In 2005 Helen Reyes met Jerry skiba at a local Applebee’s restaurant their relationship moved fast and Helen soon became pregnant on July 6 2006 26 year old Helen gave birth to Tegan Alyssa skiba in Raleigh North Carolina she was a healthy baby with brown hair and brown eyes her family affectionately referred to her as tigi Tegan was healthy but the relationship between her parents wasn’t Helen had barely known Jerry a year before giving birth to their daughter the relationship had moved quickly and she had ignored

many of its issues for too long Tegan’s birth only further proved that the relationship had run its course shortly after Helen brought their daughter home Jerry became physically abusive and the couple broke up soon after once the relationship had ended Jerry didn’t make much of an effort to stay in his daughter’s life based on his behavior that was likely for the best losing a parent this early in her life would have been difficult for any newborn but Tegan was lucky Jerry’s parents Gerald and Sarah skiba leapt

into the role of being loving grandparents and they did their best to fill any holes left by their son’s absence the skiba supported Helen as well it wasn’t long before Helen began relying heavily on Jerry’s parents to babysit Tegan and assist in her child care hella’s relationship with the older couple wasn’t just about practicality they had a real emotional connection the unstable situation Tegan was born into had gradually blossomed into a large and tight-knit family Tegan went on to flourish into a bright

loving young girl for the next several years she loved princesses in the color purple Tegan also had a passion for the outdoors she loved to frolick in her grandmother’s garden and find her favorite bugs butterflies and ladybugs her family treasured every moment spent seeing her beautiful smile according to her grandfather she made us feel so good just being around her if it were up to the grandparents they would have taken over custody of their granddaughter so they could provide her with a quiet happy life that she so dearly deserved

but unfortunately Helen Reyes had other plans after her relationship with Jerry fell apart Tegan’s mother remained single for a little while that changed in early 2010 when Helen met 21 year old Jonathan Douglas Richardson just like her ex she jumped into a serious relationship with her new man fast Helen would later recall I cared about him I felt I was in love with him or falling in love with him another similarity between her new boyfriend and her old one was the red flags at the time Jerry had been locked

up in the Crave and Correctional Institution for Narcotics trafficking Jonathan had his own series of run-ins with a law he’d been convicted of simple assault and injury to personal property that charge came for when he broke the windshield of his then girlfriend’s car during an argument in November of 2007 he was arrested again this time for verbal threats in burning down an unoccupied building in 2008 he was arrested in Wayne County for a DUI now Jonathan wasn’t the type of guy who knew how to hide his crazier side either

according to relatives Jonathan would frequently yell and cuss at Helen consequently Helen was quiet and timid when she was around him despite all of the signals that she had run from one abuser to another Helen allowed herself to be further drawn into his orbit and didn’t hesitate in allowing him access to her daughter Jonathan was the man she wanted to create a family with she wasn’t interested in anything else not long after the relationship began Helen distanced herself from the skiba family out of nowhere she stopped answering

their calls and texts these people had once played a key role in raising Tegan and now Helen was preventing them from ever seeing her again this devastated the skibas and they attempted to look into legal means of getting Tegan into their guardianship unfortunately North Carolina law makes it difficult for grandparents to claim custody over a living parent according to the grandmother it’s so hard they want you to prove so much Helen’s Bridge burning would not stop with Tegan’s paternal grandparents she had enough of her own parents as well at

the time Helen was living with her family while she got back on her feet tension Rose as her own family members didn’t approve of Jonathan for obvious reasons around June of 2010 Helen and her mother Maria had a blowout fight that resulted in Helen deciding to move out to live with Jonathan permanently abruptly yanking Tegan away from her robust support system and gallivanting with her new man would be extremely irresponsible even if the guy was Prince Charming the relationship was young hella didn’t really know this man or how

