December 29, 2025 • 42 mins
A mother in St. Cloud, Florida, hires around-the-clock nursing care in her home to help care for her teenage daughter.
The 18-year-old is developmentally disabled, non-verbal, quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, and has minimal vision. To cover the 24 / 7 schedule, nurses work 12-hour shifts, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. in their St. Cloud home.
Checking on her disabled daughter Saturday morning, the mother notices red scratches around her daughter's mouth and eyelid; the scratches were not present the previous evening, and as a quadriplegic, it is impossible for her daughter to scratch herself in such a way, so she reviews surveillance camera footage from the previous night and calls the police immediately.
The nurse during this time was Nia Ayers, a 24-year-old Licensed Practical Nurse who had cared for the girl on Friday night into Saturday morning for over a year.
She has been licensed since 2021 and has not had a single disciplinary action or even a complaint in her nursing career.
Joining Nancy Grace:
- Ben Powers - Criminal Defense Attorney, Facebook: Legal Powers PLLC,
- Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski - Forensic Psychologist, Author: “Darksides;" YouTube: "Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, Forensic Psychologist"
- Chief Douglas Goerke - St. Cloud Police Department in Florida; stcloudfl.gov
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of Podcast, "Mayhem in the Morgue," and Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, "Crime Stories"
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
A precious teen girl in a vegetative state like a coma,
tortured relentlessly by a nurse, and lucky for me, it's
all caught on camera. I Meancy Grace, this is Crime Stories,
and I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
The patient couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't defend herself, but
a camera caught it all. And now this home help
nurse is behind bars.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Home health my rear end talk about a felony defendant.
That's what I'm talking about. Joining me an all star
panel to make sense of what we know tonight. But first,
before I even get into the facts, I want to
go out to a special guest joining us who's taking
time from solving crimes right now and answering calls. Chief
(01:08):
Douglas Gurkey joining a Saint Cloud Police Department in Florida. Chief,
thank you for being with us. You know what, Chief,
do you ever get tired of the most vulnerable, the
most defenseless, the weakest people in our society getting prayed
upon and mistreated just for the fun of it? Do
(01:30):
you ever get exhausted and go home and say I
give up.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I quit you know, Nancy, I appreciate that, and I
appreciate you having me on the show. And you know,
every day we come to work every single day to
ensure that our community is not prayed on. And you know,
some of the things I've seen in my career almost
twenty five years is just it's shocking to see the
videos of what occurred in this case. Specifically, it reinvigors
(01:54):
our mission every single day to come out and again
protect those that are unable to protect themselves. And that's
exactly what happened in this case. But there was a
lot of things that came together to make this work.
And you know, I give a lot of credit to
our detectives, but I really give a lot of credit
to the family that actually had the cameras set up,
that recognized this, that came to law enforcement, and we
partnered with them to make sure that this person is
(02:16):
actually never able to harm another person.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
One bad apple makes a whole bunch rotten.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah, So they're in every profession, Nancy, And you're one
hundred percent correct. You know, no matter what profession there is,
there's always going to be someone there that has to
be watched. I will tell you I'm a paramedic myself,
so I you know, the duty to do no harm.
The things that I saw here were absolutely despicable. But
I will tell you there's good people out there that
actually take their job seriously, and our job is to
find those that are not. I think this family knew
(02:46):
something was wrong, which is why they set the camera up.
And when they reviewed the cameras and what they saw,
they saw nosebleeds, They saw everything out of this poor victim. Again,
it's heartbreaking. I saw the mom last night. She came
in last night. I gave her a big hug. She
brought me some new video. Unfortunately, we're going to be
looking at those two. We're going back day by day
that she has video, and we're gonna actually look at
everything because there's potentially more charges coming against this person.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You know, chief two words, nail her, Nail her because
it's going to go on and on and on until
healthcare workers realize they will be held accountable if they're caught.
And also, I know it's not sexy. You're not like
stopping a gunfight or jumping in in the middle of
(03:33):
a bank robbery. You and your staff are going to
be going through minute by minute video where mostly nothing happens,
but then there's that moment. There's that moment, and it's
a felony. Okay, let's start at the beginning. Listen.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
A mother in St. Cloud, Florida, hires around the clock
nursing care in her home to help care for her
teenage daughter. The eighteen year old is developmentally disabled, nonverbal,
quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and minimal vision. To cover the
twenty four to seven schedule, nurses work twelve hour shifts
seven am to seven pm and seven pm to seven am.
And there's Saint Cloud, Florida home. Different nurses are used
(04:13):
from two different services in the area to provide the
nurses needed for proper care.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Boy, can I relate to that all star pane. I'm
going to go to doctor Kendall Crowns, but first to
Dave Mack, who is a tireless Crime Stories investigative reporter.
You know, Dave, you have been to our home, You
met my mom. That's exactly the setup that we have.
When I go to work, there's somebody with her. Whenever
(04:41):
I'm away, there is somebody with her. And I have
the greatest people that I know. I know them now,
I know their families, I know all about them, and
I trust them. I also have granny cams out the
yin Yang, so I can see I'm seeing right here.
I could see what is happening in my mom's room
(05:02):
right But you have to trust these people. Tell me
about this girl, this teen girl. She is in a
vegetative state. What happened.
Speaker 6 (05:13):
We're not talking about an incident that happened that caused this.
She was born with a number of issues. She is
non communicative, she is a quadriplegic Jazz three with palsy,
and she has minimal visions, so she needs twenty four hour,
round the clock care that her family has provided for her.
And they've got a great lengths to make sure that
(05:35):
she's got somebody there with her all the time. They
work shifts from seven pm to seven am, seven am
to seven pm, and in this particular case, the same
nurse has been there every Friday, working the seven pm
to seven am Saturday morning shift for over a year.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Nancy, Oh my Stars, no wonder. Teve Gurky has a
lot of video. Over a year, this minion from hell
has been with this little girl, this teen girl, let
me go to doctor Kendall Crown's. Guys. Doctor Kendall Crowns
is the chief Medical Examiner Terrance County. That's Fort Worth, Texas.
(06:15):
Never a lack of business there. I like to say.
He is the esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of
Medicine at TCU, and he has just launched a hit
podcast called Mayhem in the Morgue and I've listened to it,
and it is him describing very unique cases that he
has worked in the past. At the beginning, you couldn't
(06:37):
really tell what was going to happen with the CEOD
cause of death. And then he puts it together like
a Airculee Poirot in the end and it all makes sense.
It's pretty amazing, Doctor Kndll Crowns. So that's a whole
other can of worms. Doctor Crowns, could you just tell
me what does all this mean? As I like to say,
I'm just a JD. You're the MD. Now, this teen
(06:59):
girl developed mentally disabled. She's nonverbal. I know what that means.
She can't speak. She's a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and
minimal vision. Okay, what is that potpoery of ailments. What
does that mean?
Speaker 7 (07:14):
So let's start with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a
condition in which there is essentially brain damage in the
individual does not function as well as as a normal
individual would. These people can have any level of consciousness,
any level of disability. But she is a quadriplegic. And
then she also has vision abdermellies, so she's minimally has
(07:37):
minimal vision, has minimal ability to speak, and cannot move.
So she's the perfect victim in these type of nursing
home or care home deaths in which the individual gets
frustrated or tired of caring for them and then takes
out their frustrations on the individual who can't speak or
even see.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
How do you get cerebral palsy?
Speaker 7 (07:58):
Cerebral palsy can be actually caused in the birthing process
or in utero or when you're in the womb. There
can be a lack of oxygen getting to the brain,
or it can be actually a congenital developmental defect. So
it can also occur as the birthing procedure has happen,
occurring where the procedure takes too long, or there is
(08:21):
an oxya or a lack of oxygen getting to the
child as they're trying to get it out of the
birth canal. And there is also a feeling that it
can occur after the birth, where there can be injuries
associated with the birthing process.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, I don't know really exactly what you just said,
but I did manage to call out reduced oxygen to
the brain causes cerebral palsy. Be it in utero, during
birth or after birth?
Speaker 7 (08:44):
Correct, and it can also be associated with congenital abnormalities
or birth defects.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Okay, translation born that way, got it? Okay. Does serebral
palsy cause compaired vision?
Speaker 7 (08:59):
It can be one of the things that can be
associated with it. Impaired vision can also be associated with
other injuries and also can be a birth defect.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I'm just wondering if lack of oxygen to the brain
also causes vision impairment. Does it?
