Army Mom Goes On Tinder Immediately After Daughter Beaten To Death
Macy Grace Diddy was born on December 14th, 2012, to parents Jeanie and Kevin Diddy. She was born with ankyloglossia, often called being “tongue-tied,” which meant a band of tissue prevented free movement of her tongue. Doctors were able to fix it with a simple surgery while she was still an infant.
Macy had curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a big bright smile. She was an energetic and happy baby who loved spending time with her family, chasing butterflies, and playing with her dolls. Her great-aunt, Shelly Smith, nicknamed her “Mixie Trixie Fairy Pixie” and described her as a sweet, beautiful, and curious little girl.
Macy loved the movie Frozen, swimming in the pool, and her Aunt Shell’s dog, Bourbon. Videos posted online showed snippets of a life filled with love. In one, she gave her uncle a whole lecture in baby talk, waving her hands in the air and giving him a stern but unintelligible talking to. In another, she played with her dad, stealing his ball cap and then putting it back on his head. A clip recorded at an amusement park showed her joy during her first ride on a Ferris wheel, and in one taken before bedtime on an ordinary night, a smiling and laughing Macy looked at the camera and said “night night” and blew kisses at the camera as if she was saying goodbye.
Jeanie’s Troubled Background
People who knew Jeanie as a girl said she was difficult and described her childhood as unstable. She liked to be the center of attention and didn’t mind lying and manipulating to get her way. Her parents divorced when she was young, and when she was 10 years old, she decided she would rather live with her dad. Her Aunt Shell said this was the first time she remembered Jeanie using lies and manipulation to get her way. She fueled arguments with her mother, father, and other family members in order to make her mother so upset that she would send her to live with her father.
Growing up, she attended at least two high schools in Pennsylvania. After she graduated from Stroudsburg High in 2011, she was looking for discipline and direction in her life, so she decided the best option for her was to join the military. But it was hard to leave her past self behind. During basic training in Missouri, she got her whole unit in trouble by taking her blanket with her on firewatch and then falling asleep. Fellow cadets remember her seeking attention and causing drama.
Marriage, Motherhood, and Divorce
In 2012, she married Kevin and moved with him to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Later that year, she got pregnant and decided it was time for her to leave the Army. Kevin was deployed overseas during her pregnancy, so he wasn’t home when Macy was born at the Womack Medical Center, but he was able to return home when the baby was just a few days old.
Jeanie had been close to her Aunt Shelly for many years. When Macy came along, Shell visited North Carolina and helped her with the baby, then FaceTime called every morning after she returned back home. Macy loved spending time with Aunt Shell and Uncle Bobby, and they had several visits with her over the next couple of years.
When Macy was still a baby, Jeanie worked at a gym, a car dealership, and an oral surgeon’s office. She also worked hard to lose the baby weight and get back into shape. Kevin was still deployed overseas, and this time he was in the UAE. He tried to keep in touch with his baby girl via Skype calls, but being apart was difficult and the couple was struggling. There were rumors that Jeanie was dating other men, and they soon decided to divorce.
Disturbing Parenting Choices
Now always looking for attention, Jeanie often posted short videos of Macy online. Most showed the toddler smiling and acting adorable, but not all of them. One showed her having an angry tantrum, stomping her feet and yelling in baby talk. She wasn’t speaking clearly, but the caption on the video said, “Macy doesn’t like to share her mommy.”
In another video, it showed Macy wearing a pink onesie, standing up on her mother’s nightstand, and she was clearly being naughty. But despite where she was, she wasn’t in any real danger. She was grinning at the camera, and off-camera Jeanie could be heard saying, “Macy Grace, do you want to get grounded? Do you want to get a spanking? You’re bad. Do you think you’re funny?” Macy doesn’t seem to understand the threats; she’s still not old enough to talk, but she crawls back down off the nightstand. Though Jeanie does nothing to harm the baby, it’s chilling to hear her call Macy “bad” and threaten to spank her for exploring her environment, as well as letting a baby stand up on a nightstand where she could fall and easily hurt herself. “Macy Grace. Yeah, thank you. You want to get grounded? I’ll get a spanking. You’re bad. Get off my nightstand. You think you’re funny?”