he treat her daughter she didn’t even know if this relationship would last or if she was pointlessly getting her daughter emotionally attached to a Summer Fling what Helen did know is how Jonathan treated her he was verbally abusive and aggressive nevertheless she decided to move in with him there was only one more massive issue with this plan Jonathan didn’t have a suitable house to move into and he didn’t even have an apartment either instead Jonathan stayed in what amounted to be a dolled up shed in his grandparents

backyard the tin roof 20 by 20 foot structure set approximately 150 feet away from the main house his grandparents the creatures allowed him to stay there in hopes that he’d get his life together but why stay with them rather than his own parents Jonathan had an extremely rocky relationship with his parents his mother Sandy Creech was accused of hiring a Hitman to assassinate his father Doug Richardson Sandy was taken to court and found not guilty of any wrongdoing and Doug survived the attack after being shot in the head even though Jonathan

was a year old at this time the incident left the relationship strained his father gained primary custody but his experience made him neglectful and physically abusive Jonathan’s mother suffered from mental illnesses of her own and was a frequent narcotics user that’s why Jonathan was staying in a shed in his grandparents yard rather than living with his parents Jonathan’s shed may have been sufficient for a broke man in his early 20s but it was far from an ideal place to raise a three-year-old child the shed had a

burgundy door and four Windows two in the front and two in the back it had electricity but no running water or bathroom the creatures allowed those living in the shed to come inside and use the restroom but this only happened on occasion instead the inhabitants of the shed would often just defecate inside of it it also lacked a kitchen which is probably for the best given what we just shared in this shed Helen Jonathan and Tegan all slept together on a single air mattress on the floor according to neighbors Tegan’s time at

the shed wasn’t entirely miserable they were called seeing her playing outside and having fun in the yard her mother also spoke highly of her relationship with Jonathan she called him a father figure to her daughter she said quote he was Stern with her at times but he showed that he loved and cared for her I trusted him and I trusted his word Tegan said she really liked him and that she wanted him to be her dad end quote that was the fantasy world that Helen sold herself and try to sell everyone else the reality of life living in that shed

was Far darker Jonathan had an uncontrollable temper that caused him to lash out at Helen and his family his grandmother admitted to being afraid of him he was abusive to everyone in his life and three-year-old Tegan was no exception Helen claimed she attempted to set boundaries with Jonathan on how he treated her daughter but it’s clear that this was not a priority for her on one occasion he stuck a cigarette in Tegan’s mouth and placed a beer can in front of her Helen scolded him for this but Jonathan didn’t

care Tegan who mind you was three years old at the time was frequently forced to drink alcohol another item of note is that Tegan regularly had bathroom accidents since the shed had no running water or toilet poor Tegan was left with no other option it wasn’t unusual for her to sleep in her own filth the little girl was deprived of any dignity and Jonathan would punish her for these accidents Tegan also had a habit of getting mysterious injuries while with Jonathan Helen once left Tegan with him while she went to Walmart she returned

to her having a cut on her head Jonathan claimed she fell off her bike another time they went to the beach together and Tegan’s eye was injured Jonathan said it was a wave on another occasion Helen returned home to find Tegan covered in welds according to Helen quote I went inside and grabbed her and held her and told her that I loved her he told me that he had whipped her for throwing up on his chair he had whipped her with a power cord end quote Helen said she was fiercely against the abuse and argued with Jonathan every time it happened

allegedly she almost broke up with him after the incident with the power cord but regardless the fact remains she kept Tegan housed with him and frequently left the two Alone Together the way Helen explained things Jonathan was loving it first and slowly became violent and at that point she became too afraid to leave but her actions painted a much different picture in early July of 2010 Helen Reyes knew that she needed to find a place for Tegan to stay Helen was planning on leaving for New Mexico to participate in the army reserve’s

training now who did she decide to leave her daughter with was it Gerald and Sarah skiba who babysat her and loved her before Helen had ghosted them was it her maternal grandparents who embraced and cared for her was it another trusted friends no Helen reached out to none of these options she decided to leave Tegan with Jonathan after he volunteered Helen happily agreed to this Arrangement even though she knew that he was physically abusive towards Tegan and claims to be afraid of him she agreed to leave her

