December 4, 2023 • 50 mins
Giovanni Reichert is rushed to St. Anthony's Hospital after he reportedly becomes unresponsive after a bath.
Reichert is in the care of McKinley Slone Hernandez, 25, a regular babysitter and friend of mom Stefanie Reichert. The two families are accustomed to being together as Reichert's other children often camp with Hernandez.
Hours after leaving her 2-year-old son with Hernandez, Stefanie Reichert gets a text message from Hernandez telling her she needs to rush to St. Anthony's Hospital. The hospital contacted her as well. Reichert rushes to the hospital to see Giovanni surrounded by 50 doctors. Then the decision is made to airlift Giovanni to a hospital for an emergency operation to treat a bleed on the brain. The brain swelling ultimately necessitated the removal of part of the skull to reduce pressure.
Emergency surgery saves Giovanni Reichert's life. Doctors tell Stephani Reichert that her son has suffered blunt force trauma injuries to his head and body. As Giovanni fights for his life, Reichert has no answer as to what happened. McKinley Slone Hernandez hasn't been forthcoming.
The only thing Hernandez will say is that she was drinking and he got hurt in her care.McKinley Slone Hernandez was arrested on suspicion of child abuse, and cruelty toward a child, nearly three months after causing serious injuries to the boy’s head, neck, and arms. She is now officially charged with felony child abuse,
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Stefanie A Reichert- Giovanni's mother
- Brian Foley – Board-certified Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Chief Prosecutor in Harris County, (Houston) Texas; Author: “What Prosecutors Don’t Tell You” (not yet published); Instagram @brianfoleylawpllc/ Youtube – @brianfoleylawyer/ Twitter @brianpllc
- Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta, GA; Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women; Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University; Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital; Voted “My Buckhead’s Best Psychiatric Practice of 2022”
- Christopher Byers – Former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years as Police Officer, now Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner with Lancaster Information Services in Atlanta
- Anastasia Germain, Ed.D. - President of Childcare Professional Services LLC (early Childhood Consulting Services), Founder and Former Operator of a Licensed Childcare Center
- Dr. Jan Gorniak - Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Former Medical Examiner for Clark County (Las Vegas, NV)
- Nicole Partin - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Twitter: @nicolepartin
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grease.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
A beautiful little boy in Colorado left horrifically injured after
what I believe to be a severe beating while in
the care of a loving care giver who I also
(00:37):
believe was drunk.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A baby boy.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
When you see Giovanni, your heart is just going to break.
He's perfect. Have you ever seen a little baby? Think, oh,
that could be the Gerber baby. That little baby's going
to be a baby model. That's Giovanni, just like a
(01:04):
little angel from heaven. And what I think about this
child being left in a coma by a nanny. Oh yeah,
fir is about to fly. I'm Nancy Grace. This is
Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at
(01:25):
Crime Stories and on Serious x Semblon eleven.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You mom's out there and you dads too.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But frankly this is to the moms listening, because I
fully believe, yes, there are a few sprinklings of dads.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
That do this, but it's on us. We work, we.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Take care of home, but most important, we take care
of our children.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It's on us to.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Make sure they stay in one piece, they're healthy, they're safe,
they're happy. Yes, you know what. I'm so blessed with
a wonderful husband. That's right there beside me. In my mind,
it's on me. If they live or die, it's on me.
Can you imagine what Giovanni's mother has been through? Well,
(02:12):
as a matter of fact, you don't have to imagine,
because joining me right now is Giovanni's mother, Stephanie Reikert.
The moment I heard about Giovanni and a coma, we
all started praying. I want you to speak to other
moms and dads out there and tell them what happened.
(02:35):
Let's just start at the beginning. How old is Giovanni now?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Giovanni is two years eleven months. He turns three December fifteenth.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
When you went about finding a nanny, how did you
do it?
Speaker 5 (02:50):
So?
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Actually, my kids were in daycare that they loved prior
before this. I actually ended up moving, so I had
to find care closer to my home, and my friend,
somebody that I've known for quite a few years, maybe
four or five years, offered to watch the boys.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Now, when you say boys, you have three and all
you've got Giovanni two, and then you have what a
five year old and a twelve year old steps on?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yes? That's true.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
You have a handful.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I have two, and I spent every moment that I'm
not at work chasing them and trying to make their
lives better.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And I would not have it any other way.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So I've actually seen this before where a mom asks
a trusted friend, hey do you know anybody? And the
friend gives the mom someone and it all goes sideways.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
It's not the friend's fault. I'm sure the friend didn't know.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Actually she was the friend that did all this. It
was my friend who hurt my son.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I thought that you actually got the referral from a friend.
Are you telling me that you knew McKinley ahead of time?
Speaker 6 (04:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I had known her about four or five years prior
to her watching my children.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Oh my star is Stephanie. That makes it so much worse.
So this is someone that you know and trusted.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Now tell me, you know after COVID, a lot of
people get to work from home.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Were you working from home? Or do you have to
leave the home to go to work?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
I leave the home to go to work.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I was actually just a server at a restaurant. I'd
been there for a year prior. It's Jewish Delhi, and
I just the hours are only eight am to three pm,
but I would go probably six fifth a week maybe.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, I'm sorry, what time to what time? I want
to write this down?
Speaker 5 (04:51):
You can.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
I'm eight am to three pm.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So basically the school hours for your other two boys exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, so you're a home by three point fifteen three
thirty when they get home exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And so you bring in this who you believed to
be a friend to take care of Giovanni.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Stephanie, what happened that day that Giovanni was hurt?
Speaker 6 (05:17):
So?
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Actually I had received a text message from McKinley asking
to have Giovanni overnight free of charge. It wasn't unusual
because she would take my kids camping and stuff with
her family, so I agreed to it. Around eight o'clock pm,
we got a phone call from the hospital stating that
(05:38):
our son was dropped off with blunt forced trauma.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Okay, well, Waite Waite White. So and I've had babysitters
stay with me every night or stay with the children
overnight many times.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
When I would have to go out of town.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
And I did not like having to go away at all,
but I trusted them question to you when she asked,
did Giovanni stay over?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
They didn't go camping or did they?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
They ended up not going. He was dropped off before.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So the first you know that anything is wrong, it's
a call from the hospital, not from her.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yes, she actually texted me after the hospital called. She
didn't call me.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
And what did she say in the text.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
That we need to rush to Sam Anthony's hospital because
Giovanni went lifeless after a bath.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Okay, right there, right there, guys with me, is Giovanni
two year old Giovanni's mother. Giovanni horrifically injured after a beating,
a beating from a nanny who we now believe was drunk.
Two special guests joining us in addition to Giovanni's mother, Stephanie,
(06:57):
who was speaking out today for all you moms and
dads listening with me, Doctor Jan Gorniac, renowned pathologist, former
medical examiner in Clark County.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
That's Vegas.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And you know, Dodger Gorniac never had a lack of
business in Vegas. Dodger Gorniac a child and I know
this is crazy, but very often I would bathe the
twins three times a day in the morning, when they
woke up so they would feel fresh, then like in
the after lunch and then before they went to bed.
(07:34):
But we used it as a time to like read
books and play music and all that. But that said,
a baby doesn't just go lifeless after a bath. That
doesn't happen.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
No, it does not. So it's interesting. And Stephanie, my
my prayers go out to you too and be the
coovery for to you. But yes, and it's interesting because
I'm not going to say a good number, but quite
a few of my child abuse cases that I've worked on,
(08:06):
it's in the bathtub. The bathtub comes up, and I
believe that the perpetrator puts the kid in the bathtub
to try to revive them. So it's not like they
went unresponsive when they were in the tub. I believe
they were already unresponsive and they were just trying to like,
you know, win a splash water on them or something.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
That's really interesting because thinking back and anybody on the panel,
we have a lot of awesome guests today to support
Stephanie Reikert and Stephanie, do you call Giovanni Geo?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Now that I'm thinking about what doctor Gorniak has said
she's right. I'm thinking about on so many abuse cases,
and so many of them start or involve the bathtub.
And one of the very first cases I can think
of along those lines is a name that will forever
live in infamy. Louise Woodward, The maybe Matty Apen died
(09:04):
after a bath Take a list at our cut nine.
Speaker 8 (09:06):
Louise Woodward is a British teenager when she joins an
O pair agency and begins working for physicians Deborah and
Sunil Epan. She is to take care of three year
old Brendan and eight month old Matthew. In her third
month on the job, she calls nine to one one
claiming Matthew stop breathing. At the hospital, doctors realize his
injuries were so serious police are called in. Matthew Eapen
(09:27):
has a fractured skull, a subdural hematoma, and an optalmologist
notices retinal hemorrhages suggesting shaken baby syndrome. Woodward is arrested,
charged with assault and battery. When Matthew Eapen dies, charges
are upgraded to murder. Woodward never talks to police, deferring
to the O pair agency supervisor. At trial, the jury
finds are guilty of secondary murder and she has sentenced
(09:50):
to life in prison. However, at a post conviction relief hearing,
Judge Zoebel reduces the conviction to involuntary manslaughter and she
is sentenced to time served.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
And show as I recall, his name is Judge Hillard Zobel,
and I'll never forget it because a jury convicts the
opair Louise Woodward murder, iiO and everybody got hung up
on the shake of baby syndrome. I don't know how
they managed to forget about the fractured skull and the
subdural hematoma. But that said at Senate saying that Judge
(10:23):
as yeah, I know they convicted her murder too, but
I'm just gonna let her walk free on time serve
that actually happened. And we're seeing here that baby Geo
has a horrible, horrible blow to the head. And Woodward
told the jury. She told the stand that she somehow
(10:45):
baby Maddie squirted out, jumped out of her arms after
the bath and cracked his skull on the tile floor.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Time Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Back to Geo's mother, Stephanie Reichert, Stephanie, what exactly were
Geo's injuries.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
He had a sub I don't know, a subdural hematoma. Yes,
he had a nine milimeter mid lane shift in his brain.
