Evil Foster Mom Shreds Child’s Pancreas After Swearing She’s a Safe Person 

Leila Marie Daniel was born on July 18th 2013 in Georgia to parents Tessa kund Denning and Anthony Daniel at the time of our story she had an older sister named Millie Lila had curly hair wide blue eyes Apple cheeks and a big smile her grandmother Gina Banks called her her fat baby she was a plump infant and remained chubby as she grew into a toddler Leila loved food and enjoyed eating she liked strawberry oatmeal hot dogs powdered donuts and chicken nuggets she also liked making pretend food in her toy kitchen and she loved the characters

and songs on the TV program Yo Gaba Gaba Leila didn’t talk much she was still learning and was a little bit behind the other kids her age but she wanted to be grown up and would remind everyone that she was a big girl Leila was a sweetheart who was always laughing she loved everybody and they loved her too she was adored by her family and caretakers in particular her mother her grandmother and her great aunt Kim Smith when Lila’s mother Tessa was a child she was taken away from her parents and placed into foster care where she met a

girl named Jennifer hul she will become important later in our story Jennifer’s family was often homeless living on the street sometimes in a tent or in their car now Jennifer’s parents hit both her and her sister 1997 she was placed in foster care at the age of nine few years after that Jennifer and Tessa both lived at the same group home according to Tessa Jennifer was much older than her the age difference was over 3 years which would seem like a lot to a child Tessa said the two were not friends but they knew each other Jennifer remembered

their relationship differently she said they didn’t get along at first but eventually became friends while in foster care Jennifer was known to have a smart mouth as she put it and she often fought with her sister however after she left she joined the military and turned her life around when Tessa met her as an adult she looked like a model citizen on paper for many years after living in that group home Tessa continued to struggle in October of 2011 she gave birth to her first daughter Millie with her then boyfriend Jacob Place October

of the next year Tessa was seeing Lea’s Father Anthony Lea was born 9 months later in 2013 Millie and Lea lived with Tessa for the first year of Lea’s life during this time Georgia DFCS had visited Tessa’s home a few times in early 2014 they received a report of CA now according to their records Tessa moved to North Carolina and the case was closed they claimed she moved to avoid investigation later that year the FCS received another complaint their records show a casew worker tried to investigate but no one

answered the door this case was also closed however Tessa said she never tried to avoid case workers she did recall one interaction with the agency she said that Millie got out of the house once while she was busy with Lila Tessa thought she had gone downstairs to her playroom but after a few minutes she realized it was too quiet and went to check on her she could not find her in the playroom Tessa searched the house frantically and noticed the garage door was open she went outside to look for her and a few moments later a police

officer drove up with Millie in the passenger seat of his car after this incident DFCS set up a safety plan and required her to install child safe locks on all the outside doors when she complied she said the agency closed the case and during this time Tessa’s Aunt Kim Smith said she tried to help Tessa take better care of the kids Tessa never hurt them but she was gone a lot she often left the girls with other family members to watch Kim said myself and the family tried to help her with rehab in parenting classes despite their offers

of help Tessa was not interested in participating by Lila’s first birthday in April Tessa was struggling with substance use 2 days after Lea’s birthday party Tessa had to go into the hospital Millie went to live with Tessa’s mother Gina Banks but Gina couldn’t take care of Millie and the baby too so Leila went to live with family friend Cynthia Tate who worked with Tessa and Gina at hatville Medical Center according to Cynthia Lila was healthy and happy in her home she had no bruises and no injuries she loved to eat

and was a chubby baby at Thanksgiving Tessa visited Lila in Cynthia’s home Tessa visited a few other times that year but never took Lila back home with her in January of 2015 the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office was monitoring several local drug dealers and had obtained wiretap warrants for their cell phones Tessa called one of those cell phones and was caught on recording this led to her arrest on a charge of conspiracy to distribute Crystal she spent 3 months in jail before she could be arranged to be released on bond she

also knows she would have to return to prison at a later date Tessa seemed very trusting when it came to letting her children live with people for example she arranged for Millie to live with another family friend while she was in jail Millie’s father and her mother Gina subsequently removed her from that home while Tessa was in jail and brought Millie to live with Cynthia Tate l ‘s Father Anthony was also in jail so he wasn’t around to help take care of her when she was released on bond Tessa moved in with Cynthia she lived there

for about a month before she failed a drug test when she failed that test on April 15th 2015 the FCS became involved in Tessa’s life once more 2 days later on April 17th Child Services placed the girls with foster parent Lorita Brown who had been a foster parent for over 15 years the last two being a foster parent in Henry County where the girls lived Lita’s grown daughter Nastasia Colbert lived with her and helped her take care of the children she fostered in order to be a foster parent Lorita said she had

to take 12 weeks of classes along with training in CPR when the girls arrived Lorita said they showed no signs of bruising or injury within 72 hours of their arrival she took them to the doctor into a Wick appointment where the girls were checked over by a nurse neither found any signs of in injury Lorita said Lea felt at home with her very quickly the day they were dropped off Lea was giggling and laughing but mil cried but Millie soon warmed up to Lorita before the day was over Millie was laughing and playing with Lita’s