daughter with a man who liked to force-feed her alcohol to the surprise of no one Jonathan didn’t suddenly turn a new Leaf once he took on the responsibility of watching Tegan for 10 days when Helen was gone instead he put her through a level of Torment that brought the hospital in law enforcement Personnel to tears during the 10 days Tegan was left with Jonathan he put her through unimaginable suffering he restrained her by her arms and whipped her with an electrical cord at one point Tegan was so desperate to escape she

yanked against the restraint so hard that she broke bones in her arm and wrist Jonathan’s grandmother walked towards the shed and noticed that the doorsteps were sprayed in feces she knocked on the door and heard her grandson snap at Tegan not to answer it during this time Jonathan didn’t take Tegan inside to use his grandparents bathroom and took Glee and forcing her to have these accidents a video taken at 2 31 a.

m on July 10 2010 on Jonathan’s camera shows Tegan in a pink shirt and dark pants with her arms outstretched facing a wall and repeating a half a dozen times this phrase when I have to pee I promise I will tell someone uninterrupted by Jonathan shouting at her to speak up she repeats the phrase four more times louder while invisible distress not only did Jonathan force her to beg for mercy he recorded some of the events for his viewing pleasure one of the cruelest acts was done to her fingers he held her tiny fingertips with a plier-like instrument to keep her from

pulling away and then Jam something under her fingernail and pulled upwards until her nail tore off sometimes he’d entertain himself by biting her and tearing off her flesh other times Jonathan aggressively forced her to endure essay there was no line that he wouldn’t cross during his alone time with Tegan it’s a testament to her courageous spirit that she survived even one day with him let alone 10.

 but she couldn’t hold on forever on July 16 2010 just a week and a half after her fourth birthday Tegan defecated on the bed she shared with Jonathan he flew into a rage he grabbed an extension cord and whipped her striking her in the head the strength of this blow combined with her wounds caused her to fall unconscious Jonathan realized he had taken things too far so he grabbed her broken body and drove her to UNC health Johnston when Tegan arrived at the hospital medical staff were horrified and demanded an explanation for her injuries

Jonathan explained that she had been jumping on the bed and fell he’d given her an ice pack and took her to the hospital when her head continued to hurt but of course the little girl’s body told a very different story it is impossible to overstate how brutalized and damaged Tegan’s body was she had accumulated over 140 wounds consisting of cuts lesions lacerations whip marks scabs scars and bruises her body was littered with over 60 human bite marks her wrists were broken her private areas showed signs of bruising

and bleeding all of the balloons on her tiny body had taken their toll causing Tegan to lose more than 70 percent of her blood the internal damage was even worse the wounds on her head caused both swelling and bleeding in her brain I’ve researched a lot of cases of child neglect but not many of them come close to the amount of damage that was done to Tegan now according to one of the doctors who treated the little girl there was essentially no part of her body that was spared that was something that he had never seen in his 25 years

working as a medical doctor now Tegan’s injuries weren’t just severe they were shocking and barbaric consequently when Jonathan strolled up nonchalantly talking about how the child fell off a mattress everybody knew that that excuse was ridiculous one nurse named Mary Butler was so horrified and enraged by Tegan’s injuries that she confronted Jonathan directly Jonathan sensed that she wasn’t buying his lies so he began making excuses about how he needed to move his truck Mary knew she couldn’t let him leave the ER and chased after him she

was able to grab him by the throw and wrestled him back into the ER Mary’s courageous actions allowed police to quickly take Jonathan into custody without her intervention Jonathan most likely would have gotten into his truck and skipped town while Mary apprehended Jonathan other medical personnel worked frantically to try and save teakin’s life Her Savage injuries left her knocking on death’s door one doctor recalled that she was so critically ill so people were acting very very quickly although the doctors worked feverishly

they couldn’t make up for the damage that was done to Tegan she was soon transferred to UNC medical center Chapel Hill and put on life support fortunately her condition did not improve Tegan skiba was pronounced dead Monday July 19 2010 at 6 30 PM her death was ruled a homicide Jonathan Douglas Richardson was initially charged with felonious CA and essay of a child after Tegan passed away in the hospital he was given an additional charge of first-degree homicide his bond was set at just under a million dollars Helen

