James Vanderleest appears before Brown County court, December 1, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – James VanderLeest, who is accused of causing the death of Leo Escalante, 2, has asked the court to order the release all of the boy’s medical records.
VanderLeest, 22, is charged with reckless homicide for the June 22 death of Escalante on the city’s east side.
Prosecutors cite the autopsy report that Escalante suffered blunt force trauma and other head wounds. The injuries were not consistent with a fall down the stairs, a doctor told police.
In advance of a motions hearing Monday, VanderLeest’s attorney asks for the boy’s medical records.
“Given the medical examiner’s determination of AHT (abusive head trauma) being the cause of death, all L.E.’s medical records, from birth to the present, directly relate to the facts and immediate circumstances of this case,” wrote attorney Amanda Toonen.
The record request is for “including, but not limited to birth records, all clinic/well-baby records, all records from previous hospitalizations, all radiology records including imaging, ophthalmology records, emergency care records, audit trails, electronic medical records, and any other records created by treating or consulting providers, for the period of March 25, 2023 until June 23, 2025,” the motion states.
Toonen also asks for all medical examiner reports, and for VanderLeest’s bail to be modified so he can have contact with his father, David.
Prosecutors have not replied to the motions, according to court records.
David VanderLeest, 48, is charged with aiding a felon and obstruction for allegedly lying to police, claiming he was the one at home at the time of the child’s death. He returns to court April 24 for a status conference.
According to the criminal complaint, police responded to the Alpine Drive address for a child who fell down the steps and was not breathing.
David said he was home alone with the child when he left him to get a roll of toilet paper. When he returned, he found the boy at the bottom of the steps.
When police first talked to James, he said his father was the one with Escalante at the time of the incident.
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 him “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.
After Escalante’s death, authorities say the VanderLeests took off to a relative’s cabin in Florence County where a SWAT team helped take them into custody.
James admitted he was with the boy and then told police the same story, that Escalante had fallen down the stairs. He repeatedly denied causing the injuries. When pressed, he 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 happened. 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.
Family of Escalante tells said James is the ex-boyfriend of Escalante’s mother. However, he is not Escalante’s father.
At previous court hearings, both VanderLeests disputed the account offered by police and prosecutors.
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