JASON D. GODLESKI has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for the brutal beating and neglect that killed his 12-year-old son, Noah, in their Palm Bay home. Godleski beat the boy with a baseball bat then left him locked in a laundry room in October 2021 while the rest of the family left the state on a road trip.
In an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office, Godleski, 38, pleaded no-contest July 8 to charges including second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and neglect of a child with great bodily harm. Brevard County prosectors Julia Lynch and Samantha Barrett were prepared to take Godleski to trial for first-degree murder and the child abuse charges starting August 31.
Palm Bay Police investigators said Godleski forced Noah into the laundry room and beat him severely as a punishment for misbehaving. Instead of seeking medical care for his son, Godleski and his live-in girlfriend, SAMARIAL R. DUBOSE, packed up their three other children and drove to Connecticut, leaving Noah alone and trapped.
Days later, Godleski returned to Florida and walked into the lobby of the Palm Bay Police Department to report that his son had “passed away in his sleep.” Officers dispatched to the home discovered Noah’s body, still in the laundry room, with severe upper-body trauma. The Brevard County Medical Examiner determined the boy had been dead for several days before police were notified.
Prosecutors believe Godleski and Dubose also had starved Noah before the beating. The boy weighed 62 pounds – in the bottom fifth percentile for males his age – despite police photos showing the home’s refrigerator being full of food.
Dubose, 35, was sentenced under a plea agreement in 2023 to 30 years in state prison for aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect with great bodily harm, and aggravated child abuse for her role in Noah’s death.
“He was a targeted child in the household,” Lynch said after Godleski’s hearing in Viera. “With today’s sentencing, both caregivers have been held accountable.”
In addition to the 38-year prison term for Godleski, Circuit Judge Steve Henderson ordered him to subsequently serve 15 years of supervised probation following his release from prison. The judge gave Godleski credit for three years he served in the Brevard County Jail while awaiting trial, meaning he could exit prison in his early 70s. Florida does not have parole.