10-year-old daughter Lorita described Lila as a joy to be around Lea liked to stay close by and didn’t like to let her out of her sight Lorita said she was always clinging to me hanging on my toes laughing if you were trying to leave the house she was going to run out the house behind you she said Millie and Ila played well together and never hurt each other Rita also said Lea loved to eat she said her and her daughter Nastasia taught Leila some sign language and they said she used it along with the spoken words she was learning she mostly used

sign language to ask for food she liked junk food but she also liked healthy food she was a good eater and she always cleaned her plate the girls had very few injuries while they lived with Lorita and she always always followed the DFCS rules when an injury occurred once when Millie was at the park and scraped her arm Lorita reported it to her casew worker Samantha white when M white didn’t respond Lorita asked another casew worker to document the scrape with photos M white was supposed to visit every month to check to make sure the

girls were safe while she did make those visits Lita said she didn’t undress Lila to check to see if she had any hidden bruises according to DFCS policy Miss White should have been more thorough in her checks especially with very young children who couldn’t speak clearly yet Lorita had contact with Tessa during this time she spoke to her on the phone but Tessa wasn’t allowed to see the girls or even talk to them until she made more progress in her case plan in May Tessa and her mother Gina attended a hearing about the girls at the Henry

County Courthouse the girls were also present at the hearing Jennifer hulc now married and going by the name Jennifer rosenbom was also at the courthouse that day she was interning for the assistant district attorney and worked on juvenile cases that Ed the same courtroom after the hearing Jennifer spoke to Tessa’s mother Gina she said she recognized Tessa’s name and told Gina that she knew Tessa from Foster Care Gina told her a little bit about Tessa’s struggles after seeing the girls Jennifer spoke to staff

at DFCS put an application to be a foster parent she also contacted the girl’s case worker and spoke about her interest in the girls m white the girl’s case worker was impressed with Jennifer she considered her a foster care success story Jennifer had an impressive resume and new important people she was a veteran military police officer and a member of the US Army National Guard in addition to interning at the DA’s office she was in her third year at Emory law school the weekends she worked at Banana Republic she was also running for

political office at the time of our story she was a candidate for the Henry County Board of Commissioners M white encouraged Jennifer to reach out to Tessa so Jennifer found her on social media on May 19th 2015 Jennifer did just that she wrote The Following note to Tessa and I quote hey girl I know we haven’t seen each other or talked in a while but I wanted to let you know I’m praying for you I met your girls last Wednesday at juvenile court I work with the District Attorney’s Office prosecuting juvenile offenders and we

use the same courtroom as the DFCS cases your girls are beautiful and look so much like you I think it was your mom who talked to me for a minute and said you were having a hard time it just stuck with me over this past week and so I wanted to reach out and let you know you are in my prayers Tessa looked at Jennifer’s social media accounts she hadn’t seen Jennifer in many many years and had never met her husband Joseph but in the photos online Jennifer and her husband looked happy it looked like they love their dogs and lived a nice life

Jennifer seemed very successful Joseph had a stable job as a corrections officer at the local prison Tessa was also touched that Jennifer wanted to help she thought that since Jennifer reached out without being asked she felt like she had to have good intentions Tessa responded to the message the next day saying quote thank you so much God I miss them so much I can’t believe I put my babies through all of this when I knew what it felt like firsthand I talked to Miss White she told me that you were interested in getting my girls

until I can work my case plan I think that would be amazing it would make me feel so much more comfortable with this whole messed up situation I am fully ready to work towards getting them back but if they have to be away from me for a while I would much prefer them to be with you thank you so much you are literally the biggest blessing Tessa thought that Jennifer would take good care of her girls she thought Jennifer would keep them safe until she could get them back she’ll case work her wife that she wanted Jennifer to watch the girls

white arranged for Jennifer to have visits with them while they live with Lorita Lorita first met Jennifer about a month after she got the girls Jennifer told Lorita that she and Tessa had been in foster care together she said she and Joseph couldn’t have kids of their own she saw that Tessa’s children were in the system she said she wanted to give back things moved rather quickly first the girls had short day visits with Jennifer just a couple weeks later later they went on overnight visits on one of these visits Jennifer called Lorita