He had bruising all over his body, on his neck,
his arms, He had the bleeding behind his eyes he
said the name, don't remember the medical terms. Bleeding behind
(11:45):
both of his eyes. He had a huge bite mark
on his forearm. He had a slap mark on his
skygh a slap mark on his back, and just bruising
all over everywhere.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Stephanie, is it's just so much worse than a to
the head.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Let me go to Christopher Buyer's private investigator, former police
chief John's Creek now owner of buyers Investigative dot com. Listen,
you and I we're not mds like doctor Gorniac, but
I know when a baby or person has bruises on
(12:24):
their arms like this, that baby was held by the arms,
slap marks on his back at it's like a bite mark. Look, Stephanie,
Reichert isn't making this up. These injuries are in doctor's reports.
Doctors that don't care. I don't mean they don't care
(12:45):
about the patient. They do care about the patient. But
they're writing clinically, analytically, they're not making up a dramatic scenario,
like if I want to know the truth, I look
at what the medical examiner, because they don't care. They
don't care who you are, where you're from, what color
(13:05):
you are. They care about your anatomy and what cold
hard science tells them.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Same thing with doctors. I don't know why they're that way.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
They're very let me just say, an aseptic when they
write out these reports, Chris Byers. So when a doctor
who doesn't know Stephanie Riker, doesn't know Geo, has not
a relative or family friend, they write down there's bruises
on the neck and the arms, there's a slap mark
(13:37):
on the thigh, there's a slap mark on the back.
There's a nine millimeter ship in his brain. He has
a blow to the head. There's blood behind both of
his eyes. You better believe it's true, Chris Byers. And
this is more than just dropping the baby on the
tile floor of the bathroom.
Speaker 9 (13:57):
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean there is no question whatsoever
that this baby was abused. It is just so sad
to hear. Listen again, my heart and prayers go out
to Stephian and her family and little Geo. But yeah,
there is no doubt this is abusing.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I am looking at a picture of go lying in
the hospital, and I remember I nearly vomited when I
saw the twins in the nick You I saw them
right when I gave birth, and they took them out
of me.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
But when I saw them again, they had TIBs intervened us,
you name it all over them.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
They were so premature. And I'm looking at baby g O.
He looks like he's got black eyes. He has a
bruise under one eye. He has just been through hell.
Hell to Stephanie Riker Geo's mob. Hours later, after that information,
(15:03):
you find out your son is fighting for his life
with blood forced trauma, injuries to his head and his body.
And tell me, Stephanie, what happens when you see Geo.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
So when we arrived at the hospital, we weren't allowed
to see him. At first. He was in scans, actually
the chaplain. They said that they were getting the chaplain
for us, so we thought he was dead. After about
twenty minutes of waiting in the waiting room, we were
allowed to go back and see him and he was unrecognizable.
(15:39):
I'll never forget seeing him. They had he had fifty
doctors standing around him. We couldn't even get close to him,
we couldn't touch him. And he was on I mean,
he was not He wasn't breathing when he was dropped off.
So it was just awful. You mean when we dropped
him off to the daycare earl and when we dropped
(16:02):
him off there, he was fine, and then when we
seen him, he just didn't look the same anymore. He
was so beat up.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
When you say he was so beat up, what did
you observe.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
His eyes were all this was before surgery, but his
eyes were bruised, he had the tube down his throat,
he was on a ventilator. I mean, it's so hard to,
you know, remember everything because it was awful. Like I'll
never be able to explain the feelings of seeing him
(16:32):
like that.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I understand that when you went in there, Stephanie, and
you saw him and there were fifty, literally fifty doctors
you thought crowded all around him, you actually had to
leave the room because it was so overwhelming.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
It was just so overwhelming, all the machines beeping, everything
they were saying, and my boyfriend was standing right by
my side, and all I reme ober him saying was
why does he.
Speaker 9 (16:59):
Look like that?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
My baby?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Why does he look like that?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Joining me right now?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Doctor Angela Arnold who is a renowned psychiatrist in the
Atlanta jurisdiction. You can find her an Angela Arnold MD
dot com. Doctor Angie that moment. There are certain moments
in life. If you asked me, what did you do yesterday?
And I have to reconstruct my day like what happened,
(17:23):
it was like a whirlwind. But there are moments in
life that are indelibly etched, and you might you can't
get rid of them. I remember as a girl when
my dad had his first open heart surgery. They had
to airlift him to the University of Alabama heart Wing.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He was so bad off.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Even Emory and their renowned, world renowned heart wing wouldn't
take him.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
They think they could do anything for him.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I remember when I walked in and it was this
big open area and my dad was there hooked up
to all sorts of things. At a distance, I saw
it was him Angie at the door. I dropped to
my knees and started praying.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
When I saw the twins.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Hooked up to all of those machines. It was unlike
anything I had ever seen before. There are some moments
like what Stephanie's describing, You never forget and you never
get over. It was so bad she had to leave
the room.
Speaker 10 (18:30):
Well, it's such a trauma. It's a trauma, and you
are completely you have absolutely no control over what's going on.
So and Nancy, I am sure that every guest that
you have listening today can't even imagine, and we can't
even imagine what that child looked like after he was
(18:55):
practically beaten to death, because let's call it what it was.
What it is, he was practically beaten to death by
someone who that mother entrusted to his care. This, this
is horrific. And yeah, she will be traumatized by this,
and she will see visions of this in her head,
(19:16):
and I'm not quite sure how she's going to be
able to ever trust anyone to be around her children.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Geo had to be airlifted to the hospital. He needed
an emergency operation. He had a bleed on the brain,
which required part of his skull.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
To be removed. He was intubated, which means they take
a big thick like a.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Hose and put down your mouth and another inside that
so you can breathe. He was in a coma and
has had multiple life saving operations since then. And when
you say it looked nothing like him, Stephanie my little nephew.
(20:01):
He was like my baby to me because I didn't
have children for so long. He was hit by a
car and I was still practicing at the DA's office, prosecuting,
and I got a call that he was in intensive care,
a race to intensive care. And when I saw Stephanie,
he didn't look anything like he did normally. His head
(20:23):
was swallowing up like a pumpkin, and he had a shunt,
which is another kind of tube going down the top
of his skull. I nearly I felt like I was
going to pass out. Didn't look anything like him at all.
Just so you know, Stephanie as encouragement. He went on
to get a double major in biology in IT and
(20:48):
now he's a hot shot. It troubleshooter at a big company.
So he went on and he had to go through rehab.
It was a Scottish Rite children's hospital for a long time.
But now you would never know anything like that had
(21:09):
happened to him.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So Stephanie Ricker with me go's mom. You go in,
you see him. It's so overwhelming you have to leave.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
When did it dawn on you?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, hold on, doctor Gorniet, what does this mean? A
nine milimeter shift in his brain?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
What is that?
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Well she described and also you said the doctor says
that he had a subdural tematoma. So what that means is, well,
you have your skull and then you have a layer
called the dura matter that overlies your brain. So you
have blood that's underneath that. So between the brain and
the dura, so the blood has nowhere to go. So
(21:52):
it's not like you cut your leg and the blood
can bleed out. So what happens in the head is
the brain has nowhere to go. So when the I
mean the blood has nowhere to go. So when the
blood is accumulating, it's pushing the brain to one side.
So it was almost a centimeter push to one side.
So there's pressure on the brain.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And for people that don't know what is a centimeter,
one centimeter is how much in an inch?
Speaker 7 (22:19):
I don't know. I know you have to do that,
so I think it's two and a half centimeters equals
an inch, right, so it's less than.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
An inch, less than half an inch, correct.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
But when you're talking about movement of your brain, the
blood is taking up space in the skull and the
brain has nowhere to go. And when the brain moves
and it starts touching the skull, that means the brain
is going to start swelling, absolutely, and it.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Has nowhere to go. I learned all this because of
my nephew.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
So that is why they actually, in my nephew's case,
cut a hole in his skull to relieve pressure so
the brain would have somewhere to go. Is that why
they remove part of Geo's skull, Doctor Gordiac.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
Absolutely because of the swelling, So not only just because
of the blood, but because of the injury. There's more
injury to the brain and it swells, and you're absolutely correct,
it has nowhere to go. So if it keeps pushing
against the skull, I mean at some point it's going
to cause a cardio respiratory arrest. So they remove part
(23:32):
of the skull just to give it some room to expand.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
But just because your brain swells does not mean you're
going to have permanent brain damage. No, it does not
because the swelling can go back down correct and by
these procedures.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Stephanie Ryker's telling us about removing part of the skull.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Did he have a shunt in his skull, Stephanie, So
that was the.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Life surgery that we just had two days ago. They
placed the shunt because he was having issues with the
fluid around his head. It was collecting in the pocket
in its frontal lobe.
Speaker 7 (24:09):
Yes, And that's another procedure they can do to you know,
you don't want that. It's called cerebral spinal fluid. You
don't want that fluid to collect because once again there's
not enough space, especially in a little skull and a
little head for anything to collect. So you want to
remove some of that so the so the brain can heal.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yeah, And he had a lumbard drain, which is a
drain that was in his spine for a week and
it just wasn't when they took it out. They knew
that he would have issues with the fluid, so they
went ahead and put the shunt in.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Thank goodness.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I know it sounds terrible that somebody drilled a hole
in your child's skull.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
It's not it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
It saved my nephew's life because you're the pressure of
all that swelling has somewhere to go, thank of a
pot on the stove, and you won't take the lid off.
