Nearly two decades after testifying against his mother in a Florida courtroom, AJ Hutto has broken his silence. At just seven years old in 2008, AJ recounted witnessing his mother, Amanda Lewis, drown his sister Adrianna in their backyard pool. Now 24, he stands by his words: “One hundred percent guilty. I stand by every word I said.”
AJ’s testimony and a child’s drawing he presented became pivotal in the case. The image showed three figures at the pool, with captions reading “She did” and “To Bad”—explained by AJ to mean “she died” and “it was scary.” He described his mother holding Adrianna’s face underwater in anger, reportedly after the girl sprayed glass cleaner in the house.
Though some doubted whether a child could be a credible witness, Judge Allen Register deemed AJ competent. AJ maintains he was never coached, insisting, “I just told them exactly what I saw.”
Amanda Lewis was sentenced to life without parole for first-degree murder and child abuse. While she’s consistently claimed Adrianna drowned accidentally, the autopsy raised doubts, revealing facial bruising resembling a handprint. Investigators also noted signs of neglect in the home.
Following the trial, AJ was adopted and now lives a new life as a firefighter. Married and with no contact with Lewis, he refers to her only by name, saying his early childhood was filled with “darkness, trauma, and abuse.”
Lewis, now in a South Florida prison, is still fighting to overturn her conviction. She’s retained a new attorney, passed a polygraph test, and previously declined a manslaughter plea deal.
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