Reyes returned home the day after Tegan was placed in the hospital her absence didn’t mean that she was spared of charges the fact that Helen left her daughter with Jonathan when she knew what he was capable of meant that she was also at fault for the tragedy Helen was allowed limited visitation of her daughter in the hospital while an investigation was launched as details of Tegan’s death were made public the Army publicly commented that if Helen needed help with child care during her training that she could have asked them as a

single mother she would have been required to come up with a family care plan that outlined how her daughter would have been cared for according to a spokesman for her reserve unit the 535th military police Battalion Helen did not provide a plan over the past decade the Army had launched and strengthened a range of programs to help ease the burden of training and deployment this included family care plans which applied to soldiers who were single parents single pregnant women dual military couples and soldiers caring for an

elderly family member it is the Soldier’s responsibility to file the plan and it’s kept in their personnel file after searching the Army discovered that Helen had actually come up with a family care plan but in that plan she listed her mother Maria Reyes as the sole caretaker for Tegan while she was away not Jonathan Wake County Child Welfare officials determined that Helen had failed to protect her daughter and entrust her to an appropriate caretaker before she left for training on July 29th Helen Reyes was charged with child

neglect her bail was initially set at fifty thousand dollars however the assistant D.A asked that the bail be raised to 250 000 because he believed that Helen was a Flight Risk his request was rejected and Helen was able to pay her bail and walk free until her trial although she wasn’t taken into custody she was ordered to remain in North Carolina Jonathan’s trial has been described by many as one of the most heart-wrenching trials in North Carolina’s history jurors and courtroom staff sobbed multiple times the judge had called

frequent recesses for Witnesses who broke down in tears during their testimony many of the people involved had seen their fair share of violence and death but what Tegan went through was beyond pale no training prepared them to discuss the horrors she was put through even the prosecution visibly struggled through parts of the trial now on the stand the tears come the jury is asked to leave the prosecutor asked Da Silva again about that moment it merely brought tears to my eyes it’s the most horrified thing I’ve ever seen

done to a human being especially a child never seen anything like that in the years that I’ve been doing this as a law enforcement officer there was the reason that said Hutcherson the emotions that hit everyone involved in the hearing bounced off of him he remained unemotional through testimony even cracking Smiles during breaks the descriptions of Tegan’s pain brought him no guilt shame or pain during the break Jonathan Richardson accused of torturing and murdering the child often smiles when the jurors returned to Silva says Richardson made a

curious remark after his arrest what are y’all going to do tie me down and cut me up he just looked right straight at me and just had like a slight little slight little grin on his face on April 4th 2014 Jonathan Richardson now 25 years old was found guilty and convicted on charges of first-degree homicide first degree kidnapping the essay of a child and felony CA inflicting Serious injury the jury only deliberated for an hour his sentence death return as our unanimous verdict that the defendant is guilty of first-degree

murder based on the theory of Murder By torture and based on the felony murder rule again expressionless but behind him Richardson’s mother in the brown sweater wept that’s his grandmother in the yellow the crimes happened in a shared 112 feet from her house she had let Richardson live there with Tegan’s mom his girlfriend both declined to comment on the verdict same for Tegan skiba’s grandparents at 12 38 pm he walked out of the courtroom 25 years old a convicted murderer Jonathan’s mother Sandy was in the courtroom when he was handcuffed and

taken back to prison after being sentenced to death knowing that she would likely never get to touch her son again she shared the following words I understand the anger and bitterness because I feel it too after what happened to Tegan but he’s still my son and I love him dearly and he needs me now more than ever I’m in disbelief that the Jonathan I know could do this I have to forgive him not for him but for myself I hope the community can do the same there’s a lot of healing that needs to be done that will come with time and