Meanwhile, Jeanie was focusing on a new hobby: competitive bodybuilding and weightlifting. In 2014, she placed 11th in the Bikini division of a bodybuilding contest in North Carolina. In December of that year, she also left Macy with her aunt for the whole month while she was, according to Shelly, “off doing Jeanie things.” Still manipulative and dramatic, she didn’t let Kevin know where Macy was, so he couldn’t even talk to her on her second birthday.
Aunt Shelly and other family members were concerned that Jeanie would drop Macy off and leave her there for long periods of time, but they were grateful that they got to spend time with the little girl. Anytime they suspected anything might be wrong, Jeanie would explain it away or cut off contact, using excuses to distract them. She said, “Jeanie’s lack of patience or ease at letting Macy have many babysitters, or her relaxed behavior of letting her child spend months and weeks away from home with my family or her Nana and her father’s family bothered us. But we got to spend the time with Macy. When we would ask about the bruises or the lack of communication, we would get ‘she was sick’ or ‘didn’t feel good’ or ‘was having a sleepover at the babysitter’s house.’ The bruises explained away by Macy’s growth and development. As the family, you believe the person you love.” They thought Jeanie was a strict parent but never saw anything that made them think she’d actually hurt her little girl.
A few of Macy’s babysitters commented online, saying they had been concerned by Jeanie’s parenting, or lack thereof. One said Macy was always neglected in her care, and another agreed, recalling that Macy often looked dirty and unkempt because her mother didn’t bathe her or brush her hair. A woman who worked at the daycare in the gym where Jeanie worked said she remembered Macy being dropped off at the gym by a babysitter and then staying at the gym’s daycare until it was time to go to bed so Jeanie didn’t have to watch her. She said she reported Jeanie to CPS, but nothing ever came of her report. Other friends tried to talk to Jeanie about their concerns, but she refused to listen to any criticism. Instead of trying to become a better mother, she’d make up lies, cut anyone who had the nerve to say anything out of Macy’s life and her own, and move on to a new babysitter.
A New Relationship and Increasing Warning Signs
On March 3rd, 2015, Jeanie posted a photo of Macy sitting on the floor of the apartment, crying. The attached message she wrote: “When your child covers your house with toothpaste while you’re in the shower and then gives attitude and tells you no.” Below in the comments, Jeanie wrote, “She’s going to know what a sore feels like by the end of the day. I’m about to break out the wooden spoon.”
By this time, Kevin and Jeanie were separated, and Jeanie liked to say that she was raising Macy as a single mother. Kevin was still overseas in Dubai at the time, but Jeanie didn’t like being alone. It isn’t clear when the pair met, but by Spring of 2015, Jeanie began dating Zachary Keefer, even though he was still married to his wife Lisa, with whom he shared a young daughter. Zach was much older; he was 31 to Jeanie’s 22. He had already spent 12 years in the Army as a Special Forces Senior Medical Sergeant. He also worked as a paramedic for FirstHealth of the Carolinas and owned his own personal training business where he helped people prepare to compete in bikini and other bodybuilding competitions.
Around the same time, in April of 2015, Jeanie reenlisted in the Army and was assigned to the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Bragg as a Specialist. She and Macy were living at the Stone Ridge Apartments in Fayetteville, just a few minutes away from the base.
On November 30th, Macy was not feeling well. Jeanie texted her boyfriend, Zach, several times, complaining that Macy had diarrhea and all the dirty diapers she had been having and the accidents she was having as well. She mentioned in one text that she hit her toddler, saying, and I quote, that she “lit Macy up.”
The next day, on December 1st, Jeanie took her to see pediatrician Dr. Forest S. Whitaker at Womack Army Medical Center. A short video taken that day showed Macy smiling but looking sleepy and a little listless. Her coat covers her up, and neither her arms nor her neck were visible, but she had no visible bruises in the video itself. Jeanie told Dr. Whitaker that Macy had been vomiting and had bad diarrhea. He said he examined Macy and saw no injuries on her at the time of her appointment. She was talkative and seemed normal except for her tummy troubles, and he diagnosed her with infectious gastroenteritis and colitis, which was likely caused by a stomach bug or something that she ate.
