Anna Celeste Lowe

Anna Celeste Lowe

June 13, 2005 - January 13, 2011

Anna Celeste Lowe was born on June 13, 2005 to Jamie Mercer. People who knew her called her by her middle name, "Celeste". According to her mother, Celeste was a beautiful little girl who loved to sing and dance. It was also said that Celeste loved to play dress up, and that her favorite food was fried fish. Celeste would only eat apples if they were peeled, and Jamie remembered that every night she and her daughter would read a book together, she would tuck her into bed, and then they would pray together. She would then kiss Celeste goodnight, and leave the room. 

Then, Celeste would say "Mama! Mama! Come cover me up!". Her mother would return and cover Celeste up, and then they would end the night by saying "I love you" to each other. Celeste not only had her mother, but her father, and her step-mother, Catherine Lowe. 

Catherine Lowe worked at the day care that Celeste attended. Other employees at the daycare insisted that something was wrong with Celeste, and they encouraged Catherine to take her to the hospital. Catherine refused. She took Celeste in her car past several hospitals, and finally stopped at the grocery store. She left Celeste in the car alone.

Celeste sat in the car, dying while her step-mother, Catherine went inside the store and bought a sports drink. Catherine then decided to take Celeste home. When Celeste's father, Wesley Lowe, saw his daughter, he took her to the hospital. By the time Celeste reached the hospital, however, she had already been dead for about two hours.

It was later discovered that if Celeste had been taken to the hospital sooner, she could have received treatment that would have potentially been able to save her life. Upon examining Celeste's body, it was discovered that she had been hit so hard in the stomach that her intestines had separated from her stomach. It was her step-mother, Catherine Lowe, that was responsible for doing this to her little five year old step-daughter.

Celeste had gotten home from Kindergarten the day before she died, and she was with her step-mother all afternoon and into that night, along with Catherine Lowe's two other children. After Celeste's death, Catherine's two children admitted that they had seen their mother go into the bathroom with Celeste and then they heard a loud thump, followed by Celeste vomiting.

Celeste had earlier been taken away from her mother after allegations of physical and sexual abuse, even though there was evidence that her mother, Jamie, had done nothing of the sort to her daughter. The officer handling the case wanted to see the results of the investigation done by social services before he returned the five year old girl to her mother.

Before Celeste's death, Jamie had been given visitation rights to see her daughter, but only got to see her one time on October 30, as Wesley didn't allow her to see Celeste again. Social Services then determined that Jamie had abused her daughter, their reasoning being some of the things that Celeste had said. Jamie was never permitted to see the things that Celeste said that allowed them to come to this conclusion.

At the same time, Celeste's father, Wesley, had been accused of abusing the two other children in his household, however, this complaint was never taken seriously. In December, one of Celeste's teachers noticed a bruise on her and reported it. When Wesley was questioned about this, he claimed that Jamie had hurt Celeste, causing the bruise. However, this couldn't be so because Jamie had not visited with Celeste since two months earlier. This excuse, however, was accepted by the people handling the case. No one ever questioned Celeste about the bruise.

The last time Celeste's mother saw her alive was the day after Christmas when she spotted her daughter in the store. Jamie had a restraining order, however, so she couldn't go over and talk to her daughter, though she did claim that her daughter's eyes lit up, and she had waved to her. 

On January 11, neighbors saw Celeste getting on the school bus and said that she looked okay. This was the last time, however, that they would see Celeste looking "okay". She died two days later, and Celeste's mother wasn't notified of the circumstances until Celeste was already dead.

At about 3:30 p.m. on the ay of Celeste's death, her mother, Jamie, got a text message from her lawyer. She then called her lawyer and was told that something happened to Celeste, and that she was at the coroner's office, dead. Celeste's mother dropped her phone and screamed and cried.

The next time Jamie saw her little daughter, Celeste, was in a funeral home. Jamie held Celeste's little hand and saw bruises that makeup artists had tried and failed to cover up with makeup. Her mother told Celeste "I'm sorry. I'm sorry they hurt you.", and later said that she "just wanted her to wake up". 

Jamie filed a lawsuit about DCFS didn't investigate the allegations that Wesley had abused the other children in his home, and that if they had investigated this, they would have never put Celeste into his home to begin with. The suit also included details about Celeste's teachers reporting signs of child abuse, and complaints that Jamie was never allowed to see her five year old daughter, yet Wesley was still able to get away with claiming that Celeste's injuries were caused by Jamie.