And finally the steam is so powerful it blows it
off like that. By taking the lid off, by doing
this shunt, it relieves that pressure. Stephanie, where is Geo
(25:11):
right now?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
He's in the living room here with us. I'm in
a different room, so because he's pretty loud.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
That makes me want to cry that he actually is home.
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Brian Foley joining US board, certified criminal defense attorney, former
Chief Prosecutor Harris County, Texas, author of What Prosecutors Don't
Tell You, and you can find him at Brianfoleylaw dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Brian, I tell you what.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I would get a hold of this nanny, and I
would not let go of her until I had cheered
out a piece of her rear end and spit it
onto council table. I'm telling you this woman needs to
be prosecuted for attempted murder.
Speaker 11 (25:56):
Yeah, And as a prosecutor, if you're in Colorado, you
can get hamstrung a little bit because it sounds like
they've only charged him with a Class three felony for
causing you know, a serious injury, and that's only four
to sixteen years in prison, whereas if it's an attempted
murder then that's a significantly higher punishment range in Colorado.
(26:18):
So it's going to be on the prosecutors for sure
to do the investigation and make sure that they have
evidence that can help puld her feet to the fire.
Because the pictures that we saw are tragic. I agree
when Stephanie talked about it didn't look like the same child,
(26:40):
you know, the before, the night before, and then afterwards.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, are you looking at the picture of him sitting
on the sofa holding a tan colored stuffy like a
pity bear, right, because completely different.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I would not have even thought it was the same person,
Brian Foley.
Speaker 11 (26:57):
And what's going to help prosecutors, I think in this
case to prove that this is obviously no accident, is
that bite mark. A bite mark is an intentional act.
There's no accidental bite marks less than a child, especially
when you consider they also have black eyes and this
(27:17):
subdural hemotoma. This is a brutal attack which is definitely
going to need to be prosecuted to a large extent.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Got a question, Stephanie Reiker is with me Giovanni's mother
to this day, right now as we're speaking, mckinnley slown
her Nandez has not revealed.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Won't say what really happened.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Yes, that is correct. I'll she admitted to is that
she was drinking and he with hurt in her care.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
That's all she'll say. Yep.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
She won't say anything. Even after being arrested, she won't
say anything.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
You know, I'm trying to figure out why this has happened.
How drunk she But frankly speaking, doctor angel Arnold, being drunk,
why would that make you beat up the baby.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
To the point that the baby's in a coma?
Speaker 5 (28:12):
Right?
Speaker 10 (28:12):
And you know, Nancy, that's not even an excuse. This
is this is such a horrific act of rage and
violence to a helpless child. I don't care. And if
she was that drunk, then why wasn't she passed out
on a couch somewhere? But she wasn't drunk enough if
(28:35):
that was, if there's any truth to that to know
what she to not know what she was doing?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, because she actually did she drive Giovanni to the
e R.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Stephanie, I meanes.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
We actually heard from the hospital that she drove him
to the hospital while her boyfriend was trying to revive him.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And are you telling me, Stephanie that at one point
we know Giovanni was not breathing.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah, she was.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
When he was dropped up at the hospital, he was
unresponsive and his heart rate was in his fifty so
almost cardiac.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Arist joining me right now is Anastasia Germaine, President of
Childcare Professional Services LLC, founder and former operator of a
childcare center, and you can find her at childcareps dot com. Anastasia,
thank you for being with us. What is your number
(29:31):
one piece of advice to families searching for a babysitter
or a nanny.
Speaker 6 (29:37):
To ask a lot of questions and do as much
research as you possibly can. A good place for parents
to start is at childcare dot gov and there is
a link there for each state where parents can go
use a pulldown menu and find a plethora of resources
(29:58):
for all types of child care options. Parents should be
doing their best to look, listen and ask questions. Look
around the facility for safety and cleanliness. A lot of
parents choose family and friends for their first childcare options.
Still look, listen and ask questions. Look for simple baby proofing,
(30:20):
electrical outlets. Are all of the things within the home,
the toys, the playground areas? Are they in good repair?
Are there emergency procedures in place? Even if it's a
family home care is do they have procedures in place?
Is the caregiver CPR trained? Do they have do they
(30:42):
provide well balanced meals snacks? What is their discipline policy?
Does it agree with yours? Is there a stimulating environment
and a routine in place? All types of things that
you can look for and ask questions about. Also in
(31:03):
the case of home care specifically, you know, in licensed
childcare centers or licensed facilities, any guests coming into the
house have to sign in and out. That's not the
case in a home care, especially in an unlicensed facility
or a friends and family or a nannying type situation.
So you want to talk to the caregiver about guests
(31:26):
and the flow of traffic coming and going.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah, I want to know who's coming in and out
of the daycare. And again, there's nothing at all wrong
with a friend or family as your daycare. I was
raised all day by my grandmother, and my nephews were
raised by a family friend instead of going to a
(31:49):
you know, state run daycare.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Time stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
To Nicole Parton joining me Crime online dot Com investigative reporter.
This woman McKinlay Sloan Fernandez. It's my understanding that she
had an unalycensed childcare facility at her home.
Speaker 12 (32:22):
That's right, she did, And she actually listed herself on
several resource pages online. One that I saw was on
the Lakewood County Childcare Connection, where moms could go online
and look for a nanny, look for daycare, and she had,
you know, an ad there there's a few openings left
for childcare.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
You can trust your child here.
Speaker 12 (32:43):
Loving environment, safe home. So other people were paying her
and trusting her to care for their child as well.
Childcare is a sixty billion dollar industry in the United States,
and she was trying to get her fair, I suppose,
but without providing the service.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And when I say unlicensed child care facility, I'm not
saying it like it's a dirty word, because trust me,
my grandmother, my Mama Lucy, who I named my daughter after, she.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Wasn't a licensed child care facility.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
She's my grandmother, and she took care of us and
fed us and we play outdoors. It was farm and
it was a wonderful childhood. So having a family friend
or family a relative with your child while you're at work,
that happens all over the world, and that is what
(33:40):
Stephanie Reiker did. Stephanie, I mean in your mind, McKinlay sloan,
her Nandez was running a home care for children, right.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Yeah, so she watched my kids for a year. When
she first started watching them, it was just their babysitter.
She wasn't watching any other kids at that time. And
then just recently she started, well not recently now, but
she had posted on all those pages on Facebook saying
she wasn't in home daycare. And then she started watching
other kids and she would have quite a few kids
(34:11):
over at her house.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
What do you mean by quite a few kids?
Speaker 4 (34:13):
I mean one time we went there, we decided not
to drop you off because she had ten other kids
there and she was the only one, and she was
they were probably half of them were under the age
of two.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
That's too many for one person to be handling.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So, Stephanie, have you ever confronted her and said what happened?
Speaker 4 (34:32):
No, Actually, after she had texted me to go to
the hospital, that's the last I ever heard from her.
She never once checked on him see how he was doing,
to see how we were doing. She just she blocked
me on social media, actually, and that was the last
I heard from her.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
What are prosecutors telling you, Stephanie.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
I don't even know how to answer that question. We
have court again, we have the first part days on
the twentieth of December. But basically what they're saying from
what they had, their evidence they have which we haven't
seen yet, she is the.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Now let me ask you, is there.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
A surveillance video or a door came ring or anything
like that in the area in the home where Giovanni.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Was at the time he was beaten so badly.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Maybe that is something that I would not like to
speak on.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
So maybe maybe yea, did she.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Have a boyfriend? McKinley slowed her nand is does she
have a boyfriend?
Speaker 4 (35:30):
She did? It is his house actually owns the house
and she lives there with him.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Was he home when Giovanni was bed?
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I don't know for sure. As far as we know,
they're leaning towards that he has nothing to do with it.
Now they have a shoot to warrant for his full
ring doorbell camera, and I'm sure we'll find out more
after we're able to see those videos.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
See the evidence.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yes, yes, so, Brian, what I would be doing right
now if I was the prosecutor, I get that boyfriend
and squeeze him like an orange. I agree to find
out what, if anything, he knows. And remember this is
his boyfriend girlfriend. There's no marital privilege in voked here,
(36:17):
so she can't say, oh, he can't testify against me
because we're married. He can testify to every single thing
she has said or done since this incident.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
He actually did. He has an attorney and he's been
pretty cooperative with everything they've asked, and he's provided stuff evidence.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
So question, Stephanie Reiker at Giovanni's mom, is the boyfriend
still with McKinley, Sloan, her Nandaz Are they still a couple?
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Actually know he moved out of the house the Davis
all happened, and he moved in with his mother.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Doctor Angie Arnold say no more. That tells me everything
I need to know. He's going to testify against her.
M I'm telling you right now, and he better, he
better because if she has any history, if any other
child in her care has come home with bruises or lethargy,
(37:10):
he's in it because if he had any idea this
was happening, and it's his home. Basically, the daycare is
happening in his home, he's on the hook.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
You better cough up pronto, Nancy.
Speaker 10 (37:22):
How can you beat a child? How can someone be
beating a child in one room and someone's in another
room and can't hear what's going on.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
So that's a great question. Stephanie Reikert. Did the boyfriend
have a job.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Yes, he actually did work. He's an electrician or he's
an electrician in training, and he goes to night school
as well. Wow, so I know for sure he does
those things.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know, Chris Buyers, if these two were married, to
state would have a problem. But since there are just dating,
he can testify to everything he knows.
Speaker 9 (37:53):
Absolutely, he is going to definitely be the state's key
witness because gosh, it's so frustrating on investigations like this
when you know you've got a victim that can't tell
you what happened. So, yes, he is going to be
a huge key witness in them.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
To Stephanie Ryckert, number one, do not let anybody talk
you into a cheap Please don't let her off with
a five year since she'll do two years and be out.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Oh no, there's no way we're going to let that happen.
And absolutely not. I feel like she should be charged
with attempted murder.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I do too, because this isn't I just dropped him.
She almost killed your baby. So what does Giovanni's dad
have to say about all this?
Speaker 5 (38:37):
He's right here.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Would you like to talk to him?
Speaker 3 (38:38):
I would love to.
Speaker 5 (38:39):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Hi, is this Giovanni's dad? This is thank you for
being with us. What's your take on all of this?
Speaker 5 (38:46):
Man? It was just something that came from left field.
You know, we didn't expect it ever in a million years.
You never think that somebody who you're trusting is going
to put your child in harm. Like the whole point
of him going with her was because we trusted her
and we thought that he was safe in her care,
(39:07):
that she really cared about him.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Can I ask you, Anthony, why, And I'm not saying
you shouldn't have at all, but what about her made
you trust her? Because other parents trusted her as well.
It's not just you, but what about her was so trusting?
Speaker 5 (39:24):
I wouldn't go far. It goes so far saying that
what about her was trusting. I don't want to start
because me personally, she wasn't exactly like my friend friend.
This was Stephanie's a friend which we happened to meet
because she happened to be dating one of my friends
years ago, and that's kind of how we all met.
So like I knew of her, but me being the dad,
(39:47):
you know, I didn't really associate with her too much
with her friends, so they were always mostly in communication.
That's why the night when this happened, she only texted Stephanie.
She didn't I never got a text. Neither one of
us got a call from her. That the hospital actually
called my phone when it happened.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
And what again did the text say, Anthony?
Speaker 5 (40:07):
So the text that Stephanie got was you kind of
need to rush to Saint Anthony's because you have only
went lifeless after the bat went lifeless.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
My rear end.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
You know, Anthony, you understand Stephanie as a mom is
going to.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Be so distraught.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
You have got to be strong for her and with her,
and do not let anybody talk you into a cheap plea.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
Oh no, absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
This is attempted murder because this wasn't just dropping him
or one below.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Your baby.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Geo was beaten, beaten over and over and ended up
in a coma because of what she did drunk, according
to prosecutors.
Speaker 5 (40:59):
You know that night when we got to the hospital,
because we rushed to the hospital extremely fast. When we
got there, you know, both of us were our brains
weren't working at the moment, and when we first walked in,
they find out when we were asking, you know, were
Giovanni's parents. They finally said, hold on, let me get
the chaplain for you. Was the first thing that I
(41:20):
was told. Now I'm prior military, so you know when
they came out and they said let me get the chaplain,
I immediately first thing that went through my head was
my son was dead. Then they tried to take us
into a little waiting room. And when we went to
the waiting room, McKinley and her boyfriend were in that room,
so they took us away from there and they they
(41:42):
actually kicked us out of there and made us go
stand somewhere else. In the hospital till they came out.
So when the chaplain finally came out and we were
able to talk to her, the first thing I asked
was what was my son was alive? And she said, yes,
he's alive. You know, I think they were doing imaging
at the moment, which is why they brought the chaplain
out right away. But just the whole chain of events,
you know, did not help. So, like Stephanie was saying,
(42:05):
we finally got to go back to that room, and
you know, it was a room no bigger than you know,
maybe ten by ten if that, and you know, bed
in the middle. He was strapped to it and a
zillion doctors around him, and Stephanie was sitting out so
she had to walk out. She had a little you know,
barf bag, hyperventilating, and I just kept asking, you know,
(42:27):
what happened to my son? Why does he look like this?
Why does he look like this? And then I just
remember the flight for life guys saying, you know, we're
going to get your son to because they had to
fight for life from the Children's hospital in Aurora. They
just kept telling me, we're going to get him there safe,
We're going to get him there safe as a guy
was like he looked like something at the top gun.
And then another guy with really long hair, and they
were awesome. And when we were walking out of the
(42:51):
hospital after they were like, we're going to take him
now to Children's hospital. As we were walking out, the
only thing that she ever said to us as we
were walking out, she looked at us, both the Baltimore
standing outside, and she goes, did they tell you anything?
And all I responded was their flight for life and
them the children's hospital, and that was the end of
the conversation. She didn't say anything else after that, and
(43:12):
we went to Children's and now have not heard from
her once. I do know that that night, you know,
the officers had like taken them into custody and took
their phones and that's when they started asking them a
bunch of questions. But I do know that now once
where they did they instruct her to not reach out
for anything, you know, and like I understand, accidents can happen,
(43:34):
and in a situation where it was an accident, if
it were me, I would be reaching out a thousand
times over. I wouldn't have left. I would have been
by the side, you know, the entire time, the fact
that she dropped him and then just left. You know,
I just don't see how anyone could even believe that
she didn't have anything to you know what I'm like.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Let me understand something Anthony with me?
Speaker 2 (43:54):
Is Giovanni's dad, Anthony to Stefano, And did you say
she dropped him?
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Do you believe she dropped him?
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Because if she dropped him, how did he get all
those slat marks and a bite?
Speaker 5 (44:08):
I man dropped him off at the at the hospital.
I'm sorry, got it.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Have you heard from her boyfriend?
Speaker 5 (44:13):
No? But so again there's I guess there's a bunch
of evidence that we as the parents have not seen
because it's been this long gooing on investigation. When we
did talk to the detective, he did mention that the boyfriend,
his name is Dan, had been, you know, was really
curious about how Giovanni was. And at that time, the
(44:33):
last time we talked to the detective, we said it
was okay if that they gave him our contact information
if he wanted to reach out. But again, haven't heard
from either one of them.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
But we do know those two have split.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
Up, right, correct, that's for our understanding.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
The last thing you want to do is have a
lifelong commitment with somebody that gets drunk and beats child. Now,
I mean, you know a lot of people get drunk
and they pass out, or they think they're funny and
they jokes, or they get sad they start crying, or
they drive and have a wreck.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
But to get.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
Drunk and then beat a child, this isn't just dropping
a child, guys, or he wouldn't have.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Bite marks, slap marks, all that.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I mean, Doctor Gorniat, this is not a simple fall
based on what the medical doctors put in his record.
Speaker 7 (45:24):
Absolutely not, absolutely not. And it's just interesting. I was
at a tendancive presentation and was just talking about simple
falls in children. So a simple fall would not cause
that much damage.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I'm always amazed, doctor Gorniat, when somebody says, oh, the
baby fell out of the stroller and died.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
That does not happen, right.
Speaker 7 (45:46):
So was simple fall if she was holding him like
you were talking about the other case they slipped out
of the bathtub. I mean, just look at think of
the playground at parts, you know what I mean. I
know how many times I fell off the swing set
or the job, you know what I mean? And die exactly.
So with all the injury, it's not as simple. It's
not as simple fault. I mean the he sounds like
(46:07):
injuries he would have sustained in a car crashed like
your nephew, Anthony.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Question to you, what is the prognosis? What is Giovanni's future?
Has he had brain damage?
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Number one?
Speaker 5 (46:19):
So what we were told. Luckily we were able to
see a couple of the images from the last time
we were in the hospital and they said that he
didn't have any error, didn't show any type of brain damage.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
When they let us out. He had to leave. He
had to wear a helmet all the time because he
was missing the bone slab. Right, So if you didn't
know Giovanni, and other than the helmet, you'd look at
him and it seemed like, you know, nothing happened to him,
you would believe that there was nothing wrong with him
at all, nothing happened. He talks, He actually talks a
(46:53):
little bit more than what before this incident happened. You know,
there's slight difference, is like the irritability. It's very difficult
to divert him now when he gets upset, you know.
But and he's not as like he was always such
a sweet, loving boy, and he still is, but it's
(47:13):
it's only with me and his mother, like nobody and
his brothers obviously, but nobody else. It's just, you know,
he can't be away from us for more than two minutes.
That's why this has been difficult. We're passing the phone
back and forth. You know, one of us has to
be with them all the time. They just yeah, I
(47:34):
don't know, to be honest with you, he's just not
exactly the same. But he's still a happy little boy.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
What is your message to parents looking for a babysitter?
Speaker 5 (47:44):
You know, I understand it's been brought up many times, Like,
you know, there's many resources and stuff for this in
this situation. You know, at the time, money is tight
for us, you know, not we don't make a ton
of money. It was very difficult to afford like a
legit place. And when somebody that we trusted and believe
(48:04):
was our friend offered to do that for us for
a much better, more affordable price, and you know, of
course we were like, yo, that's awesome. You know, we
thought she was looking out for us and our kids.
Now my message is like, so I believe that there's
been things going on for a while that we as
parents were oblivious to, because again, we have a bunch
(48:27):
of boys, So they jump on the trampoline, they play,
they're rough, they come back with bruises and bumps all
the time.
Speaker 13 (48:33):
Similar before oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I just
I never thought that she was doing anything, But like
now I realized there's there was times where GEO said,
you know, she pushed me or something like that, and
she'd say, oh, he fell and he hit his head
on this, and.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
He'd come home with the bruise, and we again didn't
think much of it, kind of just kind of played
it off like oh, you're fine and the boys. Now,
I will say that if your kids ever ever mention
anything that you think is far fetched, whether it's a babysitter,
family member, anything, then hurting him, always look into it,
because I feel like if I had looked into it sooner,
(49:09):
I felt like I could have prevented this kind.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Of Please do dot torture yourself. I have crime victims
families forever. I even do it myself as a crime victim.