Speaker 8 (09:12):
It can?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Okay? Okay. The next thing, this ting girl is a quadriplegic.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
Explain so because of the brain injury that she may
have had occurred from lack of oxygen to the brain
or a birth defect. Cerebral palsy the brain doesn't function right,
and it causes the limbs or the muscles to not
be coordinated or to function properly. In her case, it
caused quadriplegia, which means all four of her limbs are
(09:42):
not functioning, so essentially she's immobile.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
You know why I'm asking this, Chief gur Key, because
listeners and potentially a jury needs to understand. As painful
as it is to hear it, all I could say
think about just then, while doctor Kimball Crown's was describing
how the lack of oxygen to this little girl's brain
(10:08):
caused her to have cerebral palsy. It caused her to
have minimal vision. She has four limbs, but they don't work.
All I could think about is my son running free
on the soccer field, or my daughter doing her walk,
her hour and a half walk every day, which walks
(10:28):
so fast I can hardly keep up with her her legs.
For so long, this girl has never been able to move,
to see, to speak. I don't know what she understands,
if she can really hear what people are saying, and
if she can hear them, does she understand what they're saying?
(10:51):
When her mother speaks to her, that's who the victim is.
And of all the people in the world, Okay, I'm
sure you like me, have had many drug lords gonned down.
I'm like, boohoo, this girl is so defenseless, so innocent,
(11:14):
and yet she was, in my mind, ag assaulted. This
little teen girl, can't see, can't move any limbs, nothing,
and she was tortured. I mean, it makes me want
(11:34):
to bring back the death penalty for ag assaults. Chief.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
So let me tell you this is you know, to
put this in a better perspective, and I will tell
you when I saw some of the pictures, it broke
my heart because as law enforcement, it's very difficult for
us to really engage and really understand everything. Let me
tell you some of the things that we did see
in the video itself. You know, her eyes were taped shut,
aggressively shaking her head and with the respiratory equipment, she
(11:58):
had a bipath machine shaking her head around, which caused
scratches and potential nosebleeds, holding a washcloth over her mouth
for a prolonged period of time that appeared to obstructed
her airway. You can see her moving around, so obviously
the video is not releasable yet it's an active criminal case.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
But some of these things of what really breaks.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
My heart that there are horrible monsters in the world
like that that are out there. And I'll be honest
with you, people like that have a special place in Hell.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
To be honest with you, do we have to wait
for her to die and go to Hell and let
Lucifer deal with her. Can't we do a little something now, cheaf,
You said that she used a bipat machine, Doctor Kiddle
Crown's what is that?
Speaker 7 (12:38):
Bipat machine is basically an oxygen machine that usually goes
over the nose and it helps force oxygen in and
it aids in sleep apnea by keeping the airways open. Also,
if she's putting a washcloth over her face, if that
washcloths is wet, that would be similar to waterboarding techniques,
where they're essentially making them breathe in water, almost like drowning.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You know one of the videos in Chief, I have
never liked crime scene photos, but I know I have
to look at them to look for elements of proof,
to see what I can argue to a jury based
on little details I might see in those photos. And
you mentioned that the purp. According to the video, she
(13:22):
is innocent until proven guilty. Of course, that goes without saying.
At one point when she the healthcare worker, a young female,
I mean, she looks like somebody i'd see when I
go pick my daughter up from getting her nails done,
was sitting in the next chair. The victim has her
face and mouth covered and you can see her chest heaving,
(13:46):
trying to breathe through that wet cloth. I mean, how
could she? Did you see that video?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Chief?
Speaker 8 (13:55):
I did it.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
It's very difficult to watch. Even as a paramedic, it's
very difficult to watch. It's I don't necessarily see any
medical justification for it. It's clearly that it appeared to
be punitive in nature. But uh, you know, we're gonna
let the jury decide on that.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
One punitive hold on taithe punitive, Well, okay, Punitive in
my world means you're being punished for something that you
did wrong, like punitive damage or an over punitive sentence.
So what did the little girl, the teen girl in
(14:29):
a vegetative state do wrong that she deserves punishment? I
can't wait to hear this.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I have zero answers for that because I watched this
poor girl lay helplessly in her bed while this person
abused her. There is no justification. It's morally reprehensible for
what she did.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
She was supposed to be a lifeline instead. Nurse Nia
Ayres is accused of tormenting the disabled teen, ripping tape
off her feet, suffocating her with the washcloth, and shaking
her breathing machine.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Oh my stars, she's actually smiling. The alleged purp is smiling.
Oh uh uh uh. Look look look how well you
know what a twenty to life sentence? Well white that
smile right off her face. I'm guessing I want you
(15:27):
to hear how the whole horrific scenario first was uncovered.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Listen checking on her disabled daughter Saturday morning, the mother
notices red scratches around her daughter's mouth and I lid.
The scratches were not present in the previous evening, and
as a quadriplegic, it's impossible for her daughter to scratch
herself in such a way. So she reviews surveillance camera
footage from the previous night, and what she sees shocks
her to her core and has her calling police immediately.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yes, of course, right there joining me is Ben Powers
now on Criminal Defense Attorney. You can find them on
Facebook at Legal Powers also legalpowers dot com. Ben, thank
you for being with us. Ben see those subtle clues.
Mom comes in and she sees a scratch on her
daughter's face, and she knows, right then something is wrong.
(16:21):
There are subtle clues that if you are attuned to
the person, you spot them immediately. Now, somebody like you
might be able to argue to a jury a scratch
that means nothing, That means nothing about my client, but
to a jury it could mean everything.
Speaker 9 (16:40):
Being Powers, yeah, I think the scratch is the least
of her defense team's words. I mean, there's a video
that lays out some pretty egregious behavior. Most concerning if
I'm defending her is you know, I guess to back up,
we need to put out that is nonverbal. This case
is all about what is on the video.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Well, Binpowers, You're absolutely right. The scratches on her daughter's face, mild,
though they may be, are the least of this healthcare
workers problems. But because of those scratches, and because the
mom is vigilant, it led mom to check the video.
What's on the video?
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Listen watching the surveillance video, the officer notes timed where
Nia Airs is aggressive and abusive with the eighteen year
old victim. At eleven to fifty eight pm, Airs is
seen placing tape on the mouth of the victim, then
very aggressively holding a washcloth tight to the mouth of
a victim. Airs is then seen ripping the tape off
the mouth of the victim. The victim's mother tells police
(17:41):
at no time is its standard procedure to tape the mouth.
The only time tape is used is to tape eyelid
shut while the victim sleeps.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Tape the mouth. She's okay, Chief Douglas Gurkey joining me,
the chief of police at Saint Cloud there in Florida.
Chief whoa okay? So the teen girl is already wearing
a breathing apparatus, but this healthcare worker, based on the
video that you have seen, taped her mouth. And of
(18:10):
course she's innocent until proven guilty. But the video is
what it is. So even with a breathing apparatus on,
the victim's mouth was taped shut. Explain how that worked.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So again, that would be a procedure that they would
I'm not sure why they would be taping the mouth specifically.
I do understand that tape on the eyelids could go
on to help them, to assist them to sleep. But
what we also saw in that video was her aggressively
tearing the tape back off backwards. I did tear it off,
she puts it on and rips it off again. That's
really what we were seeing. That didn't make any sense
(18:44):
at all. The BiPAP machine was put on, so it
wasn't on all the time. Then she put it on,
but she's forcefully shaking her head around, she's getting visibly upset,
she's throwing things. So there's a lot more that just
shows that she is completely my opinion, it appears she's
enraged while this is all occurring, all the while.
Speaker 8 (19:05):
That this person is helpless.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
She's not moving, she's getting spun around, her head's getting
moved around, forcefully, putting tape on, ripping it off. And
I'll tell you what's concerning the most was that washcloth incident,
holding it over her mouth and pushing down forcefully while
you see her writhing around trying to move her body
back and forth, almost as if she realized she is
(19:27):
unable to breathe or she's having a difficult time breathing,
so it's unjustifiable number one. But I have no idea
what's in her mind why she did something like that.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Boy, I do I need a shrink. And luckily, doctor
Jeff Kloshewski is joining us. Forensic psychologist, author of Dark Sides,
and on YouTube he is a star of Dr Jeff
Kalishwski forensic psychologist. Doctor Jeff, thank you for being with us. Okay,
I keep hearing about the healthcare work or translation felony defendant,
(19:59):
and you know, very often you see a wolf in
sheep's clothing. This girl looks like she should, you know,
be bopping by you at the mall or the nail salon.
