Alyssa Beth Guernsey was born on November 2nd 2007 to parents Kelly sprunger and Michael Guernsey in Columbia City Indiana from day one she was her father’s pride and joy and her mother’s bitty bitty pretty in fact mother and daughter even shared a birthday Alyssa was a beautiful baby with blonde hair brown eyes who loved to snuggle but Alyssa wasn’t just adored by her parents she had two older siblings six-year-old Lily and three-year-old Noah who loved her just as much sadly it wouldn’t be long until this happy family
was torn apart November of 2008 should have been a time for celebration for the Guernsey household and it was at first on the second the family celebrated Kelly and Alyssa’s birthdays the now one-year-old Alyssa was already showing herself to be playful cheerful and sunny but dark clouds were coming to block that light a couple of weeks after her birthday her father’s Michael life was taken in a car crash on I-69 south into Kalb County his car was the only vehicle involved and he was just 36 years old when he passed the
Whiplash between the joy of Alyssa’s first birthday and the grief of Michael’s untimely passing was difficult for the family to wrap their heads around without warning Alyssa had lost her father before she could even talk Noah and Lily were Michael’s stepchildren so while they grieved his loss they still had their biological father Samuel Cruz Alyssa wasn’t so lucky yet as much as she tried Kelly struggled to fill Michael’s Shoes after all the accident didn’t just Rob her youngest of a father and left Kelly without a partner and she
felt that loss deeply life had never been easy for Kelly before Alyssa’s birth she struggled on and off with addiction fueled by depression the past Kelly had even been incarcerated and temporarily lost custody of Noah and Lily however in the time leading up to Alyssa’s death Kelly worked to put that behind her and provide a stable life for her kids Michael’s abrupt death threatened to undermine all of that effort in the aftermath of his accident Kelly had become her children’s sole caretaker and provider so much was expected of her so
quickly and all while she was still grieving the loss of Michael it wasn’t long until Indiana’s Department of Child Services came knocking they were quick to suggest that Kelly’s children be placed in foster care temporarily while she regained her footing Kelly maintained she was able to care for her kids and that such measures wouldn’t be necessary but behind closed doors it was clear she was on her last legs she had fallen back into old habits and relied on addiction to deal with the stress of her situation Kelly knew she was
struggling and needed time to recover but she also knew that she didn’t want her kids placed in foster care the idea of sending her children away to live with a stranger simply made it too uncomfortable for her to consider when DCS pushed again for Kelly’s children to be removed from the house Kelly knew that she needed to come up with a compromise that would work for all parties her savior came in the form of her cousin 29 year old Christy Schaefer and her husband 34 year old Matt Schaefer now in the past when Kelly was
in prison Christy took in and watched her children the mounting pressure from DCS forced Kelly to once again turn towards her cousin for help now at first glance this Arrangement looked like the perfect solution Kelly’s children would get to spend quality time with her cousins while their mother got back on her feet however further examination would reveal that Alyssa and her siblings were being sent into a far from ideal environment Christy and Matt Schaefer already had four kids so when they took in Kelly’s children they now
had seven children to look after it’s not unusual for parents to struggle with four children so taking on three more would be difficult for anybody Kelly’s eldest daughter Lily was a double amputee and clearly had some unique needs of her own keep in mind all of these children were pretty young so it was wasn’t as if many of them could do much to help out with their cousins the oldest was Haley Shaffer who was 12 at the time followed by nine-year-old Brayden seven-year-old McKenna and three-year-old Ashlyn the responsibility
for caring for Kelly’s children would be solely on Christian Matt’s shoulders in addition the Schaefers weren’t trained or certified foster parents their right to taking Kelly’s children came solely from the familial ties and a handshake agreement however both Schaefers were unemployed the foster care checks would help matters a bit but they would be in a very tight financial situation taking on additional children would come to represent a physical and mental burden that would result in the Schaefers resenting them Chrissy and Matt had to