Torture myself about what could I have done differently, just
save my fiance to just.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Do it all the time.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
And there you did everything right and very quickly into
Stasia's your main president childcare Professional Services. What was the
website you just gave us again.
Speaker 6 (49:39):
Yeah, so if you go to childcare dot gov, no
matter what state you're in, there so pull down menu
where you can find your state and find the resources.
In Colorado, it's the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and
specifically their quality initiative is Colorado Shines. And what's interesting
and helpful for parents on that site is.
Speaker 4 (50:03):
Not only do they.
Speaker 6 (50:04):
Include all of the resources, but they also include a
list of childcare sites illegal childcare sites that were right
sent a season desist letter, so parents can go on
there and look.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
As we go into the Christmas season, our prayers with
little Giovanni Reikert with his mother and his father for
healing and peace and.
Speaker 3 (50:36):
Also for justice. May it rain down like lightning. Goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grease.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
A beautiful little boy in Colorado left horrifically injured after
what I believe to be a severe beating while in
the care of a loving care giver who I also
(00:37):
believe was drunk.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A baby boy.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
When you see Giovanni, your heart is just going to break.
He's perfect. Have you ever seen a little baby? Think, oh,
that could be the Gerber baby. That little baby's going
to be a baby model. That's Giovanni, just like a
(01:04):
little angel from heaven. And what I think about this
child being left in a coma by a nanny. Oh yeah,
fir is about to fly. I'm Nancy Grace. This is
Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at
(01:25):
Crime Stories and on Serious x Semblon eleven.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You mom's out there and you dads too.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But frankly this is to the moms listening, because I
fully believe, yes, there are a few sprinklings of dads.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
That do this, but it's on us. We work, we.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Take care of home, but most important, we take care
of our children.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It's on us to.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Make sure they stay in one piece, they're healthy, they're safe,
they're happy. Yes, you know what. I'm so blessed with
a wonderful husband. That's right there beside me. In my mind,
it's on me. If they live or die, it's on me.
Can you imagine what Giovanni's mother has been through? Well,
(02:12):
as a matter of fact, you don't have to imagine,
because joining me right now is Giovanni's mother, Stephanie Reikert.
The moment I heard about Giovanni and a coma, we
all started praying. I want you to speak to other
moms and dads out there and tell them what happened.
(02:35):
Let's just start at the beginning. How old is Giovanni now?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Giovanni is two years eleven months. He turns three December fifteenth.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
When you went about finding a nanny, how did you
do it?
Speaker 5 (02:50):
So?
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Actually, my kids were in daycare that they loved prior
before this. I actually ended up moving, so I had
to find care closer to my home, and my friend,
somebody that I've known for quite a few years, maybe
four or five years, offered to watch the boys.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Now, when you say boys, you have three and all
you've got Giovanni two, and then you have what a
five year old and a twelve year old steps on?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yes? That's true.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
You have a handful.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I have two, and I spent every moment that I'm
not at work chasing them and trying to make their
lives better.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And I would not have it any other way.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So I've actually seen this before where a mom asks
a trusted friend, hey do you know anybody? And the
friend gives the mom someone and it all goes sideways.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
It's not the friend's fault. I'm sure the friend didn't know.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Actually she was the friend that did all this. It
was my friend who hurt my son.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I thought that you actually got the referral from a friend.
Are you telling me that you knew McKinley ahead of time?
Speaker 6 (04:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I had known her about four or five years prior
to her watching my children.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Oh my star is Stephanie. That makes it so much worse.
So this is someone that you know and trusted.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Now tell me, you know after COVID, a lot of
people get to work from home.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Were you working from home? Or do you have to
leave the home to go to work?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
I leave the home to go to work.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I was actually just a server at a restaurant. I'd
been there for a year prior. It's Jewish Delhi, and
I just the hours are only eight am to three pm,
but I would go probably six fifth a week maybe.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, I'm sorry, what time to what time? I want
to write this down?
Speaker 5 (04:51):
You can.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
I'm eight am to three pm.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So basically the school hours for your other two boys exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, so you're a home by three point fifteen three
thirty when they get home exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And so you bring in this who you believed to
be a friend to take care of Giovanni.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Stephanie, what happened that day that Giovanni was hurt?
Speaker 6 (05:17):
So?
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Actually I had received a text message from McKinley asking
to have Giovanni overnight free of charge. It wasn't unusual
because she would take my kids camping and stuff with
her family, so I agreed to it. Around eight o'clock pm,
we got a phone call from the hospital stating that
(05:38):
our son was dropped off with blunt forced trauma.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Okay, well, Waite Waite White. So and I've had babysitters
stay with me every night or stay with the children
overnight many times.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
When I would have to go out of town.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
And I did not like having to go away at all,
but I trusted them question to you when she asked,
did Giovanni stay over?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
They didn't go camping or did they?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
They ended up not going. He was dropped off before.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So the first you know that anything is wrong, it's
a call from the hospital, not from her.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yes, she actually texted me after the hospital called. She
didn't call me.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
And what did she say in the text.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
That we need to rush to Sam Anthony's hospital because
Giovanni went lifeless after a bath.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Okay, right there, right there, guys with me, is Giovanni
two year old Giovanni's mother. Giovanni horrifically injured after a beating,
a beating from a nanny who we now believe was drunk.
Two special guests joining us in addition to Giovanni's mother, Stephanie,
(06:57):
who was speaking out today for all you moms and
dads listening with me, Doctor Jan Gorniac, renowned pathologist, former
medical examiner in Clark County.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
That's Vegas.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And you know, Dodger Gorniac never had a lack of
business in Vegas. Dodger Gorniac a child and I know
this is crazy, but very often I would bathe the
twins three times a day in the morning, when they
woke up so they would feel fresh, then like in
the after lunch and then before they went to bed.
(07:34):
But we used it as a time to like read
books and play music and all that. But that said,
a baby doesn't just go lifeless after a bath. That
doesn't happen.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
No, it does not. So it's interesting. And Stephanie, my
my prayers go out to you too and be the
coovery for to you. But yes, and it's interesting because
I'm not going to say a good number, but quite
a few of my child abuse cases that I've worked on,
(08:06):
it's in the bathtub. The bathtub comes up, and I
believe that the perpetrator puts the kid in the bathtub
to try to revive them. So it's not like they
went unresponsive when they were in the tub. I believe
they were already unresponsive and they were just trying to like,
you know, win a splash water on them or something.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
That's really interesting because thinking back and anybody on the panel,
we have a lot of awesome guests today to support
Stephanie Reikert and Stephanie, do you call Giovanni Geo?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Now that I'm thinking about what doctor Gorniak has said
she's right. I'm thinking about on so many abuse cases,
and so many of them start or involve the bathtub.
And one of the very first cases I can think
of along those lines is a name that will forever
live in infamy. Louise Woodward, The maybe Matty Apen died
(09:04):
after a bath Take a list at our cut nine.
Speaker 8 (09:06):
Louise Woodward is a British teenager when she joins an
O pair agency and begins working for physicians Deborah and
Sunil Epan. She is to take care of three year
old Brendan and eight month old Matthew. In her third
month on the job, she calls nine to one one
claiming Matthew stop breathing. At the hospital, doctors realize his
injuries were so serious police are called in. Matthew Eapen
(09:27):
has a fractured skull, a subdural hematoma, and an optalmologist
notices retinal hemorrhages suggesting shaken baby syndrome. Woodward is arrested,
charged with assault and battery. When Matthew Eapen dies, charges
are upgraded to murder. Woodward never talks to police, deferring
to the O pair agency supervisor. At trial, the jury
finds are guilty of secondary murder and she has sentenced
(09:50):
to life in prison. However, at a post conviction relief hearing,
Judge Zoebel reduces the conviction to involuntary manslaughter and she
is sentenced to time served.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
And show as I recall, his name is Judge Hillard Zobel,
and I'll never forget it because a jury convicts the
opair Louise Woodward murder, iiO and everybody got hung up
on the shake of baby syndrome. I don't know how
they managed to forget about the fractured skull and the
subdural hematoma. But that said at Senate saying that Judge
(10:23):
as yeah, I know they convicted her murder too, but
I'm just gonna let her walk free on time serve
that actually happened. And we're seeing here that baby Geo
has a horrible, horrible blow to the head. And Woodward
told the jury. She told the stand that she somehow
(10:45):
baby Maddie squirted out, jumped out of her arms after
the bath and cracked his skull on the tile floor.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Time Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Back to Geo's mother, Stephanie Reichert, Stephanie, what exactly were
Geo's injuries.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
He had a sub I don't know, a subdural hematoma. Yes,
he had a nine milimeter mid lane shift in his brain.
He had bruising all over his body, on his neck,
his arms, He had the bleeding behind his eyes he
said the name, don't remember the medical terms. Bleeding behind
(11:45):
both of his eyes. He had a huge bite mark
on his forearm. He had a slap mark on his
skygh a slap mark on his back, and just bruising
all over everywhere.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Stephanie, is it's just so much worse than a to
the head.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Let me go to Christopher Buyer's private investigator, former police
chief John's Creek now owner of buyers Investigative dot com. Listen,
you and I we're not mds like doctor Gorniac, but
I know when a baby or person has bruises on
(12:24):
their arms like this, that baby was held by the arms,
slap marks on his back at it's like a bite mark. Look, Stephanie,
Reichert isn't making this up. These injuries are in doctor's reports.