She looks like she's about seventeen years old. Long story short.
We keep hearing doctor Jeff that she looked enraged, angry
(20:21):
at the victim over what the victim can't see, can't move,
can't talk, can't understand what's happening around her, angry at what.
Speaker 10 (20:30):
Doctor Jeff, Well, it's interesting because you know, I've had
a number of these cases over the years.
Speaker 8 (20:37):
Unfortunately, and it.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Was mentioned earlier, sometimes these cases unfold when the caretaker
is stressed out and sort of loses it for a minute.
But when we talk about sort of systematically wait.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Doctor Jeff, wait wait wait, okay, sorry, I need to
ask you a question.
Speaker 8 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I still don't get angry or burned out or raiseel
about what I mean. The victim can't speak, move, or
hear what the victim do, right.
Speaker 10 (21:12):
Because sometimes in these cases that I've had, the healthcare
provider becomes frustrated because the person's not compliant or confused.
Speaker 8 (21:21):
This is different.
Speaker 10 (21:23):
This is when we're talking about sort of systematic torture,
you know, holding the washcloth over and watching the victim suffer.
Now we're moving into these are sort of sadistic acts.
And this is beyond a healthcare worker having a bad moment.
(21:46):
This is a person who it sounds like, is getting
some type of pleasure and causing pain or emotional distress
in the victim. And that's a whole different ballgame compared
to some of these other cases where there's abuse that
are of a vulnerable adult.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Doctor Jeff Kalshewski, you mentioned a word that is in
everyone's common parlance, our vocabulary. You said sadistic, but it
is actually a psychological or psychiatric term used in your profession.
What exactly is sadism in.
Speaker 10 (22:20):
General terms, sadism or sadistic that really talks about a
person who gets pleasure from causing either emotional, psychological, or
physical pain on another person.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
After watching Airs rip the tape off the mouth that
the victim, Airs adjusted the victim's body on the bed
not by sliding her arm underneath and slowly moving the team,
but by yanking the victim's left arm aggressively. After yanking
and pulling the team into position, Nurse Airs aggressively suctions
the victim's airway before holding a white washcloth up to
the victim's mouth and holding it firmly in place for
(22:55):
several seconds, appearing to hinder the breathing of the victim.
While holding the victim's mouth closed, it appears the victim
is attempting to move her head in a way that
depicted she was uncomfortable and unable to breathe.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Mother reviews home security footage and is horrified by what
her daughter's nurse is caught doing. An eighteen year old
nonverbal quadriplegic patient completely dependent, left bruised, bleeding and gasping
for air, who.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Is this woman I know about the victim. She's a quadriplegic.
She has minimal vision. If she can hear, I don't
know if she can understand what her mother and others
are saying to her, what that means to her. She
can't move, she can't speak. They put tape on her
(23:52):
eyes at night for her to sleep. These videos are
hell on Earth. To Dave Mack joining me, I want
to talk about Nia Iyres, age twenty four, working for
two different health care companies. Okay, I bet that, says
(24:12):
Chief Douglas A. Gurkey on Wild Goose Chase, Because now
he's got to go to these healthcare companies. He's got
to find out everywhere else she works and review all
the video from them, find out if anything unusual has happened,
and so forth and so on. Because I'm telling you,
Dave Mack, this ain't her first time at the rodeo.
(24:32):
You don't go from pre K to your doctoral degree. No, no, no,
uh uh. What do we know about Nia Iyers?
Speaker 6 (24:43):
She is a licensed practical nurse, got it in got
her you know it's an LPN. She got that in
twenty twenty one and in the you know her career.
It's granted it's not that long, but Nick, twenty four
year old woman with a three year career so far
four years, no complaint. There has not been one call
about anything negative about her. She has good reviews from
(25:06):
her patients and family. So this is a shock, Nancy.
But you know, as you can see on the pictures
that we have, this is a young woman who has
a lot going on, working with two different agencies as
a contractor. And you know, this is a specialty to
care for people who cannot care for themselves. They do
require a different type of handling. So you would expect
(25:28):
a whole lot more from a woman who has chosen
that profession. But that's not what this family got at all.
They got a nurse with horns man.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
To become an LPN and correct me if I'm wrong,
Chief or doctor Kendall Crowns or doctor Jeff Kelshwski, you
know more about the nursing profession than I do, except
for the nurses that saved my children's life. To become
an LPN, you have to complete an accredited practical nursing
program and it usually takes at least two years eighteen
(26:00):
US to two years to do that. You've got to
have high school diploma, you've got to get into the program,
you have to complete the approximately two year program, you've
got to be licensed by the state, and you have
to pass an exam. For me, it would be the
bar exam. So I know she's got at least two
years of college education to get that LPN. Chief, what
(26:23):
do you know about her education? I mean, certainly she
knows better.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Of course, there's certification classes that she has to go through,
and like you said, it's an accredited system to get
the licensed practical nurse done.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
And it's similar to a paramedic program.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
A paramedic program here goes through college level education classes
and then you have to take a professional exam to
get certified, and then there's continuing medical education you have
to do in.
Speaker 8 (26:46):
The state of Florida.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
So similar to my paramedic exam, I have to continue
to do medical education in order to renew my license
every two years. So this is a person who should
be up to speed on everything. They're up to date
on CPR, They're up to date on all their training
and everything they're supposed to be doing to be a
licensed practical nurse. And then again they have to do
continuing education to ensure that they keep that license current.
(27:11):
And again, she was working for two different companies at
the time of this event, so she's obviously she was
certified to be doing the work. I don't necessarily think
that half the things she was doing qualifies under the
LPN curriculum and as part of her job duties.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
What more do we know about what happened to the
teen girl victim? Listen.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
Particularly disturbing sequence caught on camera shows Airs forcefully placing
what appears to be a washcloth over the mouth of
the victim and forcefully wiping it. Airs holds the washcloth
in place for approximately ten seconds as the victim becomes
visibly distressed, exhibiting physical resistance by tensing her body and
attempting to move her head away. The officer notes these
(27:51):
reactions suggest the victim was struggling to breathe and experiencing pans,
and there is.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
One particular moment in the footage. I'm sure the chief
has seen it. Listen.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
At one point during the hours of camera footage, nurse
Nia Ayers places a white washcloth over the victim's mouth
and then violently shakes the victim's head airs, then places
tape over the victim's mouth again, and then throws the
roll of tape across the room towards the wall and
what can only be called an aggressive manner.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
The eighteen year old girl is on a BiPAP machine
and ayers is caught on camera as she walks around
the victim's bed and physically forcefully adjusts the victim's breathing device,
then violently shakes the victim's head and says a profanity
d statement heard on the surveillance camera.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Oh my goodness, Chief, you didn't tell me you had
audio two. That's awesome. Okay, wait a minute, So when
you were saying she was shaking her head violently, you're
saying the video depicts the defendant shaking the victim's head
violently with her hands.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yes, that's correct, she's manipulating her head in a violent manner.
When it appears she's trying to adjust the BiPAP machine
and she's obviously she's saying, she's yelling expellatives, and then
it appears she throws tape and just almost in a
fit of Reachay wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
So Ben Powers, criminal defense attorney, Oh man, you know,
way back when when you and I first started trying cases,
we would never have a video, and the defense, like
you would say, we don't know what really happened. We
don't have a video. You're gonna believe the state's witness. Well,
guess what, Gurky has a video and not just video,
(29:35):
ben Powers, What do you do as a defense attorney?
Do you just shrink down just a tiny bit in
your seat front the jury when they start rolling that
beautiful footage for the jury and you see everything that's
described in opening statements is actually true?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Just take notes like oj Simpson didn't pretend it's not happening.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
So when it comes to a case like this, I
think a big limitation is the prosecuting victim isn't able
to say whether they were in pain, what they were thinking,
whether they couldn't breathe, And so it's going to bring
us back to what the video has. And as it
turns out, the video has audio, and so if it's
not on video and if we can't hear it, then
it didn't happen. And so unless they have some other
(30:21):
medicals to support what they're claiming, it's all going to
come down to the video and audio, and if there's
multiple interpretations, then there's multiple views, not just the state's view.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I don't like you very much right now at all,
because what you said is actually true. In some cases,
I think it can be argued that what you're seeing
is actually actually subjective. In other words, should I believe
you or my lying eyes? Is there some other way
(30:51):
to explain away what's happening? But to doctor Jeff Kloshewski,
joining US forensics psychologist, the curse, the cursing. I don't
know exactly what it is, something along the lines of
if you b goes straight to h el I hate you.
