He once called 88 times in a two-hour period. He repeatedly drove past her house in his black BMW. He sent rambling emails and countless text messages.Documents filed in DeKalb County in anticipation of a wrongful-death lawsuit outline details about the March 2009 death of a LaGrange County toddler.
Fifteen-month-old Alissa B. Guernsey died March 28 in the custody of Christy Shaffer after being removed from her home by the state.
Late last year, a LaGrange County grand jury indicted Shaffer, 31, on two counts of neglect of a dependent, but LaGrange County Prosecutor Jeff Wible declined to link the indictments to Alissa’s death.
But documents filed last month in DeKalb County make the connection.
According to a petition to appoint a representative of the toddler’s estate for the purpose of filing a wrongful-death claim, the fatal injuries to the toddler, specifically blunt-force trauma to the head, were a result of the actions of Shaffer.
Officials with the Indiana Department of Child Services said although Shaffer was not a foster parent, she had passed a background check before the child was placed in her care.
She was related to the child, state officials said.
Because the case involved grand jury proceedings, investigators and prosecutors have been tight-lipped about the details surrounding Alissa’s death.
A call to Wible’s office Tuesday indicated the prosecutor was unavailable to comment.
An autopsy report obtained by The Journal Gazette said Alissa was found unresponsive while riding in a car seat. Emergency medical workers were called and a full resuscitation was performed.
The child’s medical history indicated there had been a previous soft-tissue injury to the elbow and “growth plate displacement from a ‘fall,’ ” according to the autopsy report.
The autopsy said multiple bruises were found on her face, and there was no medical explanation for them at the time. Alissa had bleeding inside her skull, and an inch-long cut inside her mouth that was beginning to heal.
The case against Shaffer is pending, with a pretrial conference set for early April.
At the time of the indictment, Wible said he convened a grand jury to look into the case because he wanted to avoid any controversy, but he declined to say what possible controversy might exist.
DeKalb Superior Court 2 Judge Monty Brown appointed Hugh Taylor as the representative of the estate, court documents said.