Doctors that don't care. I don't mean they don't care
(12:45):
about the patient. They do care about the patient. But
they're writing clinically, analytically, they're not making up a dramatic scenario,
like if I want to know the truth, I look
at what the medical examiner, because they don't care. They
don't care who you are, where you're from, what color
(13:05):
you are. They care about your anatomy and what cold
hard science tells them.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Same thing with doctors. I don't know why they're that way.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
They're very let me just say, an aseptic when they
write out these reports, Chris Byers. So when a doctor
who doesn't know Stephanie Riker, doesn't know Geo, has not
a relative or family friend, they write down there's bruises
on the neck and the arms, there's a slap mark
(13:37):
on the thigh, there's a slap mark on the back.
There's a nine millimeter ship in his brain. He has
a blow to the head. There's blood behind both of
his eyes. You better believe it's true, Chris Byers. And
this is more than just dropping the baby on the
tile floor of the bathroom.
Speaker 9 (13:57):
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean there is no question whatsoever
that this baby was abused. It is just so sad
to hear. Listen again, my heart and prayers go out
to Stephian and her family and little Geo. But yeah,
there is no doubt this is abusing.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I am looking at a picture of go lying in
the hospital, and I remember I nearly vomited when I
saw the twins in the nick You I saw them
right when I gave birth, and they took them out
of me.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
But when I saw them again, they had TIBs intervened us,
you name it all over them.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
They were so premature. And I'm looking at baby g O.
He looks like he's got black eyes. He has a
bruise under one eye. He has just been through hell.
Hell to Stephanie Riker Geo's mob. Hours later, after that information,
(15:03):
you find out your son is fighting for his life
with blood forced trauma, injuries to his head and his body.
And tell me, Stephanie, what happens when you see Geo.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
So when we arrived at the hospital, we weren't allowed
to see him. At first. He was in scans, actually
the chaplain. They said that they were getting the chaplain
for us, so we thought he was dead. After about
twenty minutes of waiting in the waiting room, we were
allowed to go back and see him and he was unrecognizable.
(15:39):
I'll never forget seeing him. They had he had fifty
doctors standing around him. We couldn't even get close to him,
we couldn't touch him. And he was on I mean,
he was not He wasn't breathing when he was dropped off.
So it was just awful. You mean when we dropped
him off to the daycare earl and when we dropped
(16:02):
him off there, he was fine, and then when we
seen him, he just didn't look the same anymore. He
was so beat up.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
When you say he was so beat up, what did
you observe.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
His eyes were all this was before surgery, but his
eyes were bruised, he had the tube down his throat,
he was on a ventilator. I mean, it's so hard to,
you know, remember everything because it was awful. Like I'll
never be able to explain the feelings of seeing him
(16:32):
like that.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I understand that when you went in there, Stephanie, and
you saw him and there were fifty, literally fifty doctors
you thought crowded all around him, you actually had to
leave the room because it was so overwhelming.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
It was just so overwhelming, all the machines beeping, everything
they were saying, and my boyfriend was standing right by
my side, and all I reme ober him saying was
why does he.
Speaker 9 (16:59):
Look like that?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
My baby?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Why does he look like that?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Joining me right now?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Doctor Angela Arnold who is a renowned psychiatrist in the
Atlanta jurisdiction. You can find her an Angela Arnold MD
dot com. Doctor Angie that moment. There are certain moments
in life. If you asked me, what did you do yesterday?
And I have to reconstruct my day like what happened,
(17:23):
it was like a whirlwind. But there are moments in
life that are indelibly etched, and you might you can't
get rid of them. I remember as a girl when
my dad had his first open heart surgery. They had
to airlift him to the University of Alabama heart Wing.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He was so bad off.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Even Emory and their renowned, world renowned heart wing wouldn't
take him.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
They think they could do anything for him.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I remember when I walked in and it was this
big open area and my dad was there hooked up
to all sorts of things. At a distance, I saw
it was him Angie at the door. I dropped to
my knees and started praying.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
When I saw the twins.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Hooked up to all of those machines. It was unlike
anything I had ever seen before. There are some moments
like what Stephanie's describing, You never forget and you never
get over. It was so bad she had to leave
the room.
Speaker 10 (18:30):
Well, it's such a trauma. It's a trauma, and you
are completely you have absolutely no control over what's going on.
So and Nancy, I am sure that every guest that
you have listening today can't even imagine, and we can't
even imagine what that child looked like after he was
(18:55):
practically beaten to death, because let's call it what it was.
What it is, he was practically beaten to death by
someone who that mother entrusted to his care. This, this
is horrific. And yeah, she will be traumatized by this,
and she will see visions of this in her head,
(19:16):
and I'm not quite sure how she's going to be
able to ever trust anyone to be around her children.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Geo had to be airlifted to the hospital. He needed
an emergency operation. He had a bleed on the brain,
which required part of his skull.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
To be removed. He was intubated, which means they take
a big thick like a.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Hose and put down your mouth and another inside that
so you can breathe. He was in a coma and
has had multiple life saving operations since then. And when
you say it looked nothing like him, Stephanie my little nephew.
(20:01):
He was like my baby to me because I didn't
have children for so long. He was hit by a
car and I was still practicing at the DA's office, prosecuting,
and I got a call that he was in intensive care,
a race to intensive care. And when I saw Stephanie,
he didn't look anything like he did normally. His head
(20:23):
was swallowing up like a pumpkin, and he had a shunt,
which is another kind of tube going down the top
of his skull. I nearly I felt like I was
going to pass out. Didn't look anything like him at all.
Just so you know, Stephanie as encouragement. He went on
to get a double major in biology in IT and
(20:48):
now he's a hot shot. It troubleshooter at a big company.
So he went on and he had to go through rehab.
It was a Scottish Rite children's hospital for a long time.
But now you would never know anything like that had
(21:09):
happened to him.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So Stephanie Ricker with me go's mom. You go in,
you see him. It's so overwhelming you have to leave.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
When did it dawn on you?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, hold on, doctor Gorniet, what does this mean? A
nine milimeter shift in his brain?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
What is that?
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Well she described and also you said the doctor says
that he had a subdural tematoma. So what that means is, well,
you have your skull and then you have a layer
called the dura matter that overlies your brain. So you
have blood that's underneath that. So between the brain and
the dura, so the blood has nowhere to go. So
(21:52):
it's not like you cut your leg and the blood
can bleed out. So what happens in the head is
the brain has nowhere to go. So when the I
mean the blood has nowhere to go. So when the
blood is accumulating, it's pushing the brain to one side.
So it was almost a centimeter push to one side.
So there's pressure on the brain.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And for people that don't know what is a centimeter,
one centimeter is how much in an inch?
Speaker 7 (22:19):
I don't know. I know you have to do that,
so I think it's two and a half centimeters equals
an inch, right, so it's less than.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
An inch, less than half an inch, correct.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
But when you're talking about movement of your brain, the
blood is taking up space in the skull and the
brain has nowhere to go. And when the brain moves
and it starts touching the skull, that means the brain
is going to start swelling, absolutely, and it.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Has nowhere to go. I learned all this because of
my nephew.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
So that is why they actually, in my nephew's case,
cut a hole in his skull to relieve pressure so
the brain would have somewhere to go. Is that why
they remove part of Geo's skull, Doctor Gordiac.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
Absolutely because of the swelling, So not only just because
of the blood, but because of the injury. There's more
injury to the brain and it swells, and you're absolutely correct,
it has nowhere to go. So if it keeps pushing
against the skull, I mean at some point it's going
to cause a cardio respiratory arrest. So they remove part
(23:32):
of the skull just to give it some room to expand.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
But just because your brain swells does not mean you're
going to have permanent brain damage. No, it does not
because the swelling can go back down correct and by
these procedures.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Stephanie Ryker's telling us about removing part of the skull.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Did he have a shunt in his skull, Stephanie, So
that was the.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Life surgery that we just had two days ago. They
placed the shunt because he was having issues with the
fluid around his head. It was collecting in the pocket
in its frontal lobe.
Speaker 7 (24:09):
Yes, And that's another procedure they can do to you know,
you don't want that. It's called cerebral spinal fluid. You
don't want that fluid to collect because once again there's
not enough space, especially in a little skull and a
little head for anything to collect. So you want to
remove some of that so the so the brain can heal.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yeah, And he had a lumbard drain, which is a
drain that was in his spine for a week and
it just wasn't when they took it out. They knew
that he would have issues with the fluid, so they
went ahead and put the shunt in.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Thank goodness.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I know it sounds terrible that somebody drilled a hole
in your child's skull.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
It's not it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
It saved my nephew's life because you're the pressure of
all that swelling has somewhere to go, thank of a
pot on the stove, and you won't take the lid off.
And finally the steam is so powerful it blows it
off like that. By taking the lid off, by doing
this shunt, it relieves that pressure. Stephanie, where is Geo
(25:11):
right now?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
He's in the living room here with us. I'm in
a different room, so because he's pretty loud.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
That makes me want to cry that he actually is home.
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Brian Foley joining US board, certified criminal defense attorney, former
Chief Prosecutor Harris County, Texas, author of What Prosecutors Don't
Tell You, and you can find him at Brianfoleylaw dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Brian, I tell you what.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I would get a hold of this nanny, and I
would not let go of her until I had cheered
out a piece of her rear end and spit it
onto council table. I'm telling you this woman needs to
be prosecuted for attempted murder.
Speaker 11 (25:56):
Yeah, And as a prosecutor, if you're in Colorado, you
can get hamstrung a little bit because it sounds like
they've only charged him with a Class three felony for
causing you know, a serious injury, and that's only four
to sixteen years in prison, whereas if it's an attempted
murder then that's a significantly higher punishment range in Colorado.
