Do you think her grandmother and stepmother will land in jail?.
ATTALLA, ALA.—Roger Simpson said he saw a little girl running outside her home but didn’t give it another thought. Police say he witnessed a murder in progress.
Authorities say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin died after being forced to run for three hours as punishment for lying to her grandmother about eating candy bars. Severely dehydrated, the girl had a seizure and died days later. Now, her grandmother and stepmother face murder charges.
“A 9-year-old child is actually run to death in this day and time,” Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin said at a news conference Wednesday.
“The taking of a candy bar turned into an all-day marathon,” added county District Attorney Jimmie Harp at the conference.
Witnesses told deputies Savannah was told to run and not allowed to stop for three hours on Friday, an Etowah County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said. The girl’s stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, called police that evening, telling them Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive.
Simpson said he saw a little girl running but didn’t see anybody chasing or coercing her.
“I saw her running down there, that’s what I told the detectives,” Simpson said. “But I don’t see how that would kill her.”
Deputies were told the girl was made to run after lying to her grandmother, 46-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard, about having eaten the candy, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Natalie Barton said.
Savannah Hardin died Monday, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s release said an autopsy report showed the girl was extremely dehydrated and had a very low sodium level. A state pathologist ruled it a homicide.
The sheriff’s office received calls from concerned citizens who witnessed the girl running.
Garrard and Jessica Mae Hardin are being held on a $500,000 cash bond for each.
Jessica Mae Hardin gave birth Wednesday under guard, the local newspaper, the Gadsden Times, reported. Alabama Department of Human Resources officials were called in to deal with the newborn and Savannah’s 3-year-old stepbrother.
The little girl’s father, Robert Hardin, returned home from his overseas job as a private contractor for the U.S. government in time to see his daughter removed from a ventilator, Entrekin said at the news conference.
Robert Hardin and Savannah’s mother, Heather, divorced in 2006.
School superintendent Alan Cosby said Savannah Hardin’s desk had been turned into a makeshift memorial where her classmates could leave notes and mementos.
“This is obviously a very tragic, devastating, heartbreaking situation,” Cosby said. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Her daddy called her princess. Every day she would come in the school and just be a little light,” Principal Donna Johnson told WBRC-TV.
“Every day she would always say, 'Hello Mrs. Johnson you look beautiful today.' She would always say, 'Yes ma'am, no ma'am. Can you do this for me? Yes ma'am, no ma'am.' Always respected authority.”
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/...-forced-to-run-three-hours-as-punishment?bn=1
ATTALLA, ALA.—Roger Simpson said he saw a little girl running outside her home but didn’t give it another thought. Police say he witnessed a murder in progress.
Authorities say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin died after being forced to run for three hours as punishment for lying to her grandmother about eating candy bars. Severely dehydrated, the girl had a seizure and died days later. Now, her grandmother and stepmother face murder charges.
“A 9-year-old child is actually run to death in this day and time,” Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin said at a news conference Wednesday.
“The taking of a candy bar turned into an all-day marathon,” added county District Attorney Jimmie Harp at the conference.
Witnesses told deputies Savannah was told to run and not allowed to stop for three hours on Friday, an Etowah County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said. The girl’s stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, called police that evening, telling them Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive.
Simpson said he saw a little girl running but didn’t see anybody chasing or coercing her.
“I saw her running down there, that’s what I told the detectives,” Simpson said. “But I don’t see how that would kill her.”
Deputies were told the girl was made to run after lying to her grandmother, 46-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard, about having eaten the candy, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Natalie Barton said.
Savannah Hardin died Monday, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s release said an autopsy report showed the girl was extremely dehydrated and had a very low sodium level. A state pathologist ruled it a homicide.
The sheriff’s office received calls from concerned citizens who witnessed the girl running.
Garrard and Jessica Mae Hardin are being held on a $500,000 cash bond for each.
Jessica Mae Hardin gave birth Wednesday under guard, the local newspaper, the Gadsden Times, reported. Alabama Department of Human Resources officials were called in to deal with the newborn and Savannah’s 3-year-old stepbrother.
The little girl’s father, Robert Hardin, returned home from his overseas job as a private contractor for the U.S. government in time to see his daughter removed from a ventilator, Entrekin said at the news conference.
Robert Hardin and Savannah’s mother, Heather, divorced in 2006.
School superintendent Alan Cosby said Savannah Hardin’s desk had been turned into a makeshift memorial where her classmates could leave notes and mementos.
“This is obviously a very tragic, devastating, heartbreaking situation,” Cosby said. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Her daddy called her princess. Every day she would come in the school and just be a little light,” Principal Donna Johnson told WBRC-TV.
“Every day she would always say, 'Hello Mrs. Johnson you look beautiful today.' She would always say, 'Yes ma'am, no ma'am. Can you do this for me? Yes ma'am, no ma'am.' Always respected authority.”
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/...-forced-to-run-three-hours-as-punishment?bn=1
