Utah Mom Recalls Daughter During Child Abuse Prevention Month
April 20--SUNSET -- Tears threatened to overflow from Jennifer Wild's eyes as she talked about her blonde, chubby cheeked 1-year-old daughter who died due to shaken baby syndrome.
"Just walk away for five to ten minutes," Wild said with her fingers of her right hand linked tightly with Travis Nabor's left hand. "It won't hurt (a baby) physically to cry. It will hurt them if you shake them."
Nabor is Aliyah's father. Wild and Nabor are engaged.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Wild is speaking out in hopes that no more children will suffer or die because of being shaken.
She remembers too clearly last Easter when Aliyah took each piece of candy, chocolate and toy out of an Easter basket. Wild still has the dress her daughter wore that day. Framed photos of her daughter hang from walls and sit on several tables.
"I was not ready to let her go," Wild said softly.
Wild and Nabor's daughter, Aliyah, died on Sept. 17, 2013, at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, just three days after her first birthday.
The little girl was just learning to walk, hanging onto furniture to maintain her balance. She liked to get into everything, always had a smile and a kiss, even for strangers, Wild said.
"She is a very social person," said Wild, who spoke of Aliyah sometimes in the past tense and other times in the present tense.
Tyler Ryan Geary, 25, has been charged with first-degree felony child abuse homicide. He entered a not guilty plea to the charge on Thursday. He is being held in the Davis County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.
According to court documents, the injuries the baby had were "consistent with head trauma inflicted from shaking. Emergency surgery to remove a portion of the skull was required in an effort to reduce the pressure on the brain from swelling."
Geary admitted to police he had shaken Aliyah for about 30 seconds to 40 seconds and then threw her on the bed, according to the documents.
At least one out of four babies who suffer from shaken baby syndrome die, according to a report by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All victims of shaken baby syndrome have serious health consequences.
Wild said she met Geary through a friend in 2013. At that time Nabor was serving a sentence at the Utah State Prison.
Geary and Wild only knew each other a few months before she agreed to live with him in a mobile home they shared with a friend.
"I have a drug addiction," Nabor said about why he was in prison.
Wild was working the graveyard shift at Taco Bell in Layton because "I knew Aliyah would be home in bed sleeping and was safe."
Wild left her daughter in the care of Geary and their roommates.
"I was a single mom trying to make a living for us," Wild said.
Nabor met his daughter the day she died. He wrote letters to Aliyah while he was in prison, promising her he would stay clean and be a good father. She was born while he was in prison and the day he got out of prison, he went to the hospital. She died shortly afterward.
"I promised (Aliyah) I wouldn't use and it has helped me every day," Nabor said. "Sure it's been tough, but I think that is why I have remained sober."
Geary "got along with Aliyah and I never saw any signs or red flags," said Wild.
Wild said she has read comments on news boards from others indicating she also should be held accountable for her daughter's death.
"I don't understand them because I didn't know anything was wrong," Wild said.
Geary never yelled or was physical with Aliyah in Wild's presence, Wild said.
She did see some bruises on her daughter's arms and legs, which she pointed out to her pediatrician. The doctor said those appeared to be normal bruises infants get when learning to crawl or walk, Wild said.
But now Wild wonders about those bruises and also wonders what really happened to her daughter, even though she said she has no doubt Geary did something that caused her daughter's death.
"There are so many different stories out there," Wild said. "I just want to know what (the truth) is."
Wild admits she gets angry when she is in the courtroom and knows anger is not the solution.
Holidays, like Christmas, have been heart-wrenching for Wild. Shortly after the Christmas holidays,"I had a falling out with myself and was hospitalized for a week. I attempted to kill myself," Wild said.
Wild said her family, close friends and Nabor have been supportive. She visits her daughter's grave often.
She did go back to work at Taco Bell, but found she couldn't do it and is now looking for another job.
"I kept having flashbacks of that morning, getting that phone call," Wild said.
Wild had said in a preliminary hearing earlier this month that Geary called her about 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2013, to tell her Aliyah had fallen off a couch and was breathing funny.
When he arrived at Taco Bell, Aliyah was unconscious and was barely breathing. They rushed her to Davis Hospital and Medical Center. The doctors there decided to have Aliyah flown by helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center. See related story here.
Wild said it took her several days at the hospital to understand her daughter was suffering from Shaken Baby Syndrome.
"I lost it," Wild said. "They teach you in school you never should shake a baby. We talked about it in health class."
Wild hopes that Aliyah's story will stop one parent, one adult from shaking a child.
"The repercussions are awful," Wild said.
To learn more about Aliyah go to www.facebook.com/prayers4aliyah.
To learn more about Shaken Baby Syndrome go to www.dontshake.org.
Contact reporter Loretta Park at 801-625-4252 or lpark@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @LorettaParkSE.
Copyright 2014 - Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah
