Inset: Brian Lemke (Canyon County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in Idaho where Lemke’s son died (Google Maps).
A 32-year-old Idaho father faces more than a decade in prison for failing to report his newborn son’s death and then moving the infant’s body from the “filthy” trailer where authorities say the baby suffocated to a nearby house.
Brian Lemke was sentenced Friday to 15 years in a state correctional facility after pleading guilty to failure to report a death and destruction or concealment of evidence in connection with the December 2025 death of his newborn son, Benjamin, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, 3rd District Judge Thomas Whitney imposed the maximum sentence sought by prosecutors — six years minimum followed by a potential additional nine years, making Lemke eligible for parole after serving six years. His sentence stems from what investigators determined happened after the infant died, not from causing the child’s death.
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As Law&Crime previously reported, police alleged the baby suffocated inside the travel trailer where Lemke, the child’s mother, Allyssen Armenta, and the infant had been sleeping.
Court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KTVB stated the trailer was filled with trash, food, dirt, cigarettes and animal feces.
“What did I do,” Lemke reportedly texted Armenta. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened, but it be my fault. Are they saying SIDS?”
Lemke called 911 at about 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2025, requesting that a coroner respond to a residence in Nampa, where officers found the infant swaddled in a bassinet inside the home’s living room.
The Canyon County Coroner’s Office later determined the baby died sometime between 11 p.m. Dec. 15 and 2 a.m. Dec. 16 while co-sleeping in bed with Lemke and Armenta inside a travel trailer parked behind the residence of a family associate, prosecutors said.
Investigators concluded that after discovering the infant was dead, Lemke carried his son’s body from the trailer into the main house, wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in the bassinet before calling 911. Armenta remained hidden inside the trailer for about 90 minutes before officers found her, according to prosecutors.
Authorities also revealed that Child Protective Services had asked the Nampa Police Department to help locate Lemke, Armenta and the newborn during the two days leading up to the baby’s death. Neither CPS nor law enforcement could find the family because the couple refused to disclose where they were staying, according to the prosecutor’s office.
According to the Idaho Statesman, a detective who attended the infant’s autopsy said the child appeared to have died from suffocation while co-sleeping. The coroner ultimately concluded the infant likely suffocated. Local reporting also said that Lemke later admitted moving the baby’s body before contacting authorities. The prosecution argued his request for a coroner — rather than emergency medical services — supported its contention that he was attempting to conceal the circumstances of the infant’s death.
Before learning his sentence, Lemke apologized to the court.
“I just want to say that I know my actions were wrong,” he said, according to a report from local ABC affiliate KIVI. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about and wish that I could go back and change what I’ve done.”
His attorney argued the baby’s death resulted from an accidental co-sleeping incident and asked the court to impose probation, maintaining Lemke was not responsible for his son’s death.
Whitney rejected that request but emphasized that the sentence addressed Lemke’s conduct after the infant died.
“My job, my duty is to sentence you for the crimes which you were convicted of,” the judge said, according to KIVI.
The judge ordered consecutive sentences totaling 15 years and warned Lemke that he could remain incarcerated for the full term if he fails to complete prison programming.
Armenta, who also accepted a plea agreement, is scheduled to be sentenced July 30.
The post Dad who moved suffocated 12-day-old baby from ‘filthy’ trailer into clean home, tried to pass off death as SIDS learns his fate first appeared on Law & Crime.