be aware of all the problems and bringing in more children into their already crowded home they also knew they weren’t the only people who could have taken in the children within the family Kelly’s mother Beth told both her family and DCS that she was happy to look after her grandkids but despite this on December 8 2008 Chrissy confirmed she wanted to house the children and they moved in shortly thereafter lived in Topeka Indiana a tiny peaceful town in the northern part of the state they resided in a humble home located at
315 West Pine Street it had three bedrooms and two bathrooms now with a Schaefer’s usual household it was already cramped but now that it held nine people it was downright crowded Christy likely green lit this Arrangement partially because she believed it would be only for a short time before taking in the children she made sure to ask DCS for an estimate of how long the kids would stay with her at first this wouldn’t have been an issue with Kelly eager to get back on her feet she’d likely regain custody of her kids
quickly however things didn’t go as plans Kelly spiraled further into her narcotic use and began ghosting her social workers the situation further deteriorated when she refused A drug screening landed her with a neglect charge and in the eyes of DCs she had essentially abandoned her children consequently Lily Noah and Alyssa were dubbed Wards of this state and placed in the custody of Christy and Matt a situation that had been unstable from the start had become permanent for the foreseeable future on December 10 2008
Alyssa had her first visit with Dr John egley who would become her primary physician during her stay with the shafers this visit was routine and Dr egley concluded that Alyssa’s health and behavior were within normal limits for a child her age by all accounts one-year-old Alyssa was a happy and healthy little girl however this would be the last time she had such a simple appointment five days later the Schaefers had their first major bump in the road Christy missed a scheduled court hearing claiming she had a
migraine and that two of the children were sick while this could have been true Chrissy would soon begin to display a pattern of lying about the condition of the children to protect herself however money was becoming something of a problem for the shafers Matt was relying on weekly unemployment payments 360 dollars and the child support payment for Haley that came every other week in the amount of 160.
the money allotted for Alyssa and her siblings evidently wasn’t enough so on January 6 2009 Chrissy filed the petition requesting that Lily’s SSI payments of 637 dollars per month be allocated to her and Matt money was tight in the crowded home and emotions were running High on January 12th DCS social workers checked in on the children and they confirmed that they all seemed fine Chrissy assured them that they were doing well sometime after this visit is when things would really begin to break down by mid-January 2009 Christy was at
the end of her row but she wasn’t willing to seek help or admit that the burden was too much she quickly found her own way of dealing with this stress and that was viciously abusing Alyssa both verbally and physically the little girl who Dr egley claimed to be happy and healthy had become a shell of her former self throughout the three months Alyssa stayed with the Schaefers Christy screamed at her ripped out her pretty blonde hair and generally treated the toddler as a personal punching bag the little girl appeared pale and was
covered in bruises practically every week Christy was taking Alyssa to the doctor and coming up with a new excuse for her injuries on January 27th of the same year Alyssa was taken to the doctor to receive a stitch for a two centimeter cut on the left side of her forehead which Christy said was caused by a fall less than a week later on February 2nd the Stitch was removed three days after Chrissy reported the incident to DCS and also inquired if it would be possible to claim Kelly’s children as dependence on
her taxes the whole ordeal would have been unremarkable if it had been isolated but Alyssa kept going to the doctor and kept getting injured on February 9th Kelly’s children missed a scheduled visit with their mother because Christy claimed that Alyssa and Noah were sick this was the second scheduled appointment in less than two months that Chrissy had missed due to the children’s alleged sickness the following day DCS paid the family a visit and found all of the children to be healthy four days after this visit
from DCS Chrissy brought Alyssa to the doctor complaining she was losing hair and bruising easily Dr egley noted that Alyssa also had a rash scabs and bruises all over her face he chalked these symptoms up to infection and conducted multiple blood tests of course no issues were found every test Alyssa took only proved that she was a perfectly healthy toddler yet these examinations didn’t ring any alarm bells for Dr egley somehow after more than a dozen visits where Alyssa was mysteriously injured he never believed something darker may have