because Lila was crying and wouldn’t calm down Lorita told her to play Lila’s favorite song Surfer Girl by The Beach Boys eventually Lea calmed down however when Jennifer brought her home she had a bruise on her head Jennifer said Lila bumped into the faucet by accident Jennifer did not report the injury to DFCS like she was supposed to Lorita didn’t report the first injury either though she did document it in her records when the girls came back with more injuries on two subsequent visits with Jennifer Lorita told the casew

worker and made sure that they were documented each time Jennifer had a story about an accident Lorita made it clear to DFCS that she was concerned about the new injuries she was seeing she expected Miss White to investigate but instead the girls were removed from Lita’s care and placed in another foster home DFCS never gave Lorita a reason for the removal on June 12th Lila and Millie were placed with Patricia Lambert and her husband Dexter a couple had been foster parents for 10 years and had taken the training classes required by

the state they also took 15 hours of continuing education training every year to remain foster parents patri took the girls to see the doctor within 72 hours of their arrival per DFCS policy Millie had a stomach flu but neither of the girls had any injuries at those visits Lorita their first foster mother called and talked to the kids the first week they were with Patricia but after that phone call M white said Lorita could no longer speak to or see the girls since she was not the biological mother Lea went from spending all of her time with

Lorita to now not being allowed to see her whatsoever Jennifer’s foster parent application was flagged as she had previous involvement with the agency because of her time in foster care now being a former foster child didn’t automat Al disqualified Jennifer but according to DFCS policy her history had to be investigated when she called to ask what was taking so long she spoke to Chenise Odo the woman who approved all of the foster homes in Henry County Jennifer told Miss Odo that she and I quote didn’t know who she was dealing with and

proceeded to tell her that she worked for the DA’s office in a threatening tone when she was told she would have to wait until the proper review was complete Jennifer h up on Miz Odo Jennifer and Joseph were never officially approved to be foster parents and Miz Odo was sure they never took the required training classes she was the only person who taught those classes in Henry County and she never had them as students the classes included lessons on CPR and the heick maneuver in addition to information on how to deal with

children who had been through traumatic situations they also covered important policies like no corporal punishment in how to document an injured child although she hadn’t been approved as a foster parent Jennifer continued to visit with the children while they were in Patricia’s Care by this time Lila was 21 months old and Millie was four Patricia said Lila still loved to eat and still used her sign language words to ask for food Patricia said the two girls argued sometimes and that Lea would sometimes try to bite or scratch

in a way that she considered typical 2-year-old Behavior but she said that neither girl ever sustained any significant injury from playing together the girls seemed much more injury-prone when they were with Jennifer at first Jennifer had visits scheduled every other weekend after a few weeks she was taking the girls overnight every weekend zwi told Patricia that the visitation was occurring because soon they would be permanently placed with Jennifer somehow Jennifer was able to use her influence to get custody of the children without

following the rules Henry County judge sent an email to DFCS on her behalf asking why it was taking so long to process Jennifer’s request Miss White’s supervisor Tamara Warner took an interest in the case since they weren’t following agency policy there was no detailed record of who first had the idea of having Jennifer reclassified under the term fictive kin however M Warner was on record saying that Jennifer would have been what we called an ideal person that went through the system she would have been what we

considered rehabilit at she was a pillar of the community fictive kin is a term DFCS uses to describe people who were not biologically related to a child but were so close to the child that they could be considered family it was supposed to be a person the kids knew and trusted someone who had always been a part of their lives Jennifer did not fit the definition but M white and M Warner decided to reclassify her as fictive kin anyway depart policy stated that fictive kin must be vigorously vetted before a child was placed with

them instead M white and Miss Warner contracted an outside company to do a background check on Jennifer under only her married name the company was not asked to check under her maiden name so they didn’t find or consider any of her history with foster care they gave her and Joseph A positive review and recommended placement M white and Miss Warner both used this to justify place bement even though they knew they were violating policy by not running the check under her maiden name as well while all this manipulation of the rules

was happening behind the scenes Jennifer was still visiting with the girls every weekend she brought them back Patricia began noticing the same types of injuries that the first foster mother had noticed one week Leila came home with a bruise under her eye Jennifer explained it away said Lea and another child were fighting over a toy the other child hit her with the toy causing the bruise but Jennifer did not report it Patricia did she said she was concerned that Jennifer was not watching the children as closely as they should be

watched his white came out and documented the injury she wrote in her notes that it was almost gone now according to Department policy M white should have undressed Lea to look for additional injuries during her visit Patricia said that when she realized the case worker was not going to follow the rules she undressed Lea so that M white could see the areas covered by her clothes his white told her supervisor that she did not believe either girl was in any danger she was very wrong 2 weeks later both girls came home from their