I can only imagine. But when you have the audio
(31:14):
profanity leveled at this girl, a teen girl in a
vegetative state, a vegetative state, and she's cursing her out
to me, that gives the meaning to her actions. Because
now I understand that Gurky has audio as well as video.
(31:37):
It explains what may have been implicent would have to
figure out what she was thinking when she did this
to the girl. But now we know because we can
hear her cursing the little girl out right.
Speaker 10 (31:50):
And when we're talking about the victim really not physically
being able to do anything that would cause someone to
be enrage to abuse the person. From a punishment perspective,
what we're really talking about here is using these acquisitives
and yelling in the victim's face to try to impose
(32:14):
some emotional turmoil. So this idea that the perpetrator must
have been enraged and having an angry overse this is
beyond this.
Speaker 8 (32:25):
This is she's likely.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Using emotional turmoil. She's cursing a vegetative state teen girl
quasiplegic and causing emotional turmoil more.
Speaker 10 (32:40):
Than emotional turmoil, right, I think is.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So much there than emotional turmoil.
Speaker 8 (32:45):
The idea that you know, I had.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Emotional turmoil this morning when I had to I an
not one, but two of my daughter's skirt uniform uniform
skirts before she walks out the door at seven point fifteen. Surprise,
none of the skirts. We're right, it had to be
not this one that I ironed, but the second one
I ironed. Okay, sign that's turmoil. But this little girl
(33:08):
is having her mouth tape. She's basically waterboard with a
wet cloth. She can't breeze, you can't move, she can't speak,
and now she's getting cursed out.
Speaker 10 (33:15):
Yeah, emotional terror, right, I mean combine at all And
the audio is another gives more evidence of this person
sadistically trying to cause harm.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
The camera provide the timestamp for events, documenting the time
incidents take place. At twelve twenty three am, Airs wipes
a nosebleed as a result of tape having been placed
over the victim's mouth. At twelve twenty six am, Airs
applies more tape to the victim's mouth. At twelve twenty
eight am, Airs is scene forcefully ripping the tape from
the victim's mouth. The camera timestamps more abuse at three
(33:50):
twenty one am, when shakes the victim's head and aggressively
rubs her face.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
With a towel.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
At three twenty three am, Airs continues to shake the victim.
At five oh seven am, Airs is scene pinching the
area around the victim's mouth.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Patience maimed sometimes killed by health care pros. That is
Dad Dominic HACKEI speaking to me. He had twin baby boys, beautiful,
but Noah's legs were fractured. How did that happen? And
(34:25):
now he finds out Listen.
Speaker 11 (34:27):
They initially told us that it could have been done
from an injection that was given maybe too rough or
too hard. So they were going to implement some trainings
so that the nurses could be able to give injections correctly.
And that's kind of the only explanation that was given.
And I want to make it perfectly clear. Bone density,
(34:50):
vitamin deficiency, brittle bone syndrome was never ever brought up
in our case. It was never questioned, it was never
it was never a fact.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
For us. Yeah, that wasn't natural. The nurse did it
to Chief Gurky joining us from Saint Cloud PDE. In
that case, and I've got a whole stack of similar
cases here. The nurse was fracturing newborn infants bodies, not
just fracturing, breaking breaking, like breaking their bones, and she
(35:28):
was caught on video and at first nobody knew what
had happened. Then they started looking at the video and
then they found out. And it wasn't just Twin Noah.
There were many many other babies, newborns that had their
bones as they're laying there. Can you imagine the pain
a brand new baby just gets born in this world
(35:50):
and somebody breaks their leg, breaks their legs, snaps it
in two. I mean if you can see a monitor.
I want you to look at the X right of
Noah's leg It just and what's so upsetting about it
is the helpless nature of the victims, like in the
case you have right now.
Speaker 8 (36:11):
It's shocking.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
You know, again, Nancy, I told you, I mean, twenty
five years in law enforcement, I've seen some horrific things.
People that are supposed to do no harm to people,
and they go out and do this all the time.
Speaker 8 (36:24):
I will tell you there is you know, we.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Have a very very no nonsense policy when it comes
to harming people in our society, and I'll be honest
with you, the most vulnerable, including our poor eighteen year
old victim and these newborns. You know, there's I said
it before, there's a special place in hell for people
like that, and our job is to actually bring them
to justice and ensure they never harm another person again.
There's always a common denominator in these things. When you
(36:48):
start to see multiple infants in the cases you're describing,
there's always somebody that's working around the same time, and
you can never explain these fractures. That's really how you
do these things, and that's how you start looking you know,
the poor mother of our victim. She's not sleeping at night.
I mean, it bothers her so much that she thought
she was doing the right thing by bringing in caregivers
(37:10):
to get her daughter the best possible help that she
could have all night long, and now she's devastated. I
met with her again. I met with her last night.
You know, we cried. I gave her a hug.
Speaker 8 (37:22):
She's doing the right thing now.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
But it's horrible thinking that these cameras were in existence,
but she had no knowledge that it was occurring. So
now she is going back with us and we're looking
at all these incidents for potentially more charges or potentially
more violence that was happening under her roof while she
was in the next room.
Speaker 8 (37:40):
It's heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
That's to think you're in the very next room while
your daughter is being tortured by this Well, I gave
up cursing when I had the twins, or try to
doctor Jeff Kelschewsky joining us are now forensic psychologist. You
told me what say it is was, and you explained
it the actual psychological or psychiatric definition. But when you
(38:06):
add the factor that the person the praise on someone
so helpless, that's got to be another facet to sadism.
Speaker 8 (38:19):
Well for sure.
Speaker 10 (38:20):
I mean with sadism, sometimes people do it for the control.
They get someone who's not under control and they have
control over them. That's not occurring in this case. So
this particular sort of sadistic behavior and maneuver, to me,
is even more disturbing because the aim of it is
not necessarily to get control of the victim.
Speaker 8 (38:41):
The victim was already under control.
Speaker 10 (38:44):
But the actual sort of pleasure that this person gets
out of inflicting pain on this helpless victim, you know,
makes it more concerning from a forensic perspective about this
person's dangerousness, and particularly if they don't go to prison
or when they get out of prison, this kind of
(39:06):
thing doesn't necessarily go away, and I'd be very concerned
if this perpetrator had access to victims.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
Again, the victim's mother provides police officers with four pictures
of the injuries the victim had to her face and eyelid.
The officer observed red marks and scratches around the mouth
that the victim and red marks on her eyelid where
it appears skin had ripped off from the tape.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace, hired.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
To care for a vulnerable team, now charged with aggravated abuse.
The Heirs charged herself in, but not before disturbing footage surface.
Speaker 8 (39:48):
Their mother demanded justice.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I want you to listen to the audio that goes
with the video we just showed you. We're twenty four
year old Nia Ayers is to what she's being charged with,
being charged.
Speaker 8 (40:04):
With aggravated.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Disabled person's abuse of a disabled adults.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Okay, did you hear what she said at the very
in uh huh uh huh. She's just told chief that
she's being charged with aggravated kind of got glory right there,
but I think it's going to be aggravated assault on
a disabled person or aggravated abuse of a disabled person.
What is she actually charged with at this juncture? Chief?
Speaker 8 (40:34):
So that's what it is. It's aggravated abuse of a
disabled adult.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
And the Florida statute is eight twenty five point one
oh two subsection two.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
B uh.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
So that's what she's facing right now. And again there's
going to be potentially more counts that we're looking at now.
Speaker 8 (40:50):
We're reviewing all videos.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
I know you're not a shrink, chief, but what is
wrong with these people.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Number One, I will never try to make an excuse
for anyone like this, nor even try to understand why
they do these things, Nancy. But I think it is
important that we recognize that there are still a lot
of healthcare workers that are out there that do the
right thing. I'd be remiss if I did not say that,
Like you said, you've had some great healthcare workers. These
(41:16):
are the anomalies that float in and out of this
profession and any profession that we have in our society.
Law enforcement, officers, attorneys, anywhere. There's people that probably should
not be doing the profession they're in. These people will
just continue to out themselves over and over again thanks
to social media, to videos, and I will tell you
we will be there. Law enforcement is going to be there,
(41:37):
and we will hold them accountable, highly accountable, and ensure
that justice is served on these poor victims that are
unable to basically help themselves.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Well say, of course, you're right, you're right. For instance,
when I hear about a lawyer that does something despicable
and horrible, it makes me feel terrible. Or when a
member of law enforcement abuses a defendant, whether they're guilty
or innocent, I feel like it's a kick in my stomach.
