Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Healthy bouncing baby girl Harper Briar dead from Benadryl overdose at daycare

Transcript

Healthy bouncing baby girl Harper Briar dead from Benadryl overdose at daycare · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace always smiling. She's just perfect. Yeah,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it's just like the best way to describe her is perfect.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: These are the precious memories Marissa Colburn and Blake Brier
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: will cherish forever their beautiful baby girl, Harper Rose Briar,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: had just started crawling, holding her bottle on her own,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and got her first tooth. Dad Blake was working and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: mom Marissa decided to go back to school full time
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: for social work at Castleton University, but she spent three
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: months vetting daycare providers to make sure she chose the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: right one. She says it was hard enough dropping Harper
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: off with another person counting down the minutes until they
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: were together again. And on only the third day of daycare,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Marissa was just leaving school on her way to the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: daycare to pick Harper up, she got the news. You
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: are hearing our friends at wte MTV. That was Samantha Demisquillo,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and you were hearing little Harper's mother, Marissa Colburn, who
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: talks about how happy a baby Harper was, just started crawling,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: could hold a bottle on her own. Baby Harper was
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: in her third day at Villaincourt's daycare Center, when Coburn
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: gets a text from an e MT emergency technician with
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the worst news ever. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us? What went wrong? Joining
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: me an all star panel, Doctor William Moroney, author of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: American Narcan on Amazon, medical examiner, renowned defense attorney out
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of California. Troy Slayton, psychologist joining me out of Manhattan
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: at Karen Stark dot com Karen start with us, and
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the director of the Coal Case Research Institute, Cheryl McCollum.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Right now to Crime online dot Com investigative reporter John Lmley, John,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: why did mom get a text from emergency services? Well?
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: As you mentioned, she had just dropped the little baby,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Harper Rose off for the third day. This is six
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: months after having the baby. Marissa had decided to go
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: back to school. She had poured over the websites of
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: different daycares trying to find the perfect place to care
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: for her baby. On this third day, she had dropped
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: her off. A few hours later, she gets this text message,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: not a phone call, a text message from an EMT
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: that her daughter had been rushed to the hospital and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: that Marissa needed to get there as quickly as she could.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: This is just breaking my heart, breaking my heart, Cheryl McCollum.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Do you recall when I was in the middle of
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: trying to finish a book and David con convinced me
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the children would be okay at this little Lutheran center
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: for three hours at a time, three days a week,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and I would sit in the parking lot in the car,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: afraid to be away from them, and work on the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: book in the car in the parking lot, and go
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: stare in the window and oh, I can still hear
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: them screaming, screaming as I would leave them and walk
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: out the door, and then I would cry out in
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the hall. It was the biggest drama. I can only
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: imagine what this mom was going through leaving her baby,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: baby Harper, at daycare and then this, Cheryl. I cannot
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: have them that kind of information through a text message.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, you would almost think it was bogus, like
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: this cannot be meant for me. It's been only hours
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: since I dropped her off. She has to be fine.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: And then they didn't call me, They didn't explain what
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: had occurred and how they got noticed and how you
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: know they're taking her to the hospital and what condition
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: is she in? Writes this from it but just this
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: sterile cold check message. I can't take a listen to
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: our friends at WCAXTV and home daycare provider is charged
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: with manslaughter after a six month old baby girl dies
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: in her care. Fifty three year old Stacey Valancourt of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Rutland runs a state certified daycare on North Street. Chelthreezdamamada
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: was in court today for her arrangement. Don what do'll
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: police believe happened to the little baby girl? First of all,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: it was an extremely emotional afternoon in court today as
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: dozens of family and friends showed their support for Harper
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Rose Briar. The Chief Medical Examiner's Office says the cause
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: of Briar's death was difen hydramine intoxication. That is a
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: sedating ingredient found in many over the counter cold medicines,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: including ben and Drew. The autopsy noted more than one
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: dose was in Briar's blood and also said that difen
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: hydramne should not be used on infants without an order
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: from a physician. Joining me right now, Medical Examiner Extraordinary
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: author of American Narcan on Amazon, doctor William Maroney, colleague
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and friend. Doctor Moroney explained to me what is DIF
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: is an antihistamine that's technically used in allergies, but it's
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: also sedating, so it makes you sleepy, and that's how
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: it's used in over the counter medicines. But it is
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: part of a family of drugs. I know everybody hates chemistry.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Everybody hates math called fennel alkil a means and those
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: are also this. Wait a minute, if you know everybody
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: hates it, why do you keep talking? Because you said,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: I know everybody has this, but I have to translate this.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: You know, you do know the only time I ever
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: made an F in college, an F which I tell