visit with fresh red bruises Lea had another bruise under her eye Millie had one on her leg Jennifer said they were playing and got hurt Patricia tried to report the injuries to Miss White and Miss Warner when she got no answer she drove the girls down to the DFCS office office she had a caseworker in the office document the injuries each of these injuries should have been investigated but M white chose to believe Jennifer’s explanations without any followup she noted in the file that the explanations were plausible even if the individual

injuries weren’t enough to cause concern the pattern of injuries reported by two longtime foster parents should have raised a red flag it should have halted any plans to place the girl in Jennifer’s custody the girls returned from another weekend visit this time Leila had three distinct marks on her Palm it looked like someone had stuck a fork in the toddler’s hand Patricia was quite concerned and demanded a meeting with the casew worker she was told the visits with Jennifer would stop instead the girls were removed from her home in

place with Jennifer a few days later on July 25th only M white and Warner approved the placement they were supposed to get approval from their DFCS administrator but Miss White Never submitted the approval and Miss Warner never checked to see if she had completed the process once Lila and Millie were placed with Jennifer and Joseph his white had to visit their Lincoln Terrace home once a month September she found a bruise on Lea’s wrist Jennifer said that another child at daycare had hit Lea the visit she should have undressed Lea to look for

additional injuries two EXP experienced Foster mothers said M white never followed that policy M white claimed she sometimes did she wrote in her notes that Lea had no other bruises on her body and that Millie had no marks whatsoever Miss White’s previous Behavior it is hard to believe if she was telling the truth or not according to miss white she called to confirm Lea had been at the daycare however later reports from DFCS State there was no record of Lea attending daycare Jennifer made sure to do one thing during the

four month months the girl spent with her she took lots of pictures over 2,000 of them she made sure the pictures she showed the world displayed a happy and well adjusted family she decorated a beautiful bedroom playroom for the girls complete with bunk beds a child-sized play kitchen and a TV she took the girls to the zoo and the local fall festival in early October Jennifer held a birthday party for Millie she invited great aunt Kim Kim was Disturbed when she saw how much weight Lila had lost she jokingly asked Joseph are you

feeding her enough maybe she needs more of that birthday cake she realized later that her joke had actually HIIT upon the truth Jennifer wasn’t feeding Lila enough the toddler was starving a damning picture taken around this time showed exactly how thin Lila had become no longer chubby her eyes looked wide in her shrunken face in the photo the little girl’s hand was in front of her mouth she appeared to be making the sign for eat Kim also questioned bruises she saw on Lila’s face Jennifer told her that Lila bullied another little kid in

daycare and he had hit her back she said Lila gave the other kid a black eye but again there was no record that Lila ever attended daycare the last time Kim saw Lila during a visit after the party she said Lea was clutching my shirt so hard and in tears because she didn’t want to go I wanted to believe it was because she loved her aunt Kimmy not because she was fearful of where she was going but I think in retrospect that’s what it was Tessa was also concerned at first Jennifer sent Tessa pictures of both the

girls but after a couple of months she stopped sending pictures of Ila once she was out of prison and able to Tessa tried to schedule visitation with the girl Jennifer either said it wasn’t a good time or she would schedule a visit and cancel at the last minute because Lila was sick Tessa said it seemed like Lea was always sick Tessa and several of her family members including Kim tried to report their suspicions to DFCS but no one would listen to them they called Miss White and left messages but the case worker never called them back

according to Department policy is white should have called back to get more information so she could investigate on October 19 Jennifer texted Miss White to tell her Lea broke her leg at gymnastics Jennifer said in her text that Lila was doing fine she said and I quote by her attitude you would never know anything was wrong laughing playing singing and hasn’t cried once not even when it happened now nothing in her message made it sound like the injury had happened days before Jennifer texted Tessa the same information she also elaborated

that Lea had fallen off the bars during gymnastics class that’s same day Jennifer took Lila to urgent care she told the doctor there a different story she said that 4 days earlier on October 15th Lila Hurt her leg when she fell into a hole in the yard of a family member’s house show the doctor that Lila fell at gymnastics the next day on October 16th and hurt the same leg again the urgent care doctor splinted Lila’s leg and referred her to Pediatric orthopedist Dr Shawn Duxbury she visited Duxbury the next day he was very

concerned concerned he said the leg had broken very close to the knee this was a very unusual injury CU it would have taken a great deal of force to snap the bone there Jennifer’s delay in getting Lea treatment for such a serious injury also troubled him he didn’t believe Jennifer when she said Lila was fine injury was so painful there was no way she would have been able to walk around on it let alone do gymnastics he suspected CA and wanted Jennifer to take Lea to the ER at egon’s Children’s Hospital he wrote in his report I quote I am a

