How many children does Stephanie Davis have? Georgia mom sentenced for 200 years after aiding husband in abusing children

Georgia woman Stephanie Davis has received a sentence of 200 years, plus 200 years of probation, for abetting her husband in abusing their nine children. The Cherokee County District Attorney's (DA) Office released a statement announcing the verdict on Friday, March 11.

Stephanie Davis, 37, pleaded guilty to 42 counts of child abuse in November. Meanwhile, her husband and step-father to the children, Christoper Davis, was found guilty on 47 counts in December. The latter was given two life sentences and an additional 841 years in jail.

Note: This is a trigger warning as this copy contains explicit details of the case.

---

First report of Stephanie Davis child abuse case

The nine Davis children ranged in age from three to 17 (Image via Getty Images)

The case first surfaced in Calhoun, Georgia, in February 2020 when one of the children managed to escape the family home. The teenage boy told the Calhoun Police Department that the stepfather, 43:

"slapped and punched him, hit him with a stick, strangled him, burned him with hot oil, locked him in a closet, and beat him with a belt and a wooden cane."

The boy reportedly had multiple "visible injuries all over his head and body," along with a broken eardrum, as per the Cherokee DA Office's news release.

Upon investigation, the officers found evidence that the children, aged 3-17, were starved without adequate food and water and force-fed spoiled food. They also did not have access to proper clothing, beds, blankets, or pillows and had restrictions on their bathroom usage.

The only heated rooms in the house were the parents' bedroom and a closet that housed snakes and other reptiles. When the parents were away, the children were locked upstairs. Police also found the objects that were used to beat the children.

The DA Office stated that the stepfather's repeated abuse against the children included them being:

"locked in an unheated closet with no bathroom, strangled until they passed out, forced to sit on a fire ant pile and burned with items such as sparklers and hot oil."

In 2019, counselors in the children's public school suspected abuse and reported it to the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS). However, when Stephanie Davis became aware of this, she pulled her children out of school and home-schooled them.

Investigators confirmed that the abuse only increased after this point. It is unclear how far the DFCS investigation progressed at that time.

---

Stephanie Davis' claims of innocence debunked

The children testified that their mother's betrayal left deeper wounds than the physical abuse (Image via Sia Cox/Getty Images)

DA Prosecutor Katie Gropper sympathized with the children for the "horrendous" abuse they suffered. She also revealed that in the initial stages of the investigation, Stephanie Davis had tried to claim innocence as a "helpless victim," but the "evidence demonstrated her extensive involvement."

Gropper said:

"She (Stephanie Davis) not only held the children down while they were beaten and burned by her husband but also crafted cover stories for the children to tell their teachers and DFCS if they were ever asked about their injuries. Her efforts to influence and manipulate the children to recant their allegations continued even after her arrest."

During the hearing, two of the Davis children testified that although their physical inflictions and suffering were painful, "the betrayal of their own mother left deeper wounds that will take much longer to heal."

Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace confirmed that the children had been safely relocated to stable and loving foster homes. She commended the children's "incredible resilience" in breaking free and rising above the trauma.