been going on Dr egley allowed Christy to take him on a wild goose chase she pinned Alyssa’s condition on fetal alcohol syndrome and lack of prenatal care and further said she was born addicted to narcotics however toxicology reports from Alyssa’s birth disprove this notion next Chrissy spun up a tail about how Alyssa may have leukemia and how that was the only explanation for her hair loss it extensive testing in the consultation of multiple Physicians found no evidence of Alyssa having cancer Chrissy described Alyssa as being
clumsy weak and accident prone Chrissy loved to preach about the baby gate she bought the child proofing she’d done and all the efforts she had gone to protect Alyssa from herself on February 18th Christy would call DCS to tell them about Alyssa’s possible struggles with leukemia that same day they let Kelly know what was happening with her daughter Kelly was understandably worried so she wanted to visit her daughter to see what was going on on February 24th Alyssa had an appointment with Dr egley due to a cough and
congestion all testing done revealed she was otherwise fine yet the next day she was back again this time for an unexplained bout of vomiting and diarrhea Kelly would soon confide to DCS workers that she was extremely worried about her daughter but she was brushed off however Kelly wasn’t the only parent who was becoming concerned on February 26 Lilia Noah’s biological father Samuel Cruz contacted DCS and complained that he wanted to see his children but Christy was dodging his calls this was the beginning of
Christie’s effort to avoid visits with the children as much as possible she was cagey about all of them but especially about Alyssa anytime her mother wanted to see her she was met with excuses Alyssa was forever sick sleeping or cranky Christy’s motivation for isolating Alyssa was crystal clear and Dr eggley was ignorant to what was going on behind closed doors throughout the over a dozen times that he would see Alyssa he somehow never thought anything was wrong but for the other adults in Alyssa’s life they
understood exactly what was happening on the rare occasion that family saw Alyssa they noticed that the once playful toddler had become withdrawn and anxious the physical effects of her torment were becoming apparent despite Alyssa’s worsening conditions the concerns of Kelly and the other family members were not taken seriously by DCs on March 3rd Alyssa had another visit to the doctor due to an injury to her left arm Dr egley noted she was bruised near her left eye and found evidence of hair loss this time Christy’s excuse was that
Matt had come home from the vet with another family member’s dogs were allegedly hyper and subsequently knocked Alyssa over while she was playing on the floor Dr egley believed the story and personally told DCS over the phone that he didn’t suspect anything strange two days later Alyssa had a CT scan done on her arm and it was broken so she was seen by Dr Robert Fallon who is a specialist in hematology and oncology at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis like all the past Specialists who had seen her he noted
that there wasn’t an underlying illness causing her condition faced with a child who had a broken arm a history of injuries and no explanation of why that was you would think Dr Fallon would suspect Foul Play here instead he theorized that Alyssa was getting injured by flailing around in her crib at night in no way is it common for toddlers to flail about to the point of fracturing bones despite this Dr Fallon dropped the issue and suggested no further treatment or investigation should be done between January and March
Alyssa was brought to the doctor practically every week with a pattern of unexplained wounds yet none of the doctors believed anything was wrong and assured DCS that no intentional harm was done to Alyssa DCS themselves also showed no real concern for her well-being even though Kelly and Samuel expressed concerns about their children DCS engaged in no further inquiry into the matter at this point there was little chance of anyone stopping the torment done to Alyssa although she was prescribed 20 milligrams of Vicodin for her pain she
was never given her prescription more on that later she despite this Christy ran out of pills at record speeds and on March 26 she requested a refill the problem is that even if Alyssa was given a maximum dosage every four hours she would still have enough medicine for the next day Christie was likely spending her days high out of her mind on Alyssa’s opioids somehow Dr egley remained ignorant and gave Christy more pills without a second thought isolated from her mother and all but abandoned by the system Alyssa was completely at