Later that day, Jeanie continued to talk to Zach through a number of texts. She told him she had a headache and felt like she was going to throw up because of the smell of Macy, adding, “I’m about to lose it.” She complained that the baby was still sick and kept needing her diaper changed. She said she forced Macy into a cold bath and had scared the toddler to the point that Macy ran into another room and hid in the closet from her. When she found her, she told Zach, I quote, “I’ll give her a reason to be scared.” A little tired of dealing with the baby, she said she gave her a large dose of melatonin and made her stand in the corner until she fell asleep.
Later, though, she would tell officials that Macy went to bed at 9:00 p.m., slept almost 12 hours to 9:00 a.m. the next morning, woke up briefly, ate a banana, then went back to sleep around 10:00 a.m. She didn’t initially tell officers that she gave a large dose of melatonin to Macy to make her fall asleep. According to Zach, none of these disturbing text messages were delivered to him, and he didn’t hear from her until the next morning when she called to ask him to come over and check on the baby.
The Morning of December 2nd
Now, Jeanie has told many, many stories about what happened on the morning of December 2nd. The stories changed depending upon who she was talking to and what she thought she could make them believe. A little before 10:00 that morning, Jeanie originally said she called Zach, who remember was a trained paramedic, and asked him to come check on Macy because she was sick.
Sometime after he got to the apartment, Zach claimed he heard Macy making strange noises. When he went into her room, Zach said Macy was vomiting through her nose and her limbs were flailing involuntarily, as if the girl had been deprived of oxygen. Zach said he tried to clear her airway and placed her in the recovery position, and he told Jeanie to call 911.
Jeanie was cold and calm on the 911 call, but not exactly helpful. The dispatcher had to redirect her several times to get the information she needed, and it took almost a minute from the start of the call for Jeanie to get to the important part: Macy was barely breathing. Finally, Jeanie said, “I just need an ambulance. My daughter has been sick for the past couple days and whatnot, and she was just taking a nap. She’s home on orders from her doctor, and she’s unresponsive right now. She’s barely… she’s breathing very light. She started puking in her sleep and started choking.”
When the dispatcher asked if Macy was unconscious, Jeanie didn’t answer the question. After more prompting, she said, “You can see her breathing, but she’s not responding to me.” She also said Macy’s eyes were like slits and that she woke up for a minute and was only reacting to pain. When the dispatcher wanted to explain CPR, she told her she was outside the apartment in an area with better cell phone reception, but “Zach was doing that right now. He’s a paramedic.” The dispatcher said she understood, but she said she still legally had to explain the procedure and needed Jeanie to be next to Macy when she did so. When she went into the apartment, Zach told the dispatcher that Macy started puking in her sleep and nobody heard it until two minutes later, and that he had already cleared her airway and put her on the floor.
The Hospital and Uncovering the Truth
A few moments later, the first responders arrived and took over. They noted that Macy was cold and unresponsive, and they rushed her to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. Her core body temperature was only 92 degrees, well under the normal 98.6, and the staff immediately began warming her up. As her temperature rose, bruises became visible all over her small body. Doctors there realized she had suffered a severe brain injury and transferred her to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill, where she was placed on life support. Staff also notified the police and CPS. Both agencies launched an investigation.
Now, right away, holes appeared in the story Jeanie and Zach were both telling. They both said she had been wearing pajamas that morning while throwing up, but she arrived at the ER in a brand new dress with the price tag still attached. Her hair was carefully braided, and nothing in their story explained when that could have happened. She had bruising on her neck and injuries that looked like a handprint and fingernail marks. She was missing a large clump of hair and had more scrapes on her head, and her brain was badly injured. By this time, doctors knew the injury could not be survived.
Jeanie called her Aunt Shell to join her at the hospital. When she got there, she thought it was odd that Jeanie met her in the lobby instead of upstairs in Macy’s room. The nurses would not let Jeanie alone in the room with Macy, and CPS and police were already there investigating, but Aunt Shelly had not yet realized that they suspected Jeanie had done something to Macy.
