Shiann Lynn Erickson, a 24-year-old from Moorhead, Minnesota, has reached a plea deal and is set to plead guilty to second-degree murder in the 2024 death of 3-year-old Eastyn Deronjic. The child died from blunt force trauma after months of abuse while staying with Erickson and her co-defendant. Her court appearance for the change of plea is scheduled for April 7 in Clay County District Court.
Eastyn Deronjic suffered fatal blunt force injuries that perforated his bowel, along with 28 additional bruises across his body, according to an autopsy report received by authorities on June 28, 2024. The manner of death was ruled a homicide. On March 18, 2024, at about 1:09 a.m., Moorhead police and emergency responders arrived at an apartment in the 1500 block of Belsly Boulevard South, where they found the heavily bruised toddler unresponsive. He was rushed to Sanford Hospital but died shortly after arrival. The home is roughly 230 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Eastyn and his younger sibling had been living there for an extended period with Shiann Lynn Erickson and Rosa E. Garza, acquaintances of the children's biological parents. The sibling was later placed in protective custody. A witness who arrived around 1 a.m. that night to watch the children described Eastyn as sick and vomiting; he requested water before coughing, gagging, and becoming unresponsive. The mother told police she had not seen her children in about two weeks and attributed Eastyn's bruises to him being 'uncoordinated.' She spoke with him hours before his death, when he sounded ill but okay. Erickson and Garza claimed the facial bruising occurred the previous day from vomiting over the toilet, passing out, and falls from a bike and skateboard. However, a text message from Erickson to Garza on March 17, 2024, read: 'Ok have fun with your little b—. Go beat on her kid.' Erickson's co-defendant, 26-year-old Rosa E. Garza (now Mason Garza), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May 2025 and received a 20-year sentence, with at least two-thirds—over 13 years—in prison followed by supervised probation. Erickson had been set for trial in May before this plea deal, as reported by Law&Crime.