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the children whenever they make a bad grade, which is
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: hardly ever. I flunked chemistry. In fact, when they started
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: mixing the chemicals, I passed out. My freshman year, I
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: passed out. I came to on the floor of the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: chemistry lab to music in my head going doo doo
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: doo doo doo doo doo doo doo mean chemistry, don't mix.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Hence my major in Shakespearean literature. Okay, dummy down, farmy Morone.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: The same family of antihistamine. Drugs also can include methamphetamine
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and amphetamine, so at high doses you can have psychosis, seizure,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and respiratory failure. The most important thing they need to
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: do is take all the children from that daycare and
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: do hair samples on all of them to see that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: this person was dosing all those children. It's not likely
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: this poor child that died was the only one that
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: was taking doses. You don't give a drug that's required
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: to be given by a physician at a dose to
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: a six month old at the levels they have because
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: when you interpreted on the body, it's getting ten to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: fifty times the normal dose. And they said there was
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: more than one dose, which means she was dosed on
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the first day, she was dosed on the second day,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: and she was dosed on the third day. And somebody
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: would do that because they don't want to attend the
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: needs of the child. They want to put them to sleep.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Troy Slayton, he said it. He said it right. Oh,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Maroney's not just an medical examiner, an author, He's a father,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: a father. Troy Slayton, California defense lawyer. Bottom line, you
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: know what it is. She didn't want to take care
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: of the children says she doped him up with ben
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: a drill and baby Harper died. So in my mind
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: this should be murder, not manslaughter. Well that's one theory, Nancy,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: But every death of a child isn't necessarily a crime.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Well this one is. Yes, If doctor Maroney's theory is true,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: that all these children are being dosed with benadrill or
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: diphan hydromine, then yes, there that would appear to be
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: a pattern, enna and a common scheme. But maybe and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: this this certified daycare provider who's been doing this for
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: over twenty years and has never had a death on
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: her hands, if she was doing this for the benefit
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: of the child, maybe the child was out of the
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: child what benefits, Maybe the child was Maybe the child
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: was having some sort of allergic reaction, Maybe the child
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: was having hives or something for which dife in hydramine
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: is properly indicated, and the daycare provider acting in loco
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: parentes in place of the parents. Oh, Troy, the Latin
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: phrases that is not that is not impressing me. Well
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you're telling me, well, maybe something happened with baby Harper
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and she needed benadryl well number one the amount in
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: her system. If you just heard Maroney was way over
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the top. But speaking of a pre existing condition while
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: she's sick, did she have hives? Take a listen to
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: our friends at wt E N TV, John Gray and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Lydia Kilbia. We are learning more tonight about the circumstances
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: surrounding the six month old found unresponsive at her daycare. Yeah,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the recently released autopsy results show that this child ingested
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: high concentrations of diphen hydromeme, that the active sedating ingredient
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: you'll find in the overcounter antihistamines. Things like Benadrill. Newsten
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Samantha Damascio sat down with their parents exclusively. Sam joins
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: us live in Rutland tell me that their baby girl,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Harper Rose Brier, was one hundred percent healthy that morning
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: of January twenty fourth when they dropped her off at daycare,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: And they never told the sitter to give her any
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: kind of medication, nor did that sitter ever ask for permission. So,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: as you can imagine, they were shocked when they got
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: the results of that autopsy. Defendants sedated a otherwise beautiful, happy,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: healthy six month old to the point where that baby
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: could not lift her head and died. Bryer was pronounced
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: dead while and round to the Rutland Regional Medical Center.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: State police say Thatllencourt was the infants only caregiver leading
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: up to her death, and had been in her care
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: for the two days prior. The autopsy shows the infant
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: died of dyfan hydramine intoxication. Her death was ruled a homicide.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: State is alleging that the defendant acted criminally negligent and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: because of that action, the child died. Harperbrier died, so
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: stay We'll be arguing that she acted with a criminal
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: negligent intent. Valancourt and her attorney, Robert McCullen, declined to
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: comment on the case. Following today's court proceedings, she was
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: released on a twenty five thousand dollars security bond. She
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: must not have contact with any children under the age
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of five, with the exception of her nine month old grandson.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: She will be back in court next month. That's our
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: friend at w v NYTV Spencer Collin speaking with the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: state's attorney, Rosemary Kennedy, about baby Harper's death after being
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: odd overdosed with ben a drill. I mean see graces
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: his crime stories. Thank you for being with us, and
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I can't think of him important topic than your children
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: at daycare? John Linley, Crime online dot Com investigator reporter,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: What more do you know? For instance, what did the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: daycare worker, owner Stacy Villancourt say when cops got there?