Shelly recounted the moment she entered Macy’s hospital room and everything changed. She said, “I walked into the room and all the breath left my body. I dropped my purse and I fell to the floor. All I saw was this poor little girl who used to be so full of life laying there lifeless. They had her head and her neck supported. They had her arms down at her side and hospital blankets up to her neck.” She said she asked Jeanie what happened to this baby. Jeanie stared out the window with her back to her aunt; she didn’t reply and wouldn’t even look at her. Shelly said she lifted up the blankets and began to look at Macy’s poor little body. “Black and blue on her little piggies. You could see the black and blue marks on each of her little bones on her right foot. The lumps and bruises up her legs. All I saw was a child who could have been dragged through the street by a wild animal. The circle of her face was untouched.”
She kissed Macy’s head and tried again to talk to Jeanie, saying, “I need you to tell me right now what happened to the baby.” Jeanie said she was sick and implied that injuries were from paramedics and doctors. Shell told her that sounded crazy. Shell said, “You did this. You did this to her.” She said Jeanie told her to “get the [f] out.”* Though they had been close for decades, everything had changed between them from that moment on. She said, “The day this phone call came to me from Jeanie, I was the first call. I was who she wanted to be there with her. Our relationship changed once I saw that baby with my own eyes. Jeanie died that day. Macy the next. I mourn the loss of them both. Macy is gone. Jeanie is gone. And the lies are so many and so deep, it’s almost like I never knew Jeanie at all.”
The Red Cross contacted Kevin and were able to rush him onto a flight home. Doctors kept Macy on life support until her dad could get there. He sat with her, held her, gave her one last bath. She was removed from life support and died on December 4th.
Greed, Drama, and the Infamous Photoshoot
Normally, the next part of the story is when the arrests happen, but Jeanie, as always, had to be dramatic. She and Zach started a GoFundMe allegedly for funeral expenses until friends and family realized Kevin’s military benefits included insurance to cover the costs. They reported the campaign, but before the site could address the potential fraud, Zach took it down. No one has ever explained what happened to the $6,000 collected before it was removed.
Jeanie also tried to have Aunt Shelly and Macy’s father Kevin barred from attending the funeral, but her efforts ultimately failed. She wanted to dress Macy in a sleeveless black dress and bedazzled headband, but the funeral director refused to allow Macy’s bruised arms to show in the casket, and Jeanie showed up over an hour late to the funeral because she had to get her hair done. Despite her efforts to make it all about Jeanie, the family held a beautiful service for Macy at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Chapel in Fort Bragg on December 21st, 2015. Two days later, she was buried at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
Police questioned both Zach and Jeanie, as well as questioning Kevin and Zach’s wife Lisa. After police talked to her, Lisa alleged that Zach held her hostage for 5 hours, beat her, and severely injured her. She claimed he punched her body, slammed her into a bathtub, held a gun at her, and threatened to kill her multiple times. She tried to call 911 twice, and he ended the calls before she could summon help. Harnett County Sheriffs arrested him and charged him with first-degree kidnapping and several misdemeanors, including interfering with a 911 call. He was released on $17,000 bail. He also left the military in December of 2015, but the Army wouldn’t confirm it had anything to do with his charges. Zach and Lisa officially separated, and Zach moved into an apartment with Jeanie at the same Stone Ridge Apartment Complex, though in a different apartment than the one she had lived in with Macy.
Jeanie sold many of Macy’s items on Facebook Marketplace, including a Frozen bed set, because she said she couldn’t stand seeing them. In January of 2016, she hired a photographer named Sunny Jo to conduct a bizarre photoshoot that made headlines across the country and around the world. Sunny offered something called “The One More Time” photo package, in which he would take photos of the living and Photoshop images of their loved ones into the new photos. He came up with the idea after his dad passed away from cancer. He said he found some comfort when he photoshopped his late dad into one of his pictures. It kept his memory alive and it made Sunny feel happy. He said it is a way for people to see their loved ones for the last time even though they aren’t there; loved ones know they are watching.
