Brianna Kichelle Hester

Brianna Kichelle Hester

November 17, 2007 - May 1, 2009

Brianna Kichelle Hester was born on November 17, 2007. Her mother had previously had a surgery that would significantly weaken the chances of her conceiving a child. Everyone was so pleasantly surprised when Brianna's mother announced her pregnancy. It was a high risk pregnancy, however, and Brianna was born prematurely. She was described as a 'happy and content' baby.

About a year after Brianna was born, Brianna's mother met a man and soon, she was in a relationship with him. Just before Brianna's first birthday, she and her mother moved in with this man. However, shortly after this, the rest of Brianna's family began to notice that they hadn't been seeing her as often as they used to.They also noticed that the few times they did see her, she had bruises. When questioned about this, Brianna's mother said that Brianna was only just learning to walk, and that she fell down a lot.

This seemed reasonable because Brianna had a slight turn in her leg. They assumed that that was why Brianna had been falling down a lot. Brianna's pediatrician told them that it was nothing to worry about, and that Brianna would probably outgrow this soon. Just three months after this, however, Brianna stopped walking completely.

Brianna's mother took her to the hospital and they did multiple tests. Everything came back normal. The only diagnosis the doctors could come up with was "acute cerebral ataxia". They said it was probably caused by an unknown virus. After Brianna was released from the hospital, she slowly began improving. She started to walk again, little by little. She still had a limp, however. Her family also noticed more and more bruises on her.

DEFACS came to check on Brianna one time, but her caseworker never actually saw Brianna. Brianna's mother called her family 'overly-dramatic' and started spending less and less time with them. This also meant that her family saw less and less of Brianna. Brianna's grandmother stopped by unexpectedly at Brianna's mother's home. Brianna's mother answered the door with Brianna in her arms. Brianna's grandmother wasn't invited inside the house though, and she noticed that Brianna had a fresh cut above her eye, and a few new bruises. Brianna's mother said that she fell down while trying to learn to walk again. Brianna's knuckles were red, and Brianna's mother said that Brianna 'picked at herself'. Brianna's grandmother contacted DEFACS, who promised to check on Brianna the very next day.

The next day, when DEFACS did visit Brianna's home, they discovered that she had been beaten to death. She died of blunt force trauma to the head. Brianna's mother's boyfriend, Daryl Keon Jones, 35, was sentenced to life in prison for abusing and murdering little Brianna.