The vast, vast majority of healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, are
(42:08):
amazing angels. But this woman, oh yeah, she's having supper
with Satan and it's not gonna be long. If you
know or think you know anything about this case or
other cases connected to twenty four year old Nia Ayers,
Dial four zero seven eight nine one six seven hundred,
(42:32):
Nancy Grace signing off good night for
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
A precious teen girl in a vegetative state like a coma,
tortured relentlessly by a nurse, and lucky for me, it's
all caught on camera. I Meancy Grace, this is Crime Stories,
and I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
The patient couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't defend herself, but
a camera caught it all. And now this home help
nurse is behind bars.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Home health my rear end talk about a felony defendant.
That's what I'm talking about. Joining me an all star
panel to make sense of what we know tonight. But first,
before I even get into the facts, I want to
go out to a special guest joining us who's taking
time from solving crimes right now and answering calls. Chief
(01:08):
Douglas Gurkey joining a Saint Cloud Police Department in Florida. Chief,
thank you for being with us. You know what, Chief,
do you ever get tired of the most vulnerable, the
most defenseless, the weakest people in our society getting prayed
upon and mistreated just for the fun of it? Do
(01:30):
you ever get exhausted and go home and say I
give up.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I quit you know, Nancy, I appreciate that, and I
appreciate you having me on the show. And you know,
every day we come to work every single day to
ensure that our community is not prayed on. And you know,
some of the things I've seen in my career almost
twenty five years is just it's shocking to see the
videos of what occurred in this case. Specifically, it reinvigors
(01:54):
our mission every single day to come out and again
protect those that are unable to protect themselves. And that's
exactly what happened in this case. But there was a
lot of things that came together to make this work.
And you know, I give a lot of credit to
our detectives, but I really give a lot of credit
to the family that actually had the cameras set up,
that recognized this, that came to law enforcement, and we
partnered with them to make sure that this person is
(02:16):
actually never able to harm another person.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
One bad apple makes a whole bunch rotten.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah, So they're in every profession, Nancy, And you're one
hundred percent correct. You know, no matter what profession there is,
there's always going to be someone there that has to
be watched. I will tell you I'm a paramedic myself,
so I you know, the duty to do no harm.
The things that I saw here were absolutely despicable. But
I will tell you there's good people out there that
actually take their job seriously, and our job is to
find those that are not. I think this family knew
(02:46):
something was wrong, which is why they set the camera up.
And when they reviewed the cameras and what they saw,
they saw nosebleeds, They saw everything out of this poor victim. Again,
it's heartbreaking. I saw the mom last night. She came
in last night. I gave her a big hug. She
brought me some new video. Unfortunately, we're going to be
looking at those two. We're going back day by day
that she has video, and we're gonna actually look at
everything because there's potentially more charges coming against this person.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You know, chief two words, nail her, Nail her because
it's going to go on and on and on until
healthcare workers realize they will be held accountable if they're caught.
And also, I know it's not sexy. You're not like
stopping a gunfight or jumping in in the middle of
(03:33):
a bank robbery. You and your staff are going to
be going through minute by minute video where mostly nothing happens,
but then there's that moment. There's that moment, and it's
a felony. Okay, let's start at the beginning. Listen.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
A mother in St. Cloud, Florida, hires around the clock
nursing care in her home to help care for her
teenage daughter. The eighteen year old is developmentally disabled, nonverbal,
quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and minimal vision. To cover the
twenty four to seven schedule, nurses work twelve hour shifts
seven am to seven pm and seven pm to seven am.
And there's Saint Cloud, Florida home. Different nurses are used
(04:13):
from two different services in the area to provide the
nurses needed for proper care.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Boy, can I relate to that all star pane. I'm
going to go to doctor Kendall Crowns, but first to
Dave Mack, who is a tireless Crime Stories investigative reporter.
You know, Dave, you have been to our home, You
met my mom. That's exactly the setup that we have.
When I go to work, there's somebody with her. Whenever
(04:41):
I'm away, there is somebody with her. And I have
the greatest people that I know. I know them now,
I know their families, I know all about them, and
I trust them. I also have granny cams out the
yin Yang, so I can see I'm seeing right here.
I could see what is happening in my mom's room
(05:02):
right But you have to trust these people. Tell me
about this girl, this teen girl. She is in a
vegetative state. What happened.
Speaker 6 (05:13):
We're not talking about an incident that happened that caused this.
She was born with a number of issues. She is
non communicative, she is a quadriplegic Jazz three with palsy,
and she has minimal visions, so she needs twenty four hour,
round the clock care that her family has provided for her.
And they've got a great lengths to make sure that
(05:35):
she's got somebody there with her all the time. They
work shifts from seven pm to seven am, seven am
to seven pm, and in this particular case, the same
nurse has been there every Friday, working the seven pm
to seven am Saturday morning shift for over a year.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Nancy, Oh my Stars, no wonder. Teve Gurky has a
lot of video. Over a year, this minion from hell
has been with this little girl, this teen girl, let
me go to doctor Kendall Crown's. Guys. Doctor Kendall Crowns
is the chief Medical Examiner Terrance County. That's Fort Worth, Texas.
(06:15):
Never a lack of business there. I like to say.
He is the esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of
Medicine at TCU, and he has just launched a hit
podcast called Mayhem in the Morgue and I've listened to it,
and it is him describing very unique cases that he
has worked in the past. At the beginning, you couldn't
(06:37):
really tell what was going to happen with the CEOD
cause of death. And then he puts it together like
a Airculee Poirot in the end and it all makes sense.
It's pretty amazing, Doctor Kndll Crowns. So that's a whole
other can of worms. Doctor Crowns, could you just tell
me what does all this mean? As I like to say,
I'm just a JD. You're the MD. Now, this teen
(06:59):
girl developed mentally disabled. She's nonverbal. I know what that means.
She can't speak. She's a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and
minimal vision. Okay, what is that potpoery of ailments. What
does that mean?
Speaker 7 (07:14):
So let's start with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a
condition in which there is essentially brain damage in the
individual does not function as well as as a normal
individual would. These people can have any level of consciousness,
any level of disability. But she is a quadriplegic. And
then she also has vision abdermellies, so she's minimally has
(07:37):
minimal vision, has minimal ability to speak, and cannot move.
So she's the perfect victim in these type of nursing
home or care home deaths in which the individual gets
frustrated or tired of caring for them and then takes
out their frustrations on the individual who can't speak or
even see.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
How do you get cerebral palsy?
Speaker 7 (07:58):
Cerebral palsy can be actually caused in the birthing process
or in utero or when you're in the womb. There
can be a lack of oxygen getting to the brain,
or it can be actually a congenital developmental defect. So
it can also occur as the birthing procedure has happen,
occurring where the procedure takes too long, or there is
(08:21):
an oxya or a lack of oxygen getting to the
child as they're trying to get it out of the
birth canal. And there is also a feeling that it
can occur after the birth, where there can be injuries
associated with the birthing process.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, I don't know really exactly what you just said,
but I did manage to call out reduced oxygen to
the brain causes cerebral palsy. Be it in utero, during
birth or after birth?
Speaker 7 (08:44):
Correct, and it can also be associated with congenital abnormalities
or birth defects.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Okay, translation born that way, got it? Okay. Does serebral
palsy cause compaired vision?
Speaker 7 (08:59):
It can be one of the things that can be
associated with it. Impaired vision can also be associated with
other injuries and also can be a birth defect.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I'm just wondering if lack of oxygen to the brain
also causes vision impairment. Does it?
Speaker 8 (09:12):
It can?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Okay? Okay. The next thing, this ting girl is a quadriplegic.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
Explain so because of the brain injury that she may
have had occurred from lack of oxygen to the brain
or a birth defect. Cerebral palsy the brain doesn't function right,
and it causes the limbs or the muscles to not
be coordinated or to function properly. In her case, it
caused quadriplegia, which means all four of her limbs are
(09:42):
not functioning, so essentially she's immobile.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
You know why I'm asking this, Chief gur Key, because
listeners and potentially a jury needs to understand. As painful
as it is to hear it, all I could say
think about just then, while doctor Kimball Crown's was describing
how the lack of oxygen to this little girl's brain
(10:08):
caused her to have cerebral palsy. It caused her to
have minimal vision. She has four limbs, but they don't work.