He had done the same for at least a hundred other clients when Jeanie had contacted him. She said she was grieving her 2-year-old daughter and told him she wanted a picture of her reading The Giving Tree, the toddler’s favorite story. As for what happened, she told Sunny that Macy had choked to death after eating a banana. Moved by her story, he said, “I wanted to give her another chance to see her baby that she will never see again.” He did a photoshoot at the cemetery and actually created several commemorative photos in which the ghostly figure of Macy sits and stands next to her mother near her grave. Jeanie posted them online with the message, “Sunny Jo did some amazing work for me of my angel and I.”
Soon though, Sunny found out that Jeanie had used his services to create an aura of innocence around her. He said, “I called the detective in charge of the situation and I find out that she wanted these photos just to lie to the public to cover up what she did so she can look like the grieving mother. Knowing that she used me and she used this to possibly make herself seem innocent… that’s the worst feeling in the world.”
Macy’s family was furious when they saw the photos. Her grandmother, Tina Goodwin, Kevin’s mother, said, “She was mocking that baby’s death. She honestly thought she was getting away with that baby’s death. She showed more attention to that baby in her death than she did while she was alive.” Outraged family members shared the images online, and soon news outlets found out that Jeanie was a suspect in her daughter’s murder. The images she thought would show how innocent she was only backfired and made her seem even more guilty.
Arrests and Changing Stories
However, she and Zach were still free. Finally, on March 23rd, 2016, the medical examiner finalized and released the autopsy report. Macy’s death was ruled a homicide, and arrest warrants were issued the next day. She was arrested on March 24th, and he turned himself in a few days later. They were both charged with first-degree murder as well as negligent child abuse and held without bond. Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West vowed to get justice for Macy, saying, “It’s a tough case. You know, this child did not die of natural causes, and it’s heart-wrenching to think that this could happen to a young child this way. And we are going to do everything we can to see that justice is done in this case.”
Once it became clear to Jeanie that someone was going to get in trouble for Macy’s death, she began to change her story. First, she said Zach had hurt Macy. She said he actually came over earlier than they originally said and babysat her for a little while when she went to a doctor’s appointment in Fort Bragg. Police did track down records showing she signed in at the office, but no record that she stayed for an appointment with any doctor, nurse, or any other staff member. She said the baby was fine before she left but in distress when she got back home a half hour later. The timeline doesn’t make any sense, but she told the story anyway.
She told officers Macy fell down in the bathtub a few days before she died. Though she initially said that she fed Macy a banana that morning, she also said that she didn’t; that Zach had fed her a banana while she was at her appointment. She told several other friends and family members both versions of that story. She said Macy’s lung collapsed, Macy ate rat poison, that she had the same blood disorder as her aunts (even though they were only related by marriage). She also told police that she was afraid of Zach and that he had been committing DV against her, even though competition bikini photos taken around the time showed no evidence of any injury.
Though it was not admissible in court, police administered polygraph tests to both of them. Zach passed his, but Jeanie failed hers. Zach maintained a single story: he said he showed up that morning to help and tried his best to save the dying girl. But the charge of DV against him didn’t make him look good, especially because his ex-wife said she’d been injured in the head and neck just like Macy had been.
Legal Battles and Autopsy Findings
Early in 2018, Jeanie was offered her first plea bargain. She agreed to plead guilty to accessory after the fact of first-degree murder and testify against Zach at his murder trial. But in March of 2018, the DA’s office abruptly and unexpectedly took away the plea deal. DA West announced his office had a conflict of interest and recused themselves from the case. No details regarding the nature of this conflict have ever been released. Cases were handed over to the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, and DA Julie Wolf Hijazi took over. She offered both Jeanie and Zach new plea deals, but neither pleas were accepted, so she continued to prepare for trial.
In early 2019, Zach’s DV case against his ex-wife Lisa went to trial, and he was found not guilty. Though Lisa had claimed to be seriously injured, medical reports didn’t seem to support her claims. There was no evidence of intracranial hemorrhaging and no fractures to her skull or spine. Some have suggested Lisa may have pressed charges because she was angry when she found out Zach was cheating on her with Jeanie, but no one has been able to prove that suspicion, so it is all hearsay.