little concerned about the history of this child and the amount of time it took her to get to the Urgent Care to be worked up I’m having them go up to eglon where they can be evaluated by social work as far as the fracture goes she has been immobilized in a splint for the time being I’d like to see her back in a week and we will put her into a long leg cast she should be nonweightbearing on that cast until next week Jennifer never took Lea to the ER Miss White never knew she was supposed to because she didn’t

follow up with Dr duckberry she also never called the gymnastics center to see if anyone there could confirm Jennifer’s story Leila wasn’t even signed up for classes there only Millie was if she had called the staff could have confirmed that Lila never played on the equipment or participated in class she just sat on the sidelines in fact one of the other mothers at the gym reported that Lila was listless and unwell on the day Jennifer claimed she broke her leg that mother said her daughter handed Lila a stuffed animal when Lila reached up to

grab it her shirt rose up showing her stomach that mother saw red marks in bruising all over Lila’s belly Miss White didn’t thoroughly investigate the injury a clear violation of DFCS policy she talked to the Urgent Care doctor but never talked to Dr ducksbury once again she headed chance to stop the Terrible Things Jennifer was doing but once again she failed to follow procedures and missed a giant red flag Miss White should have filled out a serious injury report she also should have told her supervisor about the broken leg Miss

Warner claimed she was never informed on November 1st tamarrow Warner was transferred to another position and no longer supervised Miss White on November 2nd Miss White had another visit with the girls where she noted a bruise on on Millie’s head Jennifer told her that she left Millie alone in the bathtub for just a moment while she went to retrieve her cell phone from another room she returned Millie had bumped her head against the faucet Lea was asleep and Jennifer said the toddler had been having trouble sleeping because she was

teething M white didn’t want to wake her up she admitted she did not undress Lila on this visit because she was sleeping she wrote in her report there are no signs of Mal treatment Millie hit her head on the faucet in the tub there was not any serious bruising I asked if she was okay and she stated that she was and it didn’t hurt there are no other marks on the girl’s bodies there are no safety interventions needed the girls are closely watched and when medical attention is needed it is given quickly at this point Leila had a broken leg and

a cast as well as a broken arm that had not been treated she was underweight and likely covered in bruises but Miss White still believed anything Jennifer said Jennifer would lie and Miss White would write down that everything was okay on this visit Miss White missed her last chance to intervene before the unthinkable happened on November 17th a few weeks after Ms White’s visit Jennifer was alone with the girls at the couple’s Lincoln Terrace home it was Jennifer’s birthday but Joseph was working they had planned to celebrate

that weekend at around 5:42 that evening Jennifer called 911 and said Lila was choking on a chicken nugget she said that she had tried to perform the heick maneuver before she placed the call she said she thought the airway was clear and that she tried to perform CPR she told the dispatcher that Lila was breathing but slowly during the call she told the dispatcher that Lila didn’t look good she said I’m hoping I didn’t break her rib I’ve been pushing hard I don’t know how to do this of course if she had followed the rules and taken the

appropriate training she would have learned how to perform both the heick maneuver and CPR on children Toddlers and infants during the call the dispatcher had Jennifer tell him every time Lila took a breath after a few minutes Jennifer asked if it was okay that Lila was asleep with her eyes rolled in the back of her head the dispatcher was concerned but said she didn’t need to give chest compressions if Lila was breathing a few minutes later Jennifer said Lila stopped breathing and the dispatcher explained how to give the little girl

CPR Jennifer was giving CPR breaths when First Responders arrived firefighters arrived first about 10 minutes after she placed the call about 4 minutes later the ambulance and paramedics arrived we actually have a large portion of that 911 call and we’ll play it for you now I have a toddler a foster daughter that I just got she was choking and I to do the high on her and she’s still breathing but it doesn’t drive1 and drive how old is she she’s two years old she is she is breathing now she is breathing I’m trying to do

CPR she keeps on going Wi on you all right I’m hoping I didn’t break a r I’ve been pushing hard I don’t really know how to do this okay I’m going to give you instructions on how to do it is she still choking on it now no okay so it is out so we just need to do CPR then yes okay keep breathing but it’s not good please hurry okay none of this just slow them down other dispatchers getting them on the way I’m going give you instructions for you on what to do are you with her right now I am breathing very very low okay

lay the baby flat on her back uh on the ground flat on her back all move any pillows there’s no pillows all right look in the mouth for any uh for any food or vomit is there anything in her mouth okay place your hand on the baby’s forehead your other hand under the baby’s neck and shoulders then slightly tilt the head back I want you to I want you to put your ear next to her mouth and tell me if you can feel or hear any breathing I hear it you do hear it yes okay all right stay with her uh make sure her head is slightly tilted back