(26:18):
So it's going to be on the prosecutors for sure
to do the investigation and make sure that they have
evidence that can help puld her feet to the fire.
Because the pictures that we saw are tragic. I agree
when Stephanie talked about it didn't look like the same child,
(26:40):
you know, the before, the night before, and then afterwards.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, are you looking at the picture of him sitting
on the sofa holding a tan colored stuffy like a
pity bear, right, because completely different.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I would not have even thought it was the same person,
Brian Foley.
Speaker 11 (26:57):
And what's going to help prosecutors, I think in this
case to prove that this is obviously no accident, is
that bite mark. A bite mark is an intentional act.
There's no accidental bite marks less than a child, especially
when you consider they also have black eyes and this
(27:17):
subdural hemotoma. This is a brutal attack which is definitely
going to need to be prosecuted to a large extent.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Got a question, Stephanie Reiker is with me Giovanni's mother
to this day, right now as we're speaking, mckinnley slown
her Nandez has not revealed.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Won't say what really happened.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Yes, that is correct. I'll she admitted to is that
she was drinking and he with hurt in her care.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
That's all she'll say. Yep.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
She won't say anything. Even after being arrested, she won't
say anything.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
You know, I'm trying to figure out why this has happened.
How drunk she But frankly speaking, doctor angel Arnold, being drunk,
why would that make you beat up the baby.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
To the point that the baby's in a coma?
Speaker 5 (28:12):
Right?
Speaker 10 (28:12):
And you know, Nancy, that's not even an excuse. This
is this is such a horrific act of rage and
violence to a helpless child. I don't care. And if
she was that drunk, then why wasn't she passed out
on a couch somewhere? But she wasn't drunk enough if
(28:35):
that was, if there's any truth to that to know
what she to not know what she was doing?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, because she actually did she drive Giovanni to the
e R.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Stephanie, I meanes.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
We actually heard from the hospital that she drove him
to the hospital while her boyfriend was trying to revive him.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And are you telling me, Stephanie that at one point
we know Giovanni was not breathing.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah, she was.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
When he was dropped up at the hospital, he was
unresponsive and his heart rate was in his fifty so
almost cardiac.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Arist joining me right now is Anastasia Germaine, President of
Childcare Professional Services LLC, founder and former operator of a
childcare center, and you can find her at childcareps dot com. Anastasia,
thank you for being with us. What is your number
(29:31):
one piece of advice to families searching for a babysitter
or a nanny.
Speaker 6 (29:37):
To ask a lot of questions and do as much
research as you possibly can. A good place for parents
to start is at childcare dot gov and there is
a link there for each state where parents can go
use a pulldown menu and find a plethora of resources
(29:58):
for all types of child care options. Parents should be
doing their best to look, listen and ask questions. Look
around the facility for safety and cleanliness. A lot of
parents choose family and friends for their first childcare options.
Still look, listen and ask questions. Look for simple baby proofing,
(30:20):
electrical outlets. Are all of the things within the home,
the toys, the playground areas? Are they in good repair?
Are there emergency procedures in place? Even if it's a
family home care is do they have procedures in place?
Is the caregiver CPR trained? Do they have do they
(30:42):
provide well balanced meals snacks? What is their discipline policy?
Does it agree with yours? Is there a stimulating environment
and a routine in place? All types of things that
you can look for and ask questions about. Also in
(31:03):
the case of home care specifically, you know, in licensed
childcare centers or licensed facilities, any guests coming into the
house have to sign in and out. That's not the
case in a home care, especially in an unlicensed facility
or a friends and family or a nannying type situation.
So you want to talk to the caregiver about guests
(31:26):
and the flow of traffic coming and going.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah, I want to know who's coming in and out
of the daycare. And again, there's nothing at all wrong
with a friend or family as your daycare. I was
raised all day by my grandmother, and my nephews were
raised by a family friend instead of going to a
(31:49):
you know, state run daycare.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Time stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
To Nicole Parton joining me Crime online dot Com investigative reporter.
This woman McKinlay Sloan Fernandez. It's my understanding that she
had an unalycensed childcare facility at her home.
Speaker 12 (32:22):
That's right, she did, And she actually listed herself on
several resource pages online. One that I saw was on
the Lakewood County Childcare Connection, where moms could go online
and look for a nanny, look for daycare, and she had,
you know, an ad there there's a few openings left
for childcare.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
You can trust your child here.
Speaker 12 (32:43):
Loving environment, safe home. So other people were paying her
and trusting her to care for their child as well.
Childcare is a sixty billion dollar industry in the United States,
and she was trying to get her fair, I suppose,
but without providing the service.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And when I say unlicensed child care facility, I'm not
saying it like it's a dirty word, because trust me,
my grandmother, my Mama Lucy, who I named my daughter after, she.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Wasn't a licensed child care facility.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
She's my grandmother, and she took care of us and
fed us and we play outdoors. It was farm and
it was a wonderful childhood. So having a family friend
or family a relative with your child while you're at work,
that happens all over the world, and that is what
(33:40):
Stephanie Reiker did. Stephanie, I mean in your mind, McKinlay sloan,
her Nandez was running a home care for children, right.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Yeah, so she watched my kids for a year. When
she first started watching them, it was just their babysitter.
She wasn't watching any other kids at that time. And
then just recently she started, well not recently now, but
she had posted on all those pages on Facebook saying
she wasn't in home daycare. And then she started watching
other kids and she would have quite a few kids
(34:11):
over at her house.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
What do you mean by quite a few kids?
Speaker 4 (34:13):
I mean one time we went there, we decided not
to drop you off because she had ten other kids
there and she was the only one, and she was
they were probably half of them were under the age
of two.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
That's too many for one person to be handling.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So, Stephanie, have you ever confronted her and said what happened?
Speaker 4 (34:32):
No, Actually, after she had texted me to go to
the hospital, that's the last I ever heard from her.
She never once checked on him see how he was doing,
to see how we were doing. She just she blocked
me on social media, actually, and that was the last
I heard from her.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
What are prosecutors telling you, Stephanie.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
I don't even know how to answer that question. We
have court again, we have the first part days on
the twentieth of December. But basically what they're saying from
what they had, their evidence they have which we haven't
seen yet, she is the.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Now let me ask you, is there.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
A surveillance video or a door came ring or anything
like that in the area in the home where Giovanni.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Was at the time he was beaten so badly.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Maybe that is something that I would not like to
speak on.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
So maybe maybe yea, did she.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Have a boyfriend? McKinley slowed her nand is does she
have a boyfriend?
Speaker 4 (35:30):
She did? It is his house actually owns the house
and she lives there with him.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Was he home when Giovanni was bed?
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I don't know for sure. As far as we know,
they're leaning towards that he has nothing to do with it.
Now they have a shoot to warrant for his full
ring doorbell camera, and I'm sure we'll find out more
after we're able to see those videos.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
See the evidence.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yes, yes, so, Brian, what I would be doing right
now if I was the prosecutor, I get that boyfriend
and squeeze him like an orange. I agree to find
out what, if anything, he knows. And remember this is
his boyfriend girlfriend. There's no marital privilege in voked here,
(36:17):
so she can't say, oh, he can't testify against me
because we're married. He can testify to every single thing
she has said or done since this incident.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
He actually did. He has an attorney and he's been
pretty cooperative with everything they've asked, and he's provided stuff evidence.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
So question, Stephanie Reiker at Giovanni's mom, is the boyfriend
still with McKinley, Sloan, her Nandaz Are they still a couple?
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Actually know he moved out of the house the Davis
all happened, and he moved in with his mother.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Doctor Angie Arnold say no more. That tells me everything
I need to know. He's going to testify against her.
M I'm telling you right now, and he better, he
better because if she has any history, if any other
child in her care has come home with bruises or lethargy,
(37:10):
he's in it because if he had any idea this
was happening, and it's his home. Basically, the daycare is
happening in his home, he's on the hook.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
You better cough up pronto, Nancy.
Speaker 10 (37:22):
How can you beat a child? How can someone be
beating a child in one room and someone's in another
room and can't hear what's going on.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
So that's a great question. Stephanie Reikert. Did the boyfriend
have a job.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Yes, he actually did work. He's an electrician or he's
an electrician in training, and he goes to night school
as well. Wow, so I know for sure he does
those things.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know, Chris Buyers, if these two were married, to
state would have a problem. But since there are just dating,
he can testify to everything he knows.
Speaker 9 (37:53):
Absolutely, he is going to definitely be the state's key
witness because gosh, it's so frustrating on investigations like this
when you know you've got a victim that can't tell
you what happened. So, yes, he is going to be
a huge key witness in them.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
To Stephanie Ryckert, number one, do not let anybody talk
you into a cheap Please don't let her off with
a five year since she'll do two years and be out.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Oh no, there's no way we're going to let that happen.
And absolutely not. I feel like she should be charged
with attempted murder.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I do too, because this isn't I just dropped him.
She almost killed your baby. So what does Giovanni's dad
have to say about all this?
Speaker 5 (38:37):
He's right here.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Would you like to talk to him?
Speaker 3 (38:38):
I would love to.
Speaker 5 (38:39):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Hi, is this Giovanni's dad? This is thank you for
being with us. What's your take on all of this?
Speaker 5 (38:46):
Man? It was just something that came from left field.
You know, we didn't expect it ever in a million years.