A few months later, in November, DA Hijazi announced that new medical evidence that had come to light showed Macy’s injuries occurred 12 to 24 hours before the 911 call, well before Zach visited the apartment that morning. All charges against Zach were dropped. Surprisingly, many of Macy’s family members agreed with this decision. They thought Zach was innocent and that Jeanie was using him to get away with murder. Zach was released after serving 44 months in jail. After his release, he said he wanted to focus his energy on being a good father to the daughter he shared with Lisa. His most recent updates on his social media seem to indicate he’s no longer part of her life.
Jeanie’s trial began on March 9th, 2020, presided over by Superior Court Judge Stanley Carmichel. Public Defender Bernard Condlin tried to convince jurors that Zach was the one who hurt Macy and that Jeanie only lied because she was afraid he would hurt her. DA Hijazi dismissed his claim and argued that Jeanie was the only one responsible for Macy’s death. The DA summarized her case saying: “Too many injuries, too many stories, too much indifference.”
The DA called several witnesses who observed Jeanie at the hospital while Macy lay dying. Nurse Michelle Smith testified, saying, “Just from past experience, most of the time parents are really distraught when something traumatic has happened to their child. Mom didn’t really show any emotion.” And a nurse practitioner who met to discuss discontinuing Macy’s life support on December 4th testified Jeanie seemed, “I quote, for lack of a better word, happy.” Several nurses and doctors testified that Jeanie said, “Well, I guess that makes me a bad [f*ing] mother,” when she was told Macy wouldn’t survive her many, many injuries.
The testimony from the medical examiner’s office was painful to hear but offered a glimpse into the last hours of Macy’s life. She had received at least 30 blows to the head, and these blows had happened between 12 to 24 hours before the 911 call, meaning the beating had happened hours before Zach had even visited the apartment. During the autopsy, they found the remains of a single chicken nugget inside of her tummy, but no sign of the banana that Jeanie allegedly may or may not have fed her. A large clump of her hair had been ripped out, and police found it in the bathtub drain. She had extensive scalp hemorrhages and multiple impact sites on the outside of her head, along with bleeding in both sides of her brain that was worse on the left side. Her brain had also swollen, a condition called cerebral edema.
There were several wounds inside of her mouth, including a cut between her gums and cheek, a 1-inch long bruise, and a 1/4-inch bleeding wound likely caused by her own teeth when she was hit on the head. She had a cut behind her ear, a swollen neck, and soft tissue injuries, cuts, bruises, scabs scattered all over her body. There were marks on her skin consistent with being hit with an object like an electrical cord, and internally, she had multiple small healing liver lacerations. She was also suffering from acute pneumonia, which often happens to patients kept on a ventilator. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma, but the medical examiner couldn’t rule out smothering or drowning based on the state of her lungs.
According to Aunt Shelly, Jeanie didn’t cry or show any emotion during the testimony about the injuries Macy suffered. When Zach was questioned about their relationship, his answers moved her to tears. When asked if they were dating or engaged, Zach denied anything serious, saying that Jeanie was, and I quote, “just a piece of…” Hearing that comment, Jeanie sobbed out loud.
A Mistrial and Present Day Reality
DA Hijazi was able to convince 10 jurors that Jeanie was guilty, but two jurors did not agree. The dissenting jurors believed in physical discipline for children and struggled to understand how Jeanie’s hands could be considered deadly weapons without a unanimous verdict. Judge Carmichel was forced to declare a mistrial.
After the mistrial, everyone associated with the case changed. The DA left her position and was replaced by Lisa Coltrain. Jeanie’s public defender stepped down in disgrace and was replaced by Malia Kimrey, and the new judge appointed was Superior Court Judge James Floyd Ammons Jr. Jeanie was still in jail on a $300,000 bond, but she wouldn’t remain there for long.
In April of 2021, she was offered a new plea deal for second-degree murder, but she declined it. She said she would only plead to lesser charges of felony child abuse with intent, hindering a police investigation, and accessory. When asked accessory to what, she would not answer, and she said she would rather go to trial. Her next trial was scheduled in November of 2021, but a few days before it began, her new attorney filed a motion asking the court to force the DA to allow Jeanie to accept the first plea deal she was offered in 2018, which meant she would be let out with time served.
