Dad who wanted to ‘just have a cigarette’ after fatally beating 12-year-old son and leaving boy to die alone in laundry room learns fate
The human capacity for cruelty is often measured not just by the violence itself, but by the cold, casual indifference that follows it. In a case that shook the community of Palm Bay, Florida, a father’s unfathomable lack of empathy reached its ultimate reckoning in a Brevard County courtroom. Jason D. Godleski, 38, has been sentenced to 38 years in state prison for the brutal 2021 beating and structural abandonment that claimed the life of his 12-year-old son, Noah.
The details that emerged from the investigation painting a vivid picture of Noah’s final days are agonizing. According to police and prosecutors, Noah was a “targeted child” within his own home—isolated, severely malnourished, and ultimately subjected to a fatal onslaught of violence. The horror culminated in October 2021 when Godleski brutally attacked his son, locked him inside the home’s laundry room, and then packed up his girlfriend and three other children for a leisurely road trip out of state, leaving Noah to die completely alone. When later confronted about his actions and the absolute absence of urgency to get medical care, one of the most chilling revelations was the father’s admission that his immediate priority after the fatal beating was simply to step outside and “just have a cigarette.”
The Target in the Household
To understand how Noah’s life ended, investigators had to piece together the environment he lived in. Noah lived with his father and Godleski’s live-in girlfriend, Samarial R. Dubose, along with three other younger siblings. Yet, while the other children were treated normally, Noah was singled out for a unique brand of cruelty. Assistant State Attorney Julia Lynch noted that Noah was systematically targeted.
When investigators searched the residence on Colonial Avenue in Palm Bay, they found a fully stocked refrigerator and pantries overflowing with food. Yet, Noah’s body told a completely different story. At 12 years old, the boy weighed just 62 pounds, a number that placed him in the bottom fifth percentile for children his age. He was being systematically starved by the people responsible for keeping him safe.
The abuse was not sudden; it was a slow, agonizing accumulation. Records showed that child protective services had been alerted multiple times over the years. In March 2020, a school teacher noticed signs of abuse and filed a report. Instead of correcting their behavior, Godleski and Dubose withdrew Noah from school entirely a couple of months later, effectively cutting off his last remaining lifeline to the outside world. Isolated from teachers, friends, and neighbors, Noah became entirely trapped in a house of horrors.
A Cruel Punishment and a Casual Departure
The events that led to Noah’s death began on October 17, 2021. According to court documents, Godleski and Dubose alleged that Noah was “misbehaving.” As punishment, he was forced into the small laundry room of the house, isolated completely from the rest of the family. It was inside this cramped, windowless room that the violence escalated to a lethal degree.
Dubose later told investigators that she heard Godleski walk into the laundry room, screaming at Noah. What followed was a severe beating. Prosecutors later revealed that Godleski had used a baseball bat during the assault, inflicting massive, traumatic injuries to the young boy’s upper body and head. Noah was left bleeding and heavily bruised, trapped on the laundry room floor.
Instead of dialing 911, Godleski and Dubose watched the boy’s condition rapidly deteriorate over the next few days. In intercepted phone calls and interviews, it was revealed that Noah lost the ability to form coherent sentences or even walk. The couple discussed taking him to a hospital but kept putting it off, deciding they would “wait until tomorrow.” In a desperate and cynical attempt to cover his tracks, Godleski even took the dying boy’s hands and used his own fingernails to scratch his face, attempting to frame the horrific wounds as self-inflicted.
By October 20, the couple decided to flee. Rather than call for help, Godleski packed a vehicle, loaded up Dubose and the three other children, and began driving north toward Connecticut. They left Noah behind, locked inside the hot laundry room, completely alone, knowing he was either dead or drawing his final breath.
The Phone Call and the Smoke Break
While traveling, the sheer weight of what they had done began to fracture the couple’s cover story. Godleski made a recorded phone call to his mother, admitting that things had gone too far. He stated that he had hit the boy “too hard in the face and the back of the head,” claiming it was an accident and that he had only given the boy Benadryl to help him sleep.
It was during these admissions that the horrifying detail of the cigarette came to light. After delivering a beating so severe it fractured his son’s skull and left him dying, Godleski’s immediate, driving desire wasn’t remorse or panic. It was a complete psychological disconnect. He told a family member that after the violence concluded, he just needed to step away to “just have a cigarette,” demonstrating a level of casual detachment that deeply disturbed investigators and prosecutors alike.
On October 22, days after leaving the state, Godleski drove back to Florida alone. He walked directly into the lobby of the Palm Bay Police Department and casually reported that his son had “passed away in his sleep” inside their home.
When officers rushed to the Colonial Avenue residence, they walked into a scene they would later describe as deeply traumatizing. They found Noah’s body still in the laundry room. The medical examiner later confirmed that Noah had been dead for several days, his body showing extensive upper-body trauma and advanced decomposition. The delay was so lengthy that Noah’s biological mother, who had been alienated from him for years due to Godleski’s manipulation, was informed she could not even hold an open-casket funeral for her firstborn child.
Accountable at Last
The legal process was a lengthy one, spanning nearly five years. Dubose was arrested in Connecticut and extradited back to Brevard County, where she eventually took a plea deal in 2023. She was sentenced to 30 years in state prison for her role in the child abuse, torture, and failure to report the death.
Godleski’s defense team initially attempted to argue that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial, delaying the proceedings for months as evaluations were performed. However, prosecutors maintained that he was fully aware of his actions and was simply malingering to avoid the consequences.
Facing a looming trial for first-degree murder which carried a potential sentence of life in prison or the death penalty, Godleski ultimately blinked. On July 8, 2021, he entered a no-contest plea to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect with great bodily harm.
Circuit Judge Steve Henderson handed down a 38-year prison sentence. Under Florida law, there is no parole, meaning Godleski must serve the vast majority of that time day-for-day. He was given credit for the three years he spent waiting in jail, but by the time he is eligible for release, he will be well into his 70s. Upon his eventual release, he will face an additional 15 years of strictly supervised probation.
While the sentence brings a legal end to a dark chapter, the emotional scars left on the community, the responding officers, and Noah’s surviving family remain raw. Noah’s aunt spoke directly to the court during the proceedings, describing the pain as excruciating and stating that forgiveness was entirely out of the question. A young boy’s life was stolen from him by the very man who should have been his ultimate protector, all for the price of an angry punishment and the cold desire for a smoke break.