Christie’s Mercy the following day Christy claimed that Alyssa’s cast just slipped off her arm that doesn’t just happen the situation wasn’t nearly as dire for Lily and Noah Christy would often beat their sister in front of them but they were not tormented in the same way why it’s slightly due to what’s known in psychology as the Cinderella phenomenon abusive caregivers often aren’t equally cruel to all of their children what’s more common is for them to single out one of the children and lash out at them for the Schaefers their
Cinderella was one one-year-old Alyssa on March 28th at 6 45 PM Christy took Alyssa and a few of her kids to rent a movie and get Happy Meals from McDonald’s during the car ride Chrissy became livid at Alyssa and began violently lashing out at her she punched her in the face grabbed her hair and smacked her repeatedly against her car seat leading Alyssa to loose consciousness Alyssa’s older sister Lily was right next to her as Christy was beating Alyssa to death her fear turned to horror as she watched her siblings head
flop forward lifelessly occasionally Christy would stop the car to check on Alyssa and demand that Lily lift her head back up when Alyssa wouldn’t wake up Chrissy began to cry sensing that something was deeply wrong Lily asked what’s wrong with Alyssa Christie responded by shouting stop asking that during this time Alyssa was making snoring or grunting noises in her car seat similar to what we had discussed happened to Harmony Montgomery after her father attacked her and almost exactly the same way the family arrived home at
8 20 PM now keep in mind Alyssa had been unresponsive for almost two hours Chrissy brought the other kids inside before checking on Alyssa and said only then did she realize the severity of her Condition it’s hard to believe that after an entire car ride of her crying and fretting over Alyssa’s motionless body that Christy only now became concerned about her furthermore Cressy didn’t behave like someone who just realized a toddler was on the brink of death she didn’t immediately call 9-1-1 instead she rang her brother Nate who
worked as an EMT by the time Nate arrived Alyssa was cold to the touch and had no pulse at 8 25 p.m Chrissy finally dialed 9-1-1 Nate performed CPR to the best of his abilities for the 15 minutes it took for First Responders to arrive at 8 52 PM Alyssa was rushed to Parkview LaGrange hospital where she arrived around 9 07 pm she was covered in bruises and had a one-inch wound on her lip for 47 minutes the staff would do everything in their power to save her including administering Narcan just in case she had gotten into some drugs and Christy
wasn’t forthcoming but tragically their efforts would be in vain Alyssa Beth Guernsey was pronounced dead at 9 54 PM she was barely 17 months old at 10 10 pm the Schaefers notified dcs’s family case matters division of what occurred three hours later Alyssa’s lifeless body was transported to St Joseph forensic Center in Fort Wayne there Dr Scott Wagner conducted an autopsy and confirmed everyone’s worst fears she had been killed by an adult punching her in the mouth with all of their strength the autopsy also revealed the Litany of
injuries that Alyssa had received during her time with the shafers the top of her head was riddled with bruises similar marks rested on her face and left thigh two grisly Cuts were found inside of her mouth where her gums met her lips one of which was fresh Dr Wagner found that Alyssa had been losing her hair but unlike Dr egley he instantly noticed that it had been torn out by someone not simply fallen out Alyssa also had a broken left elbow with a growth plate displacement another sign that she had suffered from repeated injury in
addition to her external injuries a pathologist discovered internal bleeding in her brain specifically Alyssa suffered a bilateral subdural hematoma caused by frequent high impact injuries a look at her bloodstream showed that the only medication Alyssa had received was Narcan this established that Christy had in fact repeatedly lied about giving Alyssa her Vicodin no longer could Christy deny or make excuses for the torture that she put Alyssa through the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide due to blunt force trauma to
the Head Justice was coming or so it seems what appeared to be a straightforward case apparently was a difficult one for LaGrange County prosecutor Jeff libel because he decided to invoke a grand jury this means a collection of jurors would have heard evidence from prosecutor Weibel to decide what the charge would be this would allow him to dodge a controversial decision if people were angry about how things played out prosecutor Weibel could let the blame fall in the jurors but the use of a grand jury in the case
of a guardian killing a child is something we’ve rarely seen normally a grand jury would be called in a case that was extremely high profile or involved a political figure when the process is handled by the grand jury becomes very secretive there’s one more benefit to the grand jury usage that prosecutor Weibel remarked upon in an interview he said quote it was a controversial case and it wasn’t clear to me what the best charge would be so I thought a grand jury would be the best remedy for that dilemma I didn’t have a