All I could think about is my son running free
on the soccer field, or my daughter doing her walk,
her hour and a half walk every day, which walks
(10:28):
so fast I can hardly keep up with her her legs.
For so long, this girl has never been able to move,
to see, to speak. I don't know what she understands,
if she can really hear what people are saying, and
if she can hear them, does she understand what they're saying?
(10:51):
When her mother speaks to her, that's who the victim is.
And of all the people in the world, Okay, I'm
sure you like me, have had many drug lords gonned down.
I'm like, boohoo, this girl is so defenseless, so innocent,
(11:14):
and yet she was, in my mind, ag assaulted. This
little teen girl, can't see, can't move any limbs, nothing,
and she was tortured. I mean, it makes me want
(11:34):
to bring back the death penalty for ag assaults. Chief.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
So let me tell you this is you know, to
put this in a better perspective, and I will tell
you when I saw some of the pictures, it broke
my heart because as law enforcement, it's very difficult for
us to really engage and really understand everything. Let me
tell you some of the things that we did see
in the video itself. You know, her eyes were taped shut,
aggressively shaking her head and with the respiratory equipment, she
(11:58):
had a bipath machine shaking her head around, which caused
scratches and potential nosebleeds, holding a washcloth over her mouth
for a prolonged period of time that appeared to obstructed
her airway. You can see her moving around, so obviously
the video is not releasable yet it's an active criminal case.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
But some of these things of what really breaks.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
My heart that there are horrible monsters in the world
like that that are out there. And I'll be honest
with you, people like that have a special place in Hell.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
To be honest with you, do we have to wait
for her to die and go to Hell and let
Lucifer deal with her. Can't we do a little something now, cheaf,
You said that she used a bipat machine, Doctor Kiddle
Crown's what is that?
Speaker 7 (12:38):
Bipat machine is basically an oxygen machine that usually goes
over the nose and it helps force oxygen in and
it aids in sleep apnea by keeping the airways open. Also,
if she's putting a washcloth over her face, if that
washcloths is wet, that would be similar to waterboarding techniques,
where they're essentially making them breathe in water, almost like drowning.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You know one of the videos in Chief, I have
never liked crime scene photos, but I know I have
to look at them to look for elements of proof,
to see what I can argue to a jury based
on little details I might see in those photos. And
you mentioned that the purp. According to the video, she
(13:22):
is innocent until proven guilty. Of course, that goes without saying.
At one point when she the healthcare worker, a young female,
I mean, she looks like somebody i'd see when I
go pick my daughter up from getting her nails done,
was sitting in the next chair. The victim has her
face and mouth covered and you can see her chest heaving,
(13:46):
trying to breathe through that wet cloth. I mean, how
could she? Did you see that video?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Chief?
Speaker 8 (13:55):
I did it.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
It's very difficult to watch. Even as a paramedic, it's
very difficult to watch. It's I don't necessarily see any
medical justification for it. It's clearly that it appeared to
be punitive in nature. But uh, you know, we're gonna
let the jury decide on that.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
One punitive hold on taithe punitive, Well, okay, Punitive in
my world means you're being punished for something that you
did wrong, like punitive damage or an over punitive sentence.
So what did the little girl, the teen girl in
(14:29):
a vegetative state do wrong that she deserves punishment? I
can't wait to hear this.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I have zero answers for that because I watched this
poor girl lay helplessly in her bed while this person
abused her. There is no justification. It's morally reprehensible for
what she did.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
She was supposed to be a lifeline instead. Nurse Nia
Ayres is accused of tormenting the disabled teen, ripping tape
off her feet, suffocating her with the washcloth, and shaking
her breathing machine.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Oh my stars, she's actually smiling. The alleged purp is smiling.
Oh uh uh uh. Look look look how well you
know what a twenty to life sentence? Well white that
smile right off her face. I'm guessing I want you
(15:27):
to hear how the whole horrific scenario first was uncovered.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Listen checking on her disabled daughter Saturday morning, the mother
notices red scratches around her daughter's mouth and I lid.
The scratches were not present in the previous evening, and
as a quadriplegic, it's impossible for her daughter to scratch
herself in such a way. So she reviews surveillance camera
footage from the previous night, and what she sees shocks
her to her core and has her calling police immediately.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yes, of course, right there joining me is Ben Powers
now on Criminal Defense Attorney. You can find them on
Facebook at Legal Powers also legalpowers dot com. Ben, thank
you for being with us. Ben see those subtle clues.
Mom comes in and she sees a scratch on her
daughter's face, and she knows, right then something is wrong.
(16:21):
There are subtle clues that if you are attuned to
the person, you spot them immediately. Now, somebody like you
might be able to argue to a jury a scratch
that means nothing, That means nothing about my client, but
to a jury it could mean everything.
Speaker 9 (16:40):
Being Powers, yeah, I think the scratch is the least
of her defense team's words. I mean, there's a video
that lays out some pretty egregious behavior. Most concerning if
I'm defending her is you know, I guess to back up,
we need to put out that is nonverbal. This case
is all about what is on the video.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Well, Binpowers, You're absolutely right. The scratches on her daughter's face, mild,
though they may be, are the least of this healthcare
workers problems. But because of those scratches, and because the
mom is vigilant, it led mom to check the video.
What's on the video?
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Listen watching the surveillance video, the officer notes timed where
Nia Airs is aggressive and abusive with the eighteen year
old victim. At eleven to fifty eight pm, Airs is
seen placing tape on the mouth of the victim, then
very aggressively holding a washcloth tight to the mouth of
a victim. Airs is then seen ripping the tape off
the mouth of the victim. The victim's mother tells police
(17:41):
at no time is its standard procedure to tape the mouth.
The only time tape is used is to tape eyelid
shut while the victim sleeps.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Tape the mouth. She's okay, Chief Douglas Gurkey joining me,
the chief of police at Saint Cloud there in Florida.
Chief whoa okay? So the teen girl is already wearing
a breathing apparatus, but this healthcare worker, based on the
video that you have seen, taped her mouth. And of
(18:10):
course she's innocent until proven guilty. But the video is
what it is. So even with a breathing apparatus on,
the victim's mouth was taped shut. Explain how that worked.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So again, that would be a procedure that they would
I'm not sure why they would be taping the mouth specifically.
I do understand that tape on the eyelids could go
on to help them, to assist them to sleep. But
what we also saw in that video was her aggressively
tearing the tape back off backwards. I did tear it off,
she puts it on and rips it off again. That's
really what we were seeing. That didn't make any sense
(18:44):
at all. The BiPAP machine was put on, so it
wasn't on all the time. Then she put it on,
but she's forcefully shaking her head around, she's getting visibly upset,
she's throwing things. So there's a lot more that just
shows that she is completely my opinion, it appears she's
enraged while this is all occurring, all the while.
Speaker 8 (19:05):
That this person is helpless.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
She's not moving, she's getting spun around, her head's getting
moved around, forcefully, putting tape on, ripping it off. And
I'll tell you what's concerning the most was that washcloth incident,
holding it over her mouth and pushing down forcefully while
you see her writhing around trying to move her body
back and forth, almost as if she realized she is
(19:27):
unable to breathe or she's having a difficult time breathing,
so it's unjustifiable number one. But I have no idea
what's in her mind why she did something like that.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Boy, I do I need a shrink. And luckily, doctor
Jeff Kloshewski is joining us. Forensic psychologist, author of Dark Sides,
and on YouTube he is a star of Dr Jeff
Kalishwski forensic psychologist. Doctor Jeff, thank you for being with us. Okay,
I keep hearing about the healthcare work or translation felony defendant,
(19:59):
and you know, very often you see a wolf in
sheep's clothing. This girl looks like she should, you know,
be bopping by you at the mall or the nail salon.
She looks like she's about seventeen years old. Long story short.
We keep hearing doctor Jeff that she looked enraged, angry
(20:21):
at the victim over what the victim can't see, can't move,
can't talk, can't understand what's happening around her, angry at what.
Speaker 10 (20:30):
Doctor Jeff, Well, it's interesting because you know, I've had
a number of these cases over the years.
Speaker 8 (20:37):
Unfortunately, and it.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Was mentioned earlier, sometimes these cases unfold when the caretaker
is stressed out and sort of loses it for a minute.
