek tried shoving it back in his mouth,” she said. “He made Alex open his mouth, and he shoved it back in and Alex was crying.” She said she could not count how many times she had seen Derek Pedrin hit his son. “I can’t count, it’s been ever since he was a baby,” she said.

Asked by her attorney if she killed Alexavier, Dikeman denied it. She said she woke up to find him unresponsive and immediately called 911. That version of events stands in sharp contrast to the medical findings in the case. An autopsy showed Alexavier suffered blunt force trauma and a lacerated liver.

The trial has now laid out two irreconcilable pictures of what happened inside the home: a mother who says she was trying to care for her children under abusive conditions, and children who say Alexavier was isolated, punished and hurt. Prosecutors have said Dikeman routinely abused the boy. The defense says her memory issues and flat affect are the result of traumatic brain injuries. With testimony from Dikeman now in the record, jurors will have to decide whether her account explains the injuries or deepens the case against her.

Dikeman said she had not seen her children for three years and called hearing them testify heartbreaking, especially “hearing all of the lies.” That may be the plainest sign of what the trial has become: a fight over who the jury believes when the child at the center of it can no longer speak for himself.