witness I didn’t have an incriminate statement I didn’t have a weapon so I thought let the Graham jury decide end quote this may sound like an uncharitable read of prosecutor weibel’s actions but it can be argued that statistically his use of a grand jury was highly unusual according to Joel shume a professor at the Indiana University Robert H McKinney school of law quote that’s not really the type of case where you’d expect to see a grand jury in the vast majority of cases while over 99 percent of cases around the state prosecutors just file
the charges calling a grand jury takes the political pressure off the prosecutor and puts in a group of citizens but a grand jury process is very secretive so there’s no transparency end quote the grand jury did decide to move forward with charges for Christie however she was not charged with homicide instead they felt two counts of neglect of a dependent was more than enough for what she had done considering the medical examiner ruled Alyssa’s death a homicide the choice to charge her with neglect made absolutely
no sense to add insult to injury her husband Matt Schaefer was granted immunity prosecutor weibel’s actions led to Christy being able to dodge a fair sentence for killing Alyssa this already was enough to stoke outrage but this was just the tip of the iceberg on May 25th 2011 Court Judge J Scott vanderbach sentenced Christy to 10 years in prison soon afterward he suspended six of them with Christy’s current sentence she would serve only one more year than a carjacker would on average for their crime the public was visibly displeased
with judge Vanner Beck’s leniency but that displeasure swiftly became anger and confusion when several months later he reduced Christie’s sentence one more time to stay in prison for only 77 days Christy Schaefer verbally and physically abused one-year-old Alyssa Guernsey for three months and finished her off by savagely beating her to death with her bare hands yet somehow she stayed in prison for less time than she had Alyssa in her custody how is that possible judge Vander Beck was no stranger to the Schaefer family Chrissy’s father Carrie
spronger was in fact a close friend of Judge Vander Beck he was a prominent wealthy and respected man in town There’s little doubt Chrissy’s connections played a part in her lenient sentencing during the hearing judge Vander Beck admitted quote I know Mr sprunger he’s been on some boards with me I know he’s got a good heart end quote as if this trial was about him and not Christy those aren’t the words of an impartial Fair judge on top of vanderbek’s familiarity with Christine her family we must also consider that
during the trial over 101 pages of letters from Chrissy’s family and friends were red advocating on her behalf the day of the sentence saying many of them came to court to beg for leniency Chrissy was given hours of court time to plead her case but how much time was dedicated to telling Alyssa’s story compared to the 101 letters supporting Christie only seven letters were read on behalf of Alyssa furthermore Christy’s lawyer dragged her mother Kelly on the stand to grill her on her past narcotic use as if Kelly was the one to blame for
Christy beating her daughter before handing down Chrissy’s sentence judge vanderback took the opportunity to scold Alyssa’s mother Kelly telling the courtroom that she and I quote shoulders the responsibility for this from the beginning judge vanderbach was more concerned with blaming Alyssa’s grieving mother than having the woman who took her life held responsible Christine benefited from the system and her father’s influence allowed her to dodge Justice for her cruel actions but fortunately the fight to bring her
actions to light did not stop after her trial Alyssa’s tragic death struck a chord with a local community the brutality she was put through at such a young age touched the hearts of many it also meant that Christie’s 77-day sentence spit in the face of anyone who had any sense of justice a small group of mothers calling themselves Alyssa’s Army began advocating for keeping Alyssa’s memory alive and bringing Christy Schaefer to Justice another group also sprang up known as baby Alyssa cries for justice that group soon grew into a movement of
thousands that connected through various Facebook groups in a now defunct website the group would go on to gather signatures for a petition to have Alyssa’s case reopened so that Christy could face consequences for her actions to date their petition has amassed over 60 000 signatures despite this the case remains closed to this day however judge Vander Beck has since stepped down he never escaped the controversy of his ruling though he continued to defend his legitimacy but that wasn’t the only part of the legal system to come under Fire
