Though his tiny hands were too small to hide his teary-eyed face, a pint-sized witness found the courage to testify against his mother, revealing that “mama got mad” and “dunked” his 7-year-old sister in the pool. After 17 years of silence, A.J. Hutto, now 24, is speaking out on addressing the court as a child, maintaining that his mother, Amanda Lewis, is “100% guilty.”

In 2008, a quiet Florida courtroom was shaken by the voice of a little boy who stepped up to share an unthinkable truth.

A.J. Hutto – his new name is protected for privacy – didn’t fully grasp the legal weight of what he was doing. He was simply telling the truth, trying to make sense of something he never should’ve had to witness.

The 7-year-old child, neatly dressed in a white button shirt, black knit vest, and light-colored pants, described in heartbreaking detail the moment he watched his sister, Adrianna Hutto, drown in their family’s backyard swimming pool.

At first, the incident was considered an accidental drowning until A.J. described to police something far more chilling – he said his mother, Amanda Lewis, had killed his sister.

Lewis’ version
On August 8, 2007, Lewis, a nurse’s assistant working night shifts at a nearby nursing home, returned home and laid down for a quick nap while the kids watched cartoons.

The plan was simple: a little rest, then off “to shop for back-to-school supplies,” Lewis, then 27, said.

But as the sun climbed higher and temperatures soared past 100 degrees, the kids begged to cool off in the above ground pool, about 4-foot deep, that according to the mother was strictly off-limits without an adult present, ABC reported in 2010.

“I told them that we couldn’t get in the pool today because we were getting ready to go. So, they wanted to go outside and play for a few minutes while I got everything ready,” she said.

Moments later, Lewis said her young son, 6-year-old A.J., walked back inside the house and told his mother, “Mama, Adrianna is in the pool,’”

“At first I thought he meant maybe she was by the pool, and I said, okay, well, tell her to come in.’”

When Lewis looked out the back door, she saw A.J. “raking in the water with his hand, like he was trying to grab [Adrianna].”

“I ran out, ran out of the house,” Lewis said. “When I got to the pool…she was face down…She was very purple, very blue.”