Mother, stepfather plead guilty to manslaughter in death of Port Alberni six-year-old

The mother and stepfather of a six-year-old Port Alberni boy have pleaded guilty to charges in his 2018 death.

The BC Prosecution Service confirmed Monday that Rykel Frank, the boy’s biological mother, and Mitchell Frank, her partner, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Dontay-Patrick Lucas.

The couple was initially charged with first-degree murder in May 2022.

Police discovered Lucas in medical distress at a Port Alberni home on March 13, 2018. He was rushed to the hospital but did not survive.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

At the time, police deemed the death suspicious.

2:54 Father of boy who died in foster care demands accountability

In an interview last May, Lucas’ stepmother Kristen Dean told Global News she still didn’t know how the boy died. The boy’s mother, she said, claimed he had fallen down the stairs, while police only said the death was suspicious.

“We weren’t told exactly why arrests were going to be made,” she said at the time. “We weren’t told what exactly happened.”

Rykel and Mitchell Frank are due back in court for sentencing on May 16.

Sign up to receive newsletters and breaking news email alerts.