in the aftermath of Christie’s trial conversations began over the use of a grand jury because Christie was indicted by a grand jury very little was released publicly about the evidence there was against her furthermore judge Vander Beck was able to conceal details of the trial by rejecting calls for transcripts grand juries are allowed to operate largely in secret which is useful for cases where Witnesses may be reluctant to testify if their identities are compromised however Christie’s case shows how power can be abused to conceal
information from the public the case prompted Senator Mike delft to introduce a bill to the general assembly for the second year in a row that would eliminate the use of grand juries Grand cherries are still used today but remain a hotly debated Topic in legal circles now what about the man who insisted on using the grand jury to begin with prosecutor Jeff Weibel has spent a good amount of time defending the actions he took in regards to the trial he later told reporters quote I haven’t seen evidence to support anything other than
what the grand jury indicted Christy Schaefer if someone has evidence I’m not aware of tell them to bring It Forward end quote he may have thought his actions were Justified but the public didn’t agree this case has remained a stain on his record throughout the years when he attempted a senate run in 2020 Indiana residents were quick to remind everyone of the injustices he allowed to happen in an open letter to the KPC news Editor Marshall D Talbert of Kokomo a concerned citizen said the following quote I was an Indiana State Trooper for
25 years and the Howard County Sheriff for eight years I have never seen a greater miscarriage of Justice than the Alyssa Guernsey case the great thing about living free in America is that we can campaign for a candidate or against them the more more than one hundred thousand members of Alyssa’s Army will do their part to prevent weibel’s election to another public office that requires public trust and integrity end quote Jeff libel went on to lose his Senate bid with only 38 percent of votes it should come as no surprise that
Christie’s own lock didn’t last forever in 2013 she was charged with possession of Narcotics specifically meth which landed her a six-year sentence at that point the state finally took her kids away but Christy couldn’t just do her time quietly in fact she attempted to appeal her sentence and petition the judge to serve her time in a drug treatment facility but Kevin P Wallace the new judge in town wasn’t having any of that he knew exactly who she was and what she had gotten away with in turn judge Wallace hit her with another 180
days in prison for violating her probation to be served after her six-year sentence was completed however she was paroled from the Rockville Correctional Facility in March of 2016. after serving only three years of her sentence now in June of the same year Matt divorced her and was granted sole custody of their kids Kelly continues to mourn Alyssa and work to come to terms with her passing in 2014 she filed a lawsuit against Dr egley due to his failure to report the clear signs of physical abuse Alyssa presented although this case didn’t
succeed it raised important points about the responsibility of both doctors and caseworkers if more care was given about Alyssa’s well-being or professionals who are paid to care perhaps Alyssa would still be with us DCS themselves admitted their fault in the fate of Alyssa in October of 2012 DCS agreed to pay Kelly 150 000 it’s been reported that with those funds Kelly purchased a car and gave the rest of the money away on October 18 2015 Kelly and Alyssa’s estate were awarded a judgment against the shafers in the
amount of one million dollars however Matt filed for bankruptcy and according to reports Kelly’s never seen a dime of it from Christy like to know more about Alyssa’s story in part in particular the details of her trial our friend Lane after the little children will have her episode Linked In the show notes which includes an exclusive interview with Jeff Weibel the prosecutor who completely mishandled Alyssa’s trial in the wake of Alyssa’s death her siblings Lily and Noah were sent to live with her biological father
Samuel Cruz in Mexico Alyssa was laid to rest in Bronson Cemetery located in the state of Missouri next to her father and grandfather now after Alyssa’s grandmother refused assistance from supporters and never ended up getting a headstone for her a memorial bench was later crowdfunded and placed in the adjacent plot Alyssa’s supporters have since dubbed her the baby dragonfly many believe that dragonflies are angels that come to the living world to see loved ones in many cultures the insect represents change in
New Beginnings Alyssa lives on in the memory of her surviving family many supporters and in beautiful dragonflies