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: When EMTs got there, Villancourt told police that she found
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Harper unresponsive a while after putting her down for a nap.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Valancourt told police she found Harper with a blanket covering
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: her face with vomit on it. Apparently Valancourt's son performed
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: CPR before the paramedics arrived with me, Director the Cold
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Case Research Institute, Cheryl McCollum, Crime scene investigator Cheryl way In.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: If this was my scene, Nancy, one of the first
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: things I would have done is I would have looked
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to see how much vinegrille was in that daycare. Did
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: she have one bottle? Did she have twelve bottles? Did
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: she have like a two per side bottle? What was
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the exploration day? How much was missing from the bottle? So,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: in other words, I would want to see did she
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: buy this two days ago when half of it was
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: already gone? As she had it for three years? But
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: only a little bit was missing. That to me would
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: be very critical to show how much of this is
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: she really, you know, passing out to all these children
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: to knock them out so she didn't have to deal
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: with them, you know, to doctor William Moroney, how much
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: bena drill is safe for children. Let me tell you
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: a story. When the twins were firstborn, let's just say
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: they were about six to eight months old. I could
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: not find anywhere we were living in New York. I
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: could not find anywhere when we visited Atlanta that had
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: what we call bucket swings because they couldn't sit up,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and they would be up all night one up at
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: twelve thirty one, at one thirty, one, at three thirty,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: and they'd both be awake by about five. So by
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: five thirty they were ready to go, and I would
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: take them out of the house and we go to
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: a playground. Well, I found a playground with bucket swings
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: is behind the church, and I put them both in
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the bucket swings. I'd been swinging them both. I was
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: there alone with them, and they both fell asleep. Well,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: they hadn't been up but about you know, forty five
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: minutes to an hour I knew something was really wrong.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: As it turned out, they had a really backhold. I
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: had given them ben a drill. I found out my husband,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: who was not allowed to dispense medicine, had also given
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: them ben and drill. Can I tell you how much
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I flipped out? Flipped out? They were asleep in their buckets,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: swings slumped over. Well, I nearly had a fit, Doctor Moroney,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: how much bena drill is safe to give children at
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: this stage? Zero none? And the story period zero without positions,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: guidance and possible hospitalization zero to six months old. Zero none.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: How about that? That's a pretty clear answer to Karen
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Stark Psychologists joining us out of Manhattan, creator of Karen
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Stark dot com. Karen, why would you dope children? You're
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a daycare provider. You're there to take care of the children,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: not dope them up and let them sleep till they've
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I'm in on their blanket and you don't even know
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: about it, you know, Nancy. I will wonder how much
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: they actually vetted this person, the one that was in
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: charge of the children, because she is there to deal
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: with children, whether they're crying, they're sick, whatever is happening,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and if there's a problem she's supposed to cause somebody
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Carl a physician. So I don't understand how in the
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: world this person would be able to administer any kind
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: of vent and drill to this child without parental permission
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: or the physician having said she could do it. Something
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: was really wrong with her. Villaincourt's lawyer enter, not guilty, please,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: forty relatives or so and supporters a baby Harper and
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the family in the courtroom wearing pink Justice for Harper
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Rose T shirts. And what I'm thinking about right now,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Troyce Layton, is what that family is going through. Their
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: baby is dead. There's no nice way to say it.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: And now all they can do print up T shirts
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: and show up to court. I mean, if I didn't
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: have my children, Troy, I would I would have no
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: reason to live. And they are left with printing up
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: T shirts and showing up to court. I mean, I
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: cannot even imagine their desolation. Troice Lton, I can't imagine
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: it either. It must be the absolute worst thing that
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: a person could experience in their life. Now there is
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: a civil remedy that won't bring their child back, but
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: they will certainly file a lawsuit against this daycare provider,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: against her insurance company. She's a certified state certified daycare provider,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: so there will be a wrongful death lawsuit alleging negligence
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: against this daycare provider. And I'm sure that I hear
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: are you will tender the policy limits? Well, I understand