You never think that somebody who you're trusting is going
to put your child in harm. Like the whole point
of him going with her was because we trusted her
and we thought that he was safe in her care,
(39:07):
that she really cared about him.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Can I ask you, Anthony, why, And I'm not saying
you shouldn't have at all, but what about her made
you trust her? Because other parents trusted her as well.
It's not just you, but what about her was so trusting?
Speaker 5 (39:24):
I wouldn't go far. It goes so far saying that
what about her was trusting. I don't want to start
because me personally, she wasn't exactly like my friend friend.
This was Stephanie's a friend which we happened to meet
because she happened to be dating one of my friends
years ago, and that's kind of how we all met.
So like I knew of her, but me being the dad,
(39:47):
you know, I didn't really associate with her too much
with her friends, so they were always mostly in communication.
That's why the night when this happened, she only texted Stephanie.
She didn't I never got a text. Neither one of
us got a call from her. That the hospital actually
called my phone when it happened.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
And what again did the text say, Anthony?
Speaker 5 (40:07):
So the text that Stephanie got was you kind of
need to rush to Saint Anthony's because you have only
went lifeless after the bat went lifeless.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
My rear end.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
You know, Anthony, you understand Stephanie as a mom is
going to.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Be so distraught.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
You have got to be strong for her and with her,
and do not let anybody talk you into a cheap plea.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
Oh no, absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
This is attempted murder because this wasn't just dropping him
or one below.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Your baby.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Geo was beaten, beaten over and over and ended up
in a coma because of what she did drunk, according
to prosecutors.
Speaker 5 (40:59):
You know that night when we got to the hospital,
because we rushed to the hospital extremely fast. When we
got there, you know, both of us were our brains
weren't working at the moment, and when we first walked in,
they find out when we were asking, you know, were
Giovanni's parents. They finally said, hold on, let me get
the chaplain for you. Was the first thing that I
(41:20):
was told. Now I'm prior military, so you know when
they came out and they said let me get the chaplain,
I immediately first thing that went through my head was
my son was dead. Then they tried to take us
into a little waiting room. And when we went to
the waiting room, McKinley and her boyfriend were in that room,
so they took us away from there and they they
(41:42):
actually kicked us out of there and made us go
stand somewhere else. In the hospital till they came out.
So when the chaplain finally came out and we were
able to talk to her, the first thing I asked
was what was my son was alive? And she said, yes,
he's alive. You know, I think they were doing imaging
at the moment, which is why they brought the chaplain
out right away. But just the whole chain of events,
you know, did not help. So, like Stephanie was saying,
(42:05):
we finally got to go back to that room, and
you know, it was a room no bigger than you know,
maybe ten by ten if that, and you know, bed
in the middle. He was strapped to it and a
zillion doctors around him, and Stephanie was sitting out so
she had to walk out. She had a little you know,
barf bag, hyperventilating, and I just kept asking, you know,
(42:27):
what happened to my son? Why does he look like this?
Why does he look like this? And then I just
remember the flight for life guys saying, you know, we're
going to get your son to because they had to
fight for life from the Children's hospital in Aurora. They
just kept telling me, we're going to get him there safe,
We're going to get him there safe as a guy
was like he looked like something at the top gun.
And then another guy with really long hair, and they
were awesome. And when we were walking out of the
(42:51):
hospital after they were like, we're going to take him
now to Children's hospital. As we were walking out, the
only thing that she ever said to us as we
were walking out, she looked at us, both the Baltimore
standing outside, and she goes, did they tell you anything?
And all I responded was their flight for life and
them the children's hospital, and that was the end of
the conversation. She didn't say anything else after that, and
(43:12):
we went to Children's and now have not heard from
her once. I do know that that night, you know,
the officers had like taken them into custody and took
their phones and that's when they started asking them a
bunch of questions. But I do know that now once
where they did they instruct her to not reach out
for anything, you know, and like I understand, accidents can happen,
(43:34):
and in a situation where it was an accident, if
it were me, I would be reaching out a thousand
times over. I wouldn't have left. I would have been
by the side, you know, the entire time, the fact
that she dropped him and then just left. You know,
I just don't see how anyone could even believe that
she didn't have anything to you know what I'm like.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Let me understand something Anthony with me?
Speaker 2 (43:54):
Is Giovanni's dad, Anthony to Stefano, And did you say
she dropped him?
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Do you believe she dropped him?
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Because if she dropped him, how did he get all
those slat marks and a bite?
Speaker 5 (44:08):
I man dropped him off at the at the hospital.
I'm sorry, got it.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Have you heard from her boyfriend?
Speaker 5 (44:13):
No? But so again there's I guess there's a bunch
of evidence that we as the parents have not seen
because it's been this long gooing on investigation. When we
did talk to the detective, he did mention that the boyfriend,
his name is Dan, had been, you know, was really
curious about how Giovanni was. And at that time, the
(44:33):
last time we talked to the detective, we said it
was okay if that they gave him our contact information
if he wanted to reach out. But again, haven't heard
from either one of them.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
But we do know those two have split.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
Up, right, correct, that's for our understanding.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
The last thing you want to do is have a
lifelong commitment with somebody that gets drunk and beats child. Now,
I mean, you know a lot of people get drunk
and they pass out, or they think they're funny and
they jokes, or they get sad they start crying, or
they drive and have a wreck.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
But to get.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
Drunk and then beat a child, this isn't just dropping
a child, guys, or he wouldn't have.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Bite marks, slap marks, all that.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I mean, Doctor Gorniat, this is not a simple fall
based on what the medical doctors put in his record.
Speaker 7 (45:24):
Absolutely not, absolutely not. And it's just interesting. I was
at a tendancive presentation and was just talking about simple
falls in children. So a simple fall would not cause
that much damage.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I'm always amazed, doctor Gorniat, when somebody says, oh, the
baby fell out of the stroller and died.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
That does not happen, right.
Speaker 7 (45:46):
So was simple fall if she was holding him like
you were talking about the other case they slipped out
of the bathtub. I mean, just look at think of
the playground at parts, you know what I mean. I
know how many times I fell off the swing set
or the job, you know what I mean? And die exactly.
So with all the injury, it's not as simple. It's
not as simple fault. I mean the he sounds like
(46:07):
injuries he would have sustained in a car crashed like
your nephew, Anthony.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Question to you, what is the prognosis? What is Giovanni's future?
Has he had brain damage?
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Number one?
Speaker 5 (46:19):
So what we were told. Luckily we were able to
see a couple of the images from the last time
we were in the hospital and they said that he
didn't have any error, didn't show any type of brain damage.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
When they let us out. He had to leave. He
had to wear a helmet all the time because he
was missing the bone slab. Right, So if you didn't
know Giovanni, and other than the helmet, you'd look at
him and it seemed like, you know, nothing happened to him,
you would believe that there was nothing wrong with him
at all, nothing happened. He talks, He actually talks a
(46:53):
little bit more than what before this incident happened. You know,
there's slight difference, is like the irritability. It's very difficult
to divert him now when he gets upset, you know.
But and he's not as like he was always such
a sweet, loving boy, and he still is, but it's
(47:13):
it's only with me and his mother, like nobody and
his brothers obviously, but nobody else. It's just, you know,
he can't be away from us for more than two minutes.
That's why this has been difficult. We're passing the phone
back and forth. You know, one of us has to
be with them all the time. They just yeah, I
(47:34):
don't know, to be honest with you, he's just not
exactly the same. But he's still a happy little boy.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
What is your message to parents looking for a babysitter?
Speaker 5 (47:44):
You know, I understand it's been brought up many times, Like,
you know, there's many resources and stuff for this in
this situation. You know, at the time, money is tight
for us, you know, not we don't make a ton
of money. It was very difficult to afford like a
legit place. And when somebody that we trusted and believe
(48:04):
was our friend offered to do that for us for
a much better, more affordable price, and you know, of
course we were like, yo, that's awesome. You know, we
thought she was looking out for us and our kids.
Now my message is like, so I believe that there's
been things going on for a while that we as
parents were oblivious to, because again, we have a bunch
(48:27):
of boys, So they jump on the trampoline, they play,
they're rough, they come back with bruises and bumps all
the time.
Speaker 13 (48:33):
Similar before oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I just
I never thought that she was doing anything, But like
now I realized there's there was times where GEO said,
you know, she pushed me or something like that, and
she'd say, oh, he fell and he hit his head
on this, and.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
He'd come home with the bruise, and we again didn't
think much of it, kind of just kind of played
it off like oh, you're fine and the boys. Now,
I will say that if your kids ever ever mention
anything that you think is far fetched, whether it's a babysitter,
family member, anything, then hurting him, always look into it,
because I feel like if I had looked into it sooner,
(49:09):
I felt like I could have prevented this kind.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Of Please do dot torture yourself. I have crime victims
families forever. I even do it myself as a crime victim.
Torture myself about what could I have done differently, just
save my fiance to just.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Do it all the time.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
And there you did everything right and very quickly into
Stasia's your main president childcare Professional Services. What was the
website you just gave us again.
Speaker 6 (49:39):
Yeah, so if you go to childcare dot gov, no
matter what state you're in, there so pull down menu
where you can find your state and find the resources.
In Colorado, it's the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and
specifically their quality initiative is Colorado Shines. And what's interesting
and helpful for parents on that site is.
Speaker 4 (50:03):
Not only do they.
Speaker 6 (50:04):
Include all of the resources, but they also include a
list of childcare sites illegal childcare sites that were right
sent a season desist letter, so parents can go on
there and look.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
As we go into the Christmas season, our prayers with
little Giovanni Reikert with his mother and his father for
healing and peace and.
Speaker 3 (50:36):
Also for justice. May it rain down like lightning. Goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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