and I want you to keep checking breathing Austin I want you to uh starting now every time she takes a breath in tell me when just say now every time she breathes when [Applause] now now is it does it matter that you asleep no that’s that’s fine oh my gosh I’m so nervous I don’t know how to do this I just kept trying to PCH and everything you’re fine you’re doing a good job like I said I got help on the way to you okay yeah we’re just monitoring breathing right now she is breathing you just said she breathe again she’s breathing on that same

little schedule okay yeah she’s doing fine like I said we got him on the [Applause] way you just free again okay yeah she’s doing fun well do you know what she was choking on [Applause] CH said she is asleep yes like her eyes are rolled back she is breathing yeah we make sure she keeps telling me all right yeah she just breathe again okay she breathe again like this is so scary are her eyes supposed to be like rolled back her eyes are rolled back oh my God yeah like I told you like she’s her eyes are rolled back her eyes are closed but they’re

rolled back [Music] she’s really pale she is really pale now okay yeah she’s still breathing on that same schedule but she’s hey she’s still breathing but it doesn’t sound as good as as it was it doesn’t sound as get as strong anymore all right we’re going to go ahead and do CPR then Lieutenant Brian Gibson was the first person on the scene said he found no food in Leela’s throat but noticed bruising on her back the back of her neck and on her hips said the bruising was not anything like what he’d expect to see from administration

of CPR or the heck maneuver this bruising was much more serious he also noticed that her arm had a slight curve in it he checked her body he realized she was not breathing said Lila was clinically dead they tried to revive her but she was already gone the other paramedics noted that Lila was bruised from head to toe they took her by ambulance to the pedmont Henry hospital where staff there saw the same injuries and called police the AR nurse said that Lila didn’t have the marks in her eyes that would be expected if she had been

chokan she also noticed a strangely shaped bruise on Lea’s hip detectiv soon arrived at the Rosen bomb house where Jennifer showed them a chicken nugget in the sink she pointed out saliva on the floor where she said she tried to clear Lea’s hair way she told them she had used her finger to get the food out that did not work she said she tried to use a butter knife to remove it she also claimed she used the kitchen sink sprayer to run water in Lila’s mouth said Lila had a seizure while she was choking and that her arms and legs moved

around wildly police photographed the evidence that Jennifer pointed out but the important evidence was found on laya’s beaten and bruised body if Lila had choked on a chicken nugget Jennifer would have been responsible because her manipulation of the system guaranteed that she wasn’t prepared to handle a medical emergency it would soon become clear to everyone that Jennifer was lying after Leila died MWI picked up Millie from the house when she examined Millie she found injuries on the little girl and she said honestly at that point

I just started crying she took Millie to the ER for a thorough examination at the ER a nurse practitioner examined Millie she found multiple bru bruises in different stages of healing on her left inner elbow she found at least 15 bruises and two abrasions or scrapes on her body the bruises were mostly on her spine in the center of her back and on her right hip she also had a red bumpy rash on her private parts she told the nurse that the rash was from mosquito bites she said she got the bruises playing outside

riding her bike and at gymnastics later once she was safe and knew she wouldn’t have to go back to Jennifer she said she had been told to lie she said when someone asked how she got hurt she was supposed to say that she fell Miss White took Millie back to Patricia so that she could be somewhere familiar while she dealt with the trauma of losing Lila Patricia also noted the bruises up and down Millie’s spine she said Millie told her that Jennifer beat her on the back Millie also had thinning hair around her ears another sign of mistreatment

though Millie didn’t talk much about what she’d been through Patricia said the trauma sometimes came out during her play one day she noticed Millie playing strangely the little girl was stumbling around and acting odd when Patricia asked what she was doing Millie said I’m being Miss Jennifer I’m drunk on December 4th both Jennifer and Joseph Rosen bomb were arrested initially Jennifer was charged with laya’s death Joseph was given a lesser charge of child cruelty to both the girls and was quickly released on $10,000 Bond later

in December Jennifer was granted a $100,000 bond once released she was required to wear an ankle monitor she quietly ended her run for the board of County Commissioners as often happens this case moved quite slowly it was extra complicated because Jennifer had worked in the DA’s office about a year after the initial arrest the Henry County DA recused himself self from the case prosecutors for Cobb and cob counties took over years passed and Jennifer and Joseph were still out on bond still breathing free air and living their

lives while lela’s family prayed for justice March of 2019 the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that information on Jennifer and Joseph’s electronic devices couldn’t be used in court because the state waited too long to get search warrants the police seized the devices during the initial investigation but because of miscommunication between the officers and the lead Detective didn’t file for the warrants until over a year later the exact nature of the evidence was never officially released but a post on tessla social media seems to indicate

it might have included additional photos of Lila with visible injuries and in pain 2 months later Jennifer and Joseph were reind this time there were a total of 49 charges the new charges prosecutors made two important types of changes first they made the charges more specific for example one of the initial charges alleged blunt impact in injuries to Lea the new charges included counts for each body part like blunt injury to the Torso and blunt injury to the abdominal area the second important change is they made the charges against