But when we talk about sort of systematically wait.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Doctor Jeff, wait wait wait, okay, sorry, I need to
ask you a question.
Speaker 8 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I still don't get angry or burned out or raiseel
about what I mean. The victim can't speak, move, or
hear what the victim do, right.
Speaker 10 (21:12):
Because sometimes in these cases that I've had, the healthcare
provider becomes frustrated because the person's not compliant or confused.
Speaker 8 (21:21):
This is different.
Speaker 10 (21:23):
This is when we're talking about sort of systematic torture,
you know, holding the washcloth over and watching the victim suffer.
Now we're moving into these are sort of sadistic acts.
And this is beyond a healthcare worker having a bad moment.
(21:46):
This is a person who it sounds like, is getting
some type of pleasure and causing pain or emotional distress
in the victim. And that's a whole different ballgame compared
to some of these other cases where there's abuse that
are of a vulnerable adult.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Doctor Jeff Kalshewski, you mentioned a word that is in
everyone's common parlance, our vocabulary. You said sadistic, but it
is actually a psychological or psychiatric term used in your profession.
What exactly is sadism in.
Speaker 10 (22:20):
General terms, sadism or sadistic that really talks about a
person who gets pleasure from causing either emotional, psychological, or
physical pain on another person.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
After watching Airs rip the tape off the mouth that
the victim, Airs adjusted the victim's body on the bed
not by sliding her arm underneath and slowly moving the team,
but by yanking the victim's left arm aggressively. After yanking
and pulling the team into position, Nurse Airs aggressively suctions
the victim's airway before holding a white washcloth up to
the victim's mouth and holding it firmly in place for
(22:55):
several seconds, appearing to hinder the breathing of the victim.
While holding the victim's mouth closed, it appears the victim
is attempting to move her head in a way that
depicted she was uncomfortable and unable to breathe.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Mother reviews home security footage and is horrified by what
her daughter's nurse is caught doing. An eighteen year old
nonverbal quadriplegic patient completely dependent, left bruised, bleeding and gasping
for air, who.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Is this woman I know about the victim. She's a quadriplegic.
She has minimal vision. If she can hear, I don't
know if she can understand what her mother and others
are saying to her, what that means to her. She
can't move, she can't speak. They put tape on her
(23:52):
eyes at night for her to sleep. These videos are
hell on Earth. To Dave Mack joining me, I want
to talk about Nia Iyres, age twenty four, working for
two different health care companies. Okay, I bet that, says
(24:12):
Chief Douglas A. Gurkey on Wild Goose Chase, Because now
he's got to go to these healthcare companies. He's got
to find out everywhere else she works and review all
the video from them, find out if anything unusual has happened,
and so forth and so on. Because I'm telling you,
Dave Mack, this ain't her first time at the rodeo.
(24:32):
You don't go from pre K to your doctoral degree. No, no, no,
uh uh. What do we know about Nia Iyers?
Speaker 6 (24:43):
She is a licensed practical nurse, got it in got
her you know it's an LPN. She got that in
twenty twenty one and in the you know her career.
It's granted it's not that long, but Nick, twenty four
year old woman with a three year career so far
four years, no complaint. There has not been one call
about anything negative about her. She has good reviews from
(25:06):
her patients and family. So this is a shock, Nancy.
But you know, as you can see on the pictures
that we have, this is a young woman who has
a lot going on, working with two different agencies as
a contractor. And you know, this is a specialty to
care for people who cannot care for themselves. They do
require a different type of handling. So you would expect
(25:28):
a whole lot more from a woman who has chosen
that profession. But that's not what this family got at all.
They got a nurse with horns man.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
To become an LPN and correct me if I'm wrong,
Chief or doctor Kendall Crowns or doctor Jeff Kelshwski, you
know more about the nursing profession than I do, except
for the nurses that saved my children's life. To become
an LPN, you have to complete an accredited practical nursing
program and it usually takes at least two years eighteen
(26:00):
US to two years to do that. You've got to
have high school diploma, you've got to get into the program,
you have to complete the approximately two year program, you've
got to be licensed by the state, and you have
to pass an exam. For me, it would be the
bar exam. So I know she's got at least two
years of college education to get that LPN. Chief, what
(26:23):
do you know about her education? I mean, certainly she
knows better.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Of course, there's certification classes that she has to go through,
and like you said, it's an accredited system to get
the licensed practical nurse done.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
And it's similar to a paramedic program.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
A paramedic program here goes through college level education classes
and then you have to take a professional exam to
get certified, and then there's continuing medical education you have
to do in.
Speaker 8 (26:46):
The state of Florida.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
So similar to my paramedic exam, I have to continue
to do medical education in order to renew my license
every two years. So this is a person who should
be up to speed on everything. They're up to date
on CPR, They're up to date on all their training
and everything they're supposed to be doing to be a
licensed practical nurse. And then again they have to do
continuing education to ensure that they keep that license current.
(27:11):
And again, she was working for two different companies at
the time of this event, so she's obviously she was
certified to be doing the work. I don't necessarily think
that half the things she was doing qualifies under the
LPN curriculum and as part of her job duties.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
What more do we know about what happened to the
teen girl victim? Listen.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
Particularly disturbing sequence caught on camera shows Airs forcefully placing
what appears to be a washcloth over the mouth of
the victim and forcefully wiping it. Airs holds the washcloth
in place for approximately ten seconds as the victim becomes
visibly distressed, exhibiting physical resistance by tensing her body and
attempting to move her head away. The officer notes these
(27:51):
reactions suggest the victim was struggling to breathe and experiencing pans,
and there is.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
One particular moment in the footage. I'm sure the chief
has seen it. Listen.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
At one point during the hours of camera footage, nurse
Nia Ayers places a white washcloth over the victim's mouth
and then violently shakes the victim's head airs, then places
tape over the victim's mouth again, and then throws the
roll of tape across the room towards the wall and
what can only be called an aggressive manner.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
The eighteen year old girl is on a BiPAP machine
and ayers is caught on camera as she walks around
the victim's bed and physically forcefully adjusts the victim's breathing device,
then violently shakes the victim's head and says a profanity
d statement heard on the surveillance camera.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Oh my goodness, Chief, you didn't tell me you had
audio two. That's awesome. Okay, wait a minute, So when
you were saying she was shaking her head violently, you're
saying the video depicts the defendant shaking the victim's head
violently with her hands.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yes, that's correct, she's manipulating her head in a violent manner.
When it appears she's trying to adjust the BiPAP machine
and she's obviously she's saying, she's yelling expellatives, and then
it appears she throws tape and just almost in a
fit of Reachay wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
So Ben Powers, criminal defense attorney, Oh man, you know,
way back when when you and I first started trying cases,
we would never have a video, and the defense, like
you would say, we don't know what really happened. We
don't have a video. You're gonna believe the state's witness. Well,
guess what, Gurky has a video and not just video,
(29:35):
ben Powers, What do you do as a defense attorney?
Do you just shrink down just a tiny bit in
your seat front the jury when they start rolling that
beautiful footage for the jury and you see everything that's
described in opening statements is actually true?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Just take notes like oj Simpson didn't pretend it's not happening.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
So when it comes to a case like this, I
think a big limitation is the prosecuting victim isn't able
to say whether they were in pain, what they were thinking,
whether they couldn't breathe, And so it's going to bring
us back to what the video has. And as it
turns out, the video has audio, and so if it's
not on video and if we can't hear it, then
it didn't happen. And so unless they have some other
(30:21):
medicals to support what they're claiming, it's all going to
come down to the video and audio, and if there's
multiple interpretations, then there's multiple views, not just the state's view.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I don't like you very much right now at all,
because what you said is actually true. In some cases,
I think it can be argued that what you're seeing
is actually actually subjective. In other words, should I believe
you or my lying eyes? Is there some other way
(30:51):
to explain away what's happening? But to doctor Jeff Kloshewski,
joining US forensics psychologist, the curse, the cursing. I don't
know exactly what it is, something along the lines of
if you b goes straight to h el I hate you.
I can only imagine. But when you have the audio
(31:14):
profanity leveled at this girl, a teen girl in a
vegetative state, a vegetative state, and she's cursing her out
to me, that gives the meaning to her actions. Because
now I understand that Gurky has audio as well as video.
(31:37):
It explains what may have been implicent would have to
figure out what she was thinking when she did this
to the girl. But now we know because we can
hear her cursing the little girl out right.
