Dashcam footage and a 911 call provide insight into the demeanor of Aniya Day-Garrett’s mother and the mother’s boyfriend moments after the 4-year-old lost consciousness and subsequently died.
A 911 call recently obtained by WJW captured boyfriend Deonte Lewis calmly telling a dispatcher that Day-Garrett, 4, was hardly breathing. He originally claims that Day-Garrett is not breathing but goes on to say that she’s awake but not responsive
“Wait a minute, is she not breathing?” the dispatcher asks.
Sierra Day, the child’s mother, curtly responds, “No.”
At one point, the mother explains that Day-Garrett had been acting “strange” and that she thought her daughter had gotten a stomach virus.
Euclid police’s dashcam camera captures emergency crews carrying the 4-year-old’s lifeless body into an ambulance. Feet away, the couple appears calm as they provide police with the same story they gave to the 911 dispatcher minutes earlier, according to the news station.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, officers found Day-Garrett unresponsive at her Euclid, Ohio, home on March 11. Responding officers noted that the child appeared emaciated, suffered burns on her legs and feet, and that her eye was nearly swollen shut.
Day-Garrett died March 21 after suffering a stroke caused by blunt impacts to her head. Authorities wrote that malnutrition also played a role in the little girl’s death, according to the Cleveland Scene.
Two day cares have been investigated for allegedly failing to report suspected instances of abuse. Earlier this month, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services found that Harbor Crest Child Care failed to report these cases to Cuyahoga County Children and Family Service, as they’re required to by law. In total, the day care reportedly documented 14 cases involving the slain child.
Multiple sources told WJW that Day worked at the second day care her daughter attended. WTHI reported Thursday that Day’s employer, Get Ready Set Grow Childcare Center, has been inspected three times in the past two weeks. The state agency determined that the day care also didn’t report suspected abuse involving Day-Garrett.
Months before her murder, Day-Garett’s father, Mickhal Garrett, wrote a letter to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court begging for full custody. At the time, he claimed that Day wasn’t allowing him to see his daughter and that relatives believed she was being abused.
“I truly, truly, truly feel as though our daughter is being abused at home physically/mentally and that her life could possibly be in danger,” Garrett wrote in December 2017, according to WEWS.
Day and Lewis have since been arrested and charged with aggravated murder and child endangerment. Cleveland.com reported that they pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
[Featured Image: Aniya Day-Garrett, Mickhal Garrett/WEWS]