Joseph more serious he was charged with second deegree homicide information from the autopsy made it clear that Lila had been hurt multiple times over the course of a month or longer he had to have known what was happening and did nothing to stop it the most serious charges were against Jennifer and that was of malice and felony homicide child cruelty aggravated assault and aggravated battery the jury trial began on July 8th 2019 just a few months shy of the four-year anniversary of lela’s death judge Brian Amro prided in opening

arguments prosecutors said the couple had lived a life of Lies couple created a facade to hide what was really happening in their home da DEA young said since 2015 these defendants have been putting on a facade but in this Tri trial they will be exposed as liars abusers and murderers they are trial lasted for over 3 weeks and Millie testified against her abusers she said Jennifer would get angry if they didn’t get dressed fast enough Jennifer was angry the girls would get a spanking Jennifer would hit them on the butt with

her hand or a belt Le said Jennifer took them into her bedroom to spank them she said the spankings hurt and that sometimes Jennifer would make them pull down their pants so she could hit them directly on their skin according to the woman who eventually adopted Millie the little girl didn’t like talking about her time with Jennifer and Joseph she would sometimes mention things that happened she told her new mom that Jennifer forced her to eat mashed potatoes even though they made her throw up then she said Jennifer made her eat

the vomit she also recalled a time where she wasn’t doing something fast enough so Jennifer Twisted her ankle and then sat on her Milly told detectives that when Jennifer beat the girls all ilila did was cry she did not know how to speak Dr Steven mner a pediatrician and CA specialist said Lila’s injuries were consistent with physical abuse she had loop-shaped bruising that indicated she had been hit with a belt or a cord she had round marks consistent with being punched with a closed fist she had burns on her stomach that appeared to be

healing Leila also had bruises on her inner thighs and private parts half the skin on one of her ears was missing the little girl who loved to eat had been starved she was suffering from inadequate nutrition the injury to her arm was a night stick fracture it got that name from back when law enforcement used to carry night sticks it was the kind of injury caused when a person would throw up their arms to protect their face and head during a beating according to experts this type of fractured arm is almost unheard of in a

2-year-old the broken arm showed signs of healing Lea had received no medical treatment to ensure it healed straight which caused the curved appearance First Responders noticed on the day of her death Dr Meer concluded that these injuries were not accidental they could not have been caused by CPR or the heick maneuver medical examiner Dr Laura darisaw elaborated on Dr meester’s findings she investigated the full extent of Lea’s injuries both outside and inside the toddler’s small body first Dr darsa was certain that the

chicken nugget story was a lie she was clear Leila did not choke a thorough examination of the esophagus and trachea showed no obstruction and no trauma in that area one of the spots on Leila’s body that was not injured there was also no sign that Lila had been eating Dr daa said when I conducted the autopsy I didn’t find any food particles in the trachea normally if one eats shortly before death we will be able to identify the food itself because it hasn’t been digested yet the defense tried to blame Leila and Millie for their injuries

trying to paint them as rough and tumbled children who hurt themselves by jumping on their bed and at gymnastics the autopsy was able to rule out gymnastics as a Cause Dr daasa said that some of Lila’s injuries could have been caused by accidents but as a whole it was impossible there were too many and there were spread all over her body Leila had evidence of severe abdominal trauma that occurred over time the trauma started after being placed with Jennifer she also had multiple bruises over her entire body in various stages of healing

there were 22 injuries to her head and neck 11 injuries to her torso 17 injuries to her legs and 12 injuries to her arms in addition she also had a broken leg an untreated broken arm an untreated broken rib and damage to her diaphragm the blows to the toddler’s belly were so forceful they split her pancreas in half and lacerated her liver the seizure Jennifer mentioned to police was likely caused by Lila’s abdominal injuries as she bled to death internally her official cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries to her

abdomen which caused extensive internal bleeding based on the medical evidence the doctor believed the beating occurred about an hour before Lila died she lost so much blood that she went into shock she didn’t have enough blood to keep her heart beating during closing arguments da young said to the couple you’re going to be held accountable for each and everything you did to those children you will be held accountable for each injury you inflicted after 2 days of deliberations the jury had to start over again when one of the jurors was

replaced a juror reported having a brief conversation with a reporter the defense wanted a m trial but instead the judge replaced the juror with an alternate he also sequestered the jury to prevent another incident on August 1st Jennifer and Joseph were found guilty of second-degree homicide Jennifer was found guilty of felony homicide side they were also found guilty on most of the Lesser charges Joseph’s attorney asked for mercy on his behalf she argued he should have a shorter sentence because he has cystic fibrosis and