Speaker 10 (31:50):
And when we're talking about the victim really not physically
being able to do anything that would cause someone to
be enrage to abuse the person. From a punishment perspective,
what we're really talking about here is using these acquisitives
and yelling in the victim's face to try to impose
(32:14):
some emotional turmoil. So this idea that the perpetrator must
have been enraged and having an angry overse this is
beyond this.
Speaker 8 (32:25):
This is she's likely.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Using emotional turmoil. She's cursing a vegetative state teen girl
quasiplegic and causing emotional turmoil more.
Speaker 10 (32:40):
Than emotional turmoil, right, I think is.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So much there than emotional turmoil.
Speaker 8 (32:45):
The idea that you know, I had.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Emotional turmoil this morning when I had to I an
not one, but two of my daughter's skirt uniform uniform
skirts before she walks out the door at seven point fifteen. Surprise,
none of the skirts. We're right, it had to be
not this one that I ironed, but the second one
I ironed. Okay, sign that's turmoil. But this little girl
(33:08):
is having her mouth tape. She's basically waterboard with a
wet cloth. She can't breeze, you can't move, she can't speak,
and now she's getting cursed out.
Speaker 10 (33:15):
Yeah, emotional terror, right, I mean combine at all And
the audio is another gives more evidence of this person
sadistically trying to cause harm.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
The camera provide the timestamp for events, documenting the time
incidents take place. At twelve twenty three am, Airs wipes
a nosebleed as a result of tape having been placed
over the victim's mouth. At twelve twenty six am, Airs
applies more tape to the victim's mouth. At twelve twenty
eight am, Airs is scene forcefully ripping the tape from
the victim's mouth. The camera timestamps more abuse at three
(33:50):
twenty one am, when shakes the victim's head and aggressively
rubs her face.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
With a towel.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
At three twenty three am, Airs continues to shake the victim.
At five oh seven am, Airs is scene pinching the
area around the victim's mouth.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Patience maimed sometimes killed by health care pros. That is
Dad Dominic HACKEI speaking to me. He had twin baby boys, beautiful,
but Noah's legs were fractured. How did that happen? And
(34:25):
now he finds out Listen.
Speaker 11 (34:27):
They initially told us that it could have been done
from an injection that was given maybe too rough or
too hard. So they were going to implement some trainings
so that the nurses could be able to give injections correctly.
And that's kind of the only explanation that was given.
And I want to make it perfectly clear. Bone density,
(34:50):
vitamin deficiency, brittle bone syndrome was never ever brought up
in our case. It was never questioned, it was never
it was never a fact.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
For us. Yeah, that wasn't natural. The nurse did it
to Chief Gurky joining us from Saint Cloud PDE. In
that case, and I've got a whole stack of similar
cases here. The nurse was fracturing newborn infants bodies, not
just fracturing, breaking breaking, like breaking their bones, and she
(35:28):
was caught on video and at first nobody knew what
had happened. Then they started looking at the video and
then they found out. And it wasn't just Twin Noah.
There were many many other babies, newborns that had their
bones as they're laying there. Can you imagine the pain
a brand new baby just gets born in this world
(35:50):
and somebody breaks their leg, breaks their legs, snaps it
in two. I mean if you can see a monitor.
I want you to look at the X right of
Noah's leg It just and what's so upsetting about it
is the helpless nature of the victims, like in the
case you have right now.
Speaker 8 (36:11):
It's shocking.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
You know, again, Nancy, I told you, I mean, twenty
five years in law enforcement, I've seen some horrific things.
People that are supposed to do no harm to people,
and they go out and do this all the time.
Speaker 8 (36:24):
I will tell you there is you know, we.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Have a very very no nonsense policy when it comes
to harming people in our society, and I'll be honest
with you, the most vulnerable, including our poor eighteen year
old victim and these newborns. You know, there's I said
it before, there's a special place in hell for people
like that, and our job is to actually bring them
to justice and ensure they never harm another person again.
There's always a common denominator in these things. When you
(36:48):
start to see multiple infants in the cases you're describing,
there's always somebody that's working around the same time, and
you can never explain these fractures. That's really how you
do these things, and that's how you start looking you know,
the poor mother of our victim. She's not sleeping at night.
I mean, it bothers her so much that she thought
she was doing the right thing by bringing in caregivers
(37:10):
to get her daughter the best possible help that she
could have all night long, and now she's devastated. I
met with her again. I met with her last night.
You know, we cried. I gave her a hug.
Speaker 8 (37:22):
She's doing the right thing now.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
But it's horrible thinking that these cameras were in existence,
but she had no knowledge that it was occurring. So
now she is going back with us and we're looking
at all these incidents for potentially more charges or potentially
more violence that was happening under her roof while she
was in the next room.
Speaker 8 (37:40):
It's heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
That's to think you're in the very next room while
your daughter is being tortured by this Well, I gave
up cursing when I had the twins, or try to
doctor Jeff Kelschewsky joining us are now forensic psychologist. You
told me what say it is was, and you explained
it the actual psychological or psychiatric definition. But when you
(38:06):
add the factor that the person the praise on someone
so helpless, that's got to be another facet to sadism.
Speaker 8 (38:19):
Well for sure.
Speaker 10 (38:20):
I mean with sadism, sometimes people do it for the control.
They get someone who's not under control and they have
control over them. That's not occurring in this case. So
this particular sort of sadistic behavior and maneuver, to me,
is even more disturbing because the aim of it is
not necessarily to get control of the victim.
Speaker 8 (38:41):
The victim was already under control.
Speaker 10 (38:44):
But the actual sort of pleasure that this person gets
out of inflicting pain on this helpless victim, you know,
makes it more concerning from a forensic perspective about this
person's dangerousness, and particularly if they don't go to prison
or when they get out of prison, this kind of
(39:06):
thing doesn't necessarily go away, and I'd be very concerned
if this perpetrator had access to victims.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
Again, the victim's mother provides police officers with four pictures
of the injuries the victim had to her face and eyelid.
The officer observed red marks and scratches around the mouth
that the victim and red marks on her eyelid where
it appears skin had ripped off from the tape.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace, hired.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
To care for a vulnerable team, now charged with aggravated abuse.
The Heirs charged herself in, but not before disturbing footage surface.
Speaker 8 (39:48):
Their mother demanded justice.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I want you to listen to the audio that goes
with the video we just showed you. We're twenty four
year old Nia Ayers is to what she's being charged with,
being charged.
Speaker 8 (40:04):
With aggravated.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Disabled person's abuse of a disabled adults.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Okay, did you hear what she said at the very
in uh huh uh huh. She's just told chief that
she's being charged with aggravated kind of got glory right there,
but I think it's going to be aggravated assault on
a disabled person or aggravated abuse of a disabled person.
What is she actually charged with at this juncture? Chief?
Speaker 8 (40:34):
So that's what it is. It's aggravated abuse of a
disabled adult.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
And the Florida statute is eight twenty five point one
oh two subsection two.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
B uh.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
So that's what she's facing right now. And again there's
going to be potentially more counts that we're looking at now.
Speaker 8 (40:50):
We're reviewing all videos.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
I know you're not a shrink, chief, but what is
wrong with these people.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Number One, I will never try to make an excuse
for anyone like this, nor even try to understand why
they do these things, Nancy. But I think it is
important that we recognize that there are still a lot
of healthcare workers that are out there that do the
right thing. I'd be remiss if I did not say that,
Like you said, you've had some great healthcare workers. These
(41:16):
are the anomalies that float in and out of this
profession and any profession that we have in our society.
Law enforcement, officers, attorneys, anywhere. There's people that probably should
not be doing the profession they're in. These people will
just continue to out themselves over and over again thanks
to social media, to videos, and I will tell you
we will be there. Law enforcement is going to be there,
(41:37):
and we will hold them accountable, highly accountable, and ensure
that justice is served on these poor victims that are
unable to basically help themselves.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Well say, of course, you're right, you're right. For instance,
when I hear about a lawyer that does something despicable
and horrible, it makes me feel terrible. Or when a
member of law enforcement abuses a defendant, whether they're guilty
or innocent, I feel like it's a kick in my stomach.
The vast, vast majority of healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, are
(42:08):
amazing angels. But this woman, oh yeah, she's having supper
with Satan and it's not gonna be long. If you
know or think you know anything about this case or
other cases connected to twenty four year old Nia Ayers,
Dial four zero seven eight nine one six seven hundred,
(42:32):
Nancy Grace signing off good night for
Host
Nancy Grace
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.