James Vanderleest appears before Brown County court, December 1, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A judge rejected James VanderLeest’s motion to reduce his $2 million cash bond Monday. VanderLeest, 22, faces reckless homicide and other counts for the June 22 death of two-year-old Leo Escalante at a home on Green Bay’s east side. Escalante is the son of James VanderLeest’s ex-girlfriend, but VanderLeest not the boy’s father. He has pleaded not guilty.
VanderLeest’s bond was set at $2 million cash at his initial appearance in June. Judge Samatha Wagner denied the request to lower it on Monday.
No trial date has been set. VanderLeest returns to court Dec. 19 for a status conference. The parties are waiting on the medical examiner’s report before doing additional scheduling.
His father, David VanderLeest, 48, faces counts of aiding a felon and obstruction. During a hearing Monday, another status conference for Jan. 15 was set, due to the same medical examiner report issue.
According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a home in the 100 block of Alpine Drive for a report of a child who fell down the steps and was not breathing. The home belongs to David. He was allowing Escalante’s mother and the child to stay at the home, despite there being a no-contact order in place between the woman and James.
David said he was home alone with Escalante when he left him to get a roll of toilet paper. When he returned, he found Escalante at the bottom of the steps, David claimed.
When police first talked to James, he said his father was the one with Escalante at the time of the incident.
But Escalante’s mother told police it was James who called her to say the child wasn’t breathing. She went to the home, where she found her son “limp” and unresponsive. She also said James wanted her to say it was David who was with the boy when the injuries happened. The mother called 911.
An officer asked the mother “if she could recall any other words he was saying and she explained James kept telling her, “I’m sorry” and that it was “an accident,”,” the complaint states.
Prosecutors confirmed previously they do not believe David was involved in the incident that killed Escalante.
After Escalante’s death, authorities say the VanderLeests fled to a relative’s cabin in Florence County, where a SWAT team helped take them into custody after a standoff. David said he followed his son there to comfort him.
James admitted he was with the boy and then told police the same story as his father — that Escalante had fallen down the stairs. He repeatedly denied causing child’s injuries.
When pressed, James told police they were not going to get a “fake confession,” the complaint states.
David told police James told him the same version of events about the stair fall.
Escalante was flown to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, where he was pronounced dead two days after his injuries occurred.
According to the autopsy:
There were blunt force injuries to the head-multiple scalp and facial contusions; deep scalp and subgaleal hemorrhages; subdural hematoma; cerebral edema; scattered contusion of the extremities; three contusions of the trunk; two patterned contusions of the upper extremities.
The injuries were not consistent with a fall down the stairs, a doctor told police.
At previous court hearings, both VanderLeests disputed the accounts offered by police and prosecutors.
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