faith in God now in addition Sandy had the following words for Tegan’s family words cannot even express how sorry I am that this happened my heart goes out to them and the pain that they’ve had to go through I can’t imagine what they’ve gone through I’m just so sorry I just didn’t know I had no idea that Tegan was there I just didn’t know I just had no idea I would have done something had I only known and I’m hoping they can heal because I know the pain is horrible for them and has been it would take another

half decade for Helen Reyes to be brought to Justice Jonathan may have behaved monstrously but it was Helen’s carelessness that enabled him on March 6 2019 she was found guilty of child neglect and sentenced to a minimum of only 18 months in prison according to Johnson County Sheriff Steve Bizzle quote she neglected to carry out her motherly duties she had witnessed her child being beaten at the hands of Jonathan Richardson before she left so yes she was to blame for this children are helpless we have a so-called mother

that just walked away end quote Tegan’s case shook wake in Johnston County to their core jurors had to be bust in and out of neighboring Hartnett County to limit bias in the jury at least one juror was confronted by a citizen at Golden Corral who emphatically told them to convict Jonathan thousands were counting on the prosecution and jury to bring him to Justice the community’s rage wasn’t just targeted at Jonathan his grandparents faced harsh scrutiny as well Tegan’s abuse had occurred right under their noses on one occasion Mrs

Creech saw Tegan walking around with a black eye she accepted without question Helen’s excuse that the girl fell sometimes she’d tell Jonathan that his living situation was inappropriate for a child but he always got aggressive and defensive when it was brought up so she dropped the subject Mrs Creech considered reporting the situation to Child Protective Services but abandoned the idea because she didn’t want Helen to lose custody of her child if Mrs Creech hadn’t turned a blind eye to the truth Tegan could still have been

removed from Helen’s custody and placed into the care of her loving grandparents Gerald and Sarah skiba many in the community saw Jonathan’s grandparents just as guilty as Helen some however believed that people were too hard on the creatures Pastor Dennis Pollock was a vocal defender of the couple he said quote I hear people talk saying they should have known what was going on in their backyard I understand that but we know people that their teenagers down the hall were doing terrible things on the computer and they didn’t know about

it I know that the creatures did not know that child was being abused or they would have done something about it end quote it’s hard to say how valid Pastor Pollock’s defense of the creatures is while it’s true they likely didn’t know the extent of what was going on Mrs Creech admitted to seeing Tegan sporting a black eye she also heard her son shout at her not only that consider the distance between the shed and the house here is a Google Earth shot of 750 old Sanders Road based on the map Dimensions this shed is roughly 150 feet from the

house I find it difficult to believe that it’s such close distance between these two buildings that they couldn’t hear a child screaming from being heinously tortured over the course of 10 days surely they would have heard something at least once during that period of time wouldn’t they Tegan’s case came at a dark time in Johnson County’s history in a short period of time they had three other DV cases that robbed the lives of their victims on July 20th 2010 Tegan and the other victims were honored at a vigil

gatherers met with candles to mourn and remember the Lost lives the song Fly Like an Eagle was sung as tribute Tegan’s funeral services were private she was laid to rest at the Raleigh Memorial Park in an online Memorial Tegan’s paternal grandparents Gerald and Sarah skiba left the following message quote when you left us it felt by you leaving half of my heart was taken to it hurts so much every day the pool is not the same without you you rock with your name on it your flower bed every Saturday morning your first words are

the sun is shining it’s a sunny day then you would want Papa or Grandma to make you maple oatmeal so you could go outside and play with Papa in the pool play with the pink car her dad got for her she outgrew it but wouldn’t stop playing with it then play with the soccer balls later Tegan loved art finger painting making things with her different colored clay we had so many great times grandma and I couldn’t wait to see you being around you made us so happy we miss you Tegan RTD end quote as of the date of this recording in

August of 2023 if Tegan skiba was still alive she would be 17 years old