diabetes but it is hard to find Mercy for a man who had no care or Mercy whatsoever for Lea Jennifer was sentenced to life plus 40 years Joseph was sentenced to 30 years with another 20 years of probation after sentencing the judge apologized to lela’s family for the horrific and pain she had to endure he said I feel for and am deeply pained by your loss and I hope that you will somehow find a way to recover in October of 2019 the couple appealed their conviction which was not successful Jennifer is currently serving

her time at the palaski state prison in Hawkinsville Joseph is serving his time at the Georgia State Prison in Reedsville Leela’s funeral took place on November 23rd 2015 in the chapel of the heiston funeral home both of her former Foster mothers attended the funeral after seeing Lila’s body Patricia said that was a completely different baby in that box she was so skinny she looked like a baby in the womb Leila was buried in Bara Cemetery in Hampton DFCS paid for her burial cost but did not pay for a headstone when two former police

officers read a newspaper story that mentioned she had no headstone they were determined to honor the little girl they wanted to remain anonymous and together they purchased an 120 lb Stone marker one of the men had experience carving gravestones he added the dates of Lila’s birth and death along with an image of a little girl on her knees to the right it says in God’s care several years later another headstone was added near the first this one says fly high angel in soft pink letters on February 14th 2016 the family held a candlelight vigil to

remember Ila the event was held at the Hampton train depot pink balloons decorated the space many attendees had signs that said Justice for ilila her Grant Kim said we are just trying to keep ilila and her story in everyone’s heart we do not want anyone to forget because we realize this is going to be a long drawn out process both Anthony and Tessa attended the vigil Tessa spoke saying I have a lot of blame I blame myself but I think all I can do now is make the future better instead of dwelling on the past I

think Leila wants me to bring her sister’s home Tesla was allowed supervis visits with Millie for some time after Lila’s death at one of those visits that took place in the DFCS office Millie asked her mother if there was a swimming pool in Heaven Tessa had two more daughters after Lila one was born just a month before Lila’s death and the other was born a year after her death Tessa never regained custody she eventually lost visitation rights as well Millie and both the younger girls were adopted by another family the case worker

Samantha White and her supervisor Tam Warner were both fired for violating DFCS policies in regard to Ila Henry Kagel director of DFCS considered Miss White a rookie because she had only been working there for 2 years he attributed some of her mistakes to inexperience like many other stories we have covered Miss White wasn’t overburdened with too much work she had an average of 14 cases which was below the state’s goal of 15 said Miss White and her supervisor both showed poor decision-making skills he had to fire

them because he could not trust them to make good decisions on behalf of the children in their care he said and I quote my concern arises when you have multiple reports and each time you take the word of the person who is considered to be the habitual perpetrator without going behind them to check to see if what they’re saying is true he also criticized the lack of injury reports he said you do a child service injury report so people up the chain of command with more experience than you have can look at that that didn’t happen Henry

Kagel and others believe that Lea would still be alive today if her case workers have followed DFCS procedures Tessa and Anthony Lea’s dad sued the state and the case workers but they did not win their case the court said white was negligent careless and could have even been lazy in her actions they said it was clear that M white missed signs of abuse and allowed months of abuse to occur unchecked however they said the actions did not meet the definition of deliberate indifference required by law so they dismissed the case in October of

2020 Tessa’s mother Gina was arrested for trafficking crystal in other hard drugs she was convicted and sentenced to 30 years she is currently serving her time in Keta County Jail be eligible for parole in October of 2036 Tessa still posts pictures and memories of little ilila on social media she also Mourns the loss of her other girls who have been adopted by another family she knows that they are being taken care of and has made some sort of peace with the situation she hopes to see them again some someday on laya’s

birthday this past year she wished her a happy Heavenly birthday Lila would have been 10 years old Tessa is a different woman than she was 10 years ago she is no longer with Lila’s father her pain and grief have allowed her to build a new life she had another baby this time a boy and she is taking care of him the way she wishes she had taken care of her girls in June of 2023 she posted his happiness makes everything okay he is my son I’m so in love with his love admiration and appreciation for me it’s truly unconditional I just want my girls to

know I am so sorry for not seeing their unconditional love when I had them sorry for taking them for granted for failing them as a mother and seeking love elsewhere I still think about y’all daily and I will until I see you again someday her other girls will be grown they may come seeking Tessa and their much younger brother Lea though will only visit in Tessa’s memory Tessa posted the following poem in October that captures both the joy and the pain she feels remembering Leila they say there is a reason they

say that time will heal neither time nor reason will change the way I feel for no no one knows the heartache that lies behind our Smiles no one knows how many times we have broken down in cried we want to tell you something so there won’t be any doubt you’re so wonderful to think of but so hard to be without