Autopsy Determined Death Accidental
Julia Hostetter, 21, of Natural Bridge was sentenced Monday in Rockbridge County Circuit Court on felony charges of child endangerment and possession of a schedule I or II drug in connection with the death of her infant son, Holton Allen Scott Hostetter, in November 2023.
An autopsy determined that the cause of death was accidental suffocation.
Her guilty plea to those charges was part of an agreement with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, and she received suspended sentences of four years for child endangerment and two years for the drug charge. She will have five years of probation, including intensive probation for the first year, for the child endangerment charge and two years of probation for the drug possession charge.
During the sentencing hearing, Hostetter testified that losing her son had been hard for her and that she is “committed to getting better” and entering the Rockbridge Recovery program to address her drug addiction, and affirmed that she has “no desire” to use drugs again.
Her mother, Michelle Thacker of Madison County, and her father, Allen Hostetter of Lexington, both testified on her behalf and further affirmed her commitment to addressing her addiction after she’s released from Rockbridge Regional Jail, where she has been since Jan. 8, following a violation of probation for a separate, unrelated drug possession charge.
“She’s very committed to getting out and getting clean and going to Rockbridge Recovery,” Thacker said.
Allen Hostetter testified that Julia will be able to live with him after she is released and that he will make sure that she keeps up with her treatment and probation. On cross-examination, he said that at the time of Holton’s death she and her boyfriend, Cameron Carper of Bedford, had been living with him.
Hostetter was initially indicted on four felony charges in connection with her son’s death. In addition to the child endangerment and drug possession charges, she was charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse, both of which were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Carper was also indicted on the same four felonies, and pled guilty to child endangerment and drug possession in February. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 4.