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: they can sue civilar, I get it, but you know,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: an emotional level, there's no way to replace a child.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: To John Linley Crime online dot Com investigate Eve reporter,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I understand that the night before Villancourt, who's charged in
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: this case, a fifty three year old daycare provider, son
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: and his fiancee both say they got sick the night
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: before and they could not help with the children that day,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: so she had all the children by herself. She didn't
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: have her regular daycare crew. Take a listen to this
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: investigator say there was no physicians order and that Valancourt
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: was the only person to provide care to Brier before
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: her death on January twenty fourth, which was Briar's third
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: day attending Valancourt's daycare facility, which has since been shut down,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: and the Rutland County States Attorney Robes Kennedy says the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: family is just asking for privacy at this difficult time
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and they just want justice for Harper Rose. That was
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: our friend at WCAXTV, Dom Lamotto reporting to doctor William Maroney.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: From what you're telling me, doctor Moroni, vine Driel's main
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: ingredient is difan hydroman Are you telling me that there
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: is a build up up, a build up like if
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: you take it three days in a row, it builds
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: up in your system. And if that's true, how can
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: they tell how much was administered the day of baby
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Harper's death. Well, difan hydromene will go through metabolism and
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: there'll be so much that you would call a parent
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: drug and so much you would call a metabolite. And
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the higher the dose of the metabolite, the longer the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: medication was dispensed. But you also have the fact that
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: it's going to reach certain organs in the brain. At autopsy,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: they're gonna take brain slices and they're going to see
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: how much got in the brain, and they'll take levels
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: of tissues. It's also important they did the death certificate.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: That medical examiner said homicide period end story. Homicide is important,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: so it builds up, it's not allowed to be given
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: in children at that age at all without a doctor
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and homicide crime stories with Nancy Grace, daycare owner is
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: free tonight after denying charges of manslaughter and child cruelty
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: in the death of an infant in January, and autopsy
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: found high concentrations of over the counter or antihistamine medications
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: in the girl's bloodstream. Local twenty two Spencer Conlin has
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: more from Rutland an emotional courtroom as family and friends
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: of Harper Rose Brier watched Stacy Valancourt charged with manslaughter
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: and cruelty to a child. A few dozen family and
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: friends wore pink Justice for Harper Rose shirts money as
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: a shackled Valancourt, a childcare provider in Rutland for more
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: than twenty years, entered court, we would enter a plea
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: of not guilty to each of the counts. Court documents
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: show police responded to the fifty three year olds state
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: certified in home daycare center on January twenty fourth, where
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Brier was found on responsive. You were hearing from our
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: friends at wv NYTV talking about the report that this baby,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: baby Harper, dies at daycare. Odd On Benadrill also the
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: caregiver Stacy Valancourt pleads not guilty. Now she is apparently
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: charged with some type of a manslaughter. But in my mind,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: when you give a child an overdose of benadrill and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: that child dies, that's a murder because remember a choice Laton, California,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: devinse lawyer. That's like saying, oh, I raised the gun
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and pull the trigger, but I didn't mean to kill
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the person. This is like saying, yeah, I poured an
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: overdose of benadrael and gave it to a healthy little baby,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: but I didn't mean to kill her. That's murder. Prosecutors, here,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Nancy didn't feel that she had the appropriate level of
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: men's ray a guilty mind. That's necessary to charge somebody
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: with murder. In order to large murder, you have to
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: have had the intent to kill, and it doesn't look
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: like that's what she was going to do. Here. We
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: don't know whether or not she was dosing the child
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: for the purposes, for her own sick purposes of having
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the child go to sleep to make it easier to
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: run her. Right there, right there, you've admitted murder because
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: if she dosed a child, overdosed and the baby dies,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that's murder. That's like may pointing a gun and you're
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: in and pulling the trigger and go, oh, I didn't
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: mean to scare him. It may have been gross negligence.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: She may have had experience over her twenty years running
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: this daycare center, giving an occasional dose of ben a
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: drill and having there be no problem in thinking that
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: this was something that was appropriate to do, something appropriate
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to