Children Without A Voice USA Memorial

Kierra Harrison

Kierra Harrison, died at 15 months of age. Grand-daughter, daughter, cousin and niece - Spoken by Kierra’s grandmother.

Kierra was born in December of 1995. She was absolutely adored by everyone in her family, including her Uncle Gary who really didn't like anyone's kids, but she melted his heart. For the first year of her life, she rarely stayed with anyone other than relatives and very close friends. Kierra's mother, Amanda, (my daughter) was enrolled in college and working on her AD as a paralegal. She attended classes in the evening and either Kierra's father or I (Nana) took care of her. in February of 1997, Amanda received an offer to work as a legal intern with a local attorney. She was very excited about the opportunity as it would bring in some much needed additional income and would also apply to her course work at the college. This is where the horror story begins.

All efforts were made to find a safe and suitable child care arrangement for Kierra. Alica Wegner had only been licensed by Child County Child Care Licensing (CCCCL) for approximately 6 weeks. There were no complaints filed against her. We discovered the day that Kierra was pronounced dead that there had been child abuse charges against her for the abuse of her own children, 2 years previous. CCCCL stated it had been missed due to a "misspelled" last name. They had entered Wagner instead of Wegner. In addition, following the trial we learned that the charges had been confirmed and that her own children had been removed from the home for 3 weeks while she was in counseling. The most horrifying discovery was that the woman, who took her children into custody, was the same woman that provided the recommendation for her licensure to child care licensing. None of this information was available to the jury in the first trial as it was considered to be "prior bad deeds" which was suppressed.

Kierra had only been at Alica's day care for exactly 2 weeks to the day. On the week-end prior, her mother and father had made a decision to find another provider as something in their gut told them they should.

According to the medical examiner Kierra's brain damage and skull fractures could only have resulted from the same force as falling from a 2nd or 3rd story window directly onto concrete. The only external sign was a small swollen and bruised area on the back of her head down near the neck which did not even begin to surface until she arrived at the Pediatric Emergency Department. Kierra underwent a
craniotomy on Monday March 3,1997 and was pronounced brain dead at 11:30 am on Wednesday March 5, 1997. Kierra was taken to the OR around 6 pm that evening and donated kidneys, heart and liver. The recipient of her heart is featured on her website: www.kierraharrison.org

Approximately 2 weeks after Kierra's murder, we discovered even more information about Alica, who claimed To be a God fearing woman. Another baby who was 6 months old at the time, had experienced what Alica told the parents was a fall from a high-chair while in her care. 2 days after Kierra died, the family finally took their baby into the doctor where she was diagnosed with a skull fracture in almost exactly the same location as Kierra's.

We were successful in obtaining a first degree murder conviction in December of 1998 and in February of 1999 Alica was sentenced to Life in Prison with a possibility of parole in 20 years. However, in December of 2000, the Nevada Supreme Court reviewed 5 deaths by child abuse cases and overturned 3 of them on a jury instruction technicality. Ours was one of those cases. In the other two cases, the defendants were taken back to county to await their re-trials. In our case, Alica was released on her original bond and house arrest, in August of 2001. She succeeded in having the house arrest lifted in April of 2002, claiming it
was a financial burden to the family.

During the course of the next 7 years there were 24 continuances. On July17, 2009 Alica finally accepted an Alford Plea to Second Degree Murder and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10, 2009. Following the sentencing, we plan to gather at Kierra’s graveside with District Attorney, Vicki Monroe, who has stayed with Kierra's case for 12 years. Our family along with Attorney Monroe, want to tell Kierra that we kept our promise in bringing justice for her and will continue to keep our promise until there is no breath in us any longer.

Taylor Nicole Pinkas Rogers

Taylor Nicole was confined to a wheelchair, unable to move her body or speak, but her smiles and laughs spoke volumes. She loved listening to music and listening to the waves crashing while on vacation. Taylor died this past January 24, 2009 in St Louis, Missouri, at the same PICU where her journey started 10 years ago.

At age 10 weeks old, on April 28, 1999, Taylor became the victim of child abuse. Not expected to live, she survived defying all odds. She lost 95% of her brain mass and function, required around-the-clock care and for the next 10 years, would never develop past the age of a 3-6 month old. Between her 15 doctors she was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, acquired cerebral palsy, secondary dystonia, seizures, asthma, cortical vision blindness, digestive issues, hearing processing problems, precocious puberty and the list continued to grow. Close to 40 doses of medication were required daily and even more when she was battling an illness. Taylor Nicole received all her nutrition through a g-tube surgically implanted in her abdomen at age 2 when she lost her ability to swallow. She endured 17 surgeries, hospitalizations and illnesses too numerous to count in her short life. Over the last year of her life she could not regulate her body temperature and it had dropped to a hypothermic level of 84.10 and her heart rate had dropped as low as 21 BPM at times.

While Taylor was alive, she represented all abused children on a local to an international level by educating and attending many state hearings and conferences to raise awareness. Taylor Nicole was a 3rd grade student at Albert Cassens Elementary in Glen Carbon, Illinois and loved going to school.

Taylor Nicole’s life was short but she gave great joy to her family and everyone she met and they will forever remember her beautiful smile, determination, courage, strength and purpose. Her legacy will live on in the continued efforts of those dedicated to SBS/AHT education and prevention. Educating people on parenting, strengthening laws, how to cope with a crying baby and breaking the cycles of abuse are the keys to stopping child abuse which is 100% preventable and is still a growing epidemic in America. Please help in our quest to keep all children safe and to keep Taylor’s dream alive.