Judge Ammons thought Jeanie was the true victim, and he approved the motion while DA Coltrain appealed to a higher court. The judge also lowered Jeanie’s bail amount and released her from prison on an unsecured $25,000 signature bond, less than 10% of her original bond. A few days before Thanksgiving, she is still free. As of the time we recorded this episode, the order to enforce her first plea deal was overturned by the higher court in June of 2024. DA Coltrain has not dropped charges against her, so a new trial should be scheduled in the coming months.
The family is eagerly awaiting another chance to hold Jeanie responsible in court. In an interview after the mistrial, Macy’s grandma Tina Goodwin said, “We will fight for our last breath until this baby gets the justice she deserves.”
Grandma and Aunt Shell are worried that Jeanie will hurt someone else if she remains free. It seems they have good reasons to be worried. After Macy’s funeral, Jeanie continued to cause pain and drama any way she could. Macy was buried at a military cemetery, so her dad and mom’s name and rank should be both listed on her headstone. Instead, according to Aunt Shelly, Jeanie convinced officials that she needed protection from Kevin and he was told he wasn’t allowed near her when she went to the meeting to order Macy’s headstone. She cried to the staff and said Kevin didn’t care enough to pick out the headstone for his daughter, but in truth, he was advised to stay away from Jeanie and couldn’t attend. Without Kevin there, Jeanie arranged for only her name to appear on the stone.
The couple finalized their divorce at the end of 2022. Not long after, Jeanie started going by a new name, Jenna, and started dating again. An online dating profile she posted reads: “I’ve been through hell. I have a past, but I have a present and a future. I’m upfront and honest, and I don’t want someone who is not understanding. Let’s do [things] together, be partners, but I’m just going through changes right now.” In addition to changing her name, Jeanie has also tried to change her appearance through lip injections, cosmetic tattoos, and other cosmetic procedures.
In November of 2023, Jeanie had another baby girl. Because she was never found guilty of a crime, she has custody of the toddler. In April of this year, Aunt Shelly posted a message to the Justice for Macy page that explained her fears. The message was written as if she was talking directly to Jeanie, and it read as follows:
“You live as if Macy didn’t exist. You conducted your whole second pregnancy as if it was your first. The questions you asked like you had no idea what it was like to be pregnant. The way you now behave as a mother, it’s such a fine line you walk between being who you truly are and pretending you’re a stupid idiot who doesn’t know how to appropriately dress a baby, to being the crazy woman screaming ‘This is my effing child.’ How many babysitters have we been through, just like Macy? How many daycares, just like Macy? While Macy’s justice is the most important, you do have another little girl who definitely did not ask for you to be her mother. We dedicated this page to CA awareness, and we can only hope that someone with common sense and the judicial capacity to either take her from you before something bad happens or they find her father who hopefully wants to take her from you so she can have a normal, unbeaten life. Jeanie, Jenna, Jenny, Josie, Jackie, jerk off, whatever your call name is today, I am always watching you.”
Since Macy’s death, Aunt Shelly has been advocating for justice for Macy and still misses the little girl terribly. She runs the Justice for Macy Facebook group, which we will link below. She attended Jeanie’s trial and keeps up to date on every aspect of the case. She marks every birthday and holiday without her Mixie Trixie Pixie Fairy, and even got a tattoo honoring her niece. She believes she gets little signs from Macy, like when the song “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town comes on the radio or the movie Frozen comes on TV. She also feels like Macy sends her pennies from heaven whenever she finds loose change. She said, “Standing in the kitchen, I hear a ting and there’s a penny. Uncle Bobby stood right there. Then I get out the broom and begin to sweep, only to find a dime and another penny on the floor in the living room. I see you, Macy. I feel you so close. I know you’re okay, for this is how you let me know.”
She posted the following messages to Macy online:
“It’s been a long time. Everyone moves on, everyone mends, but those who truly loved you, we are still holding on to your whole self. We talk about you daily. We think of you a thousand times a day. We celebrate your life and still mourn your death. We just want you to know that if wishes were kisses, you’d get a million. If wishes were hugs, you would be covered in them. If wishes were a lot of things, you would still be here. Macy, there is never a day when your name doesn’t get spoken. There is never a day that you are not missed. There’s never a day I don’t wish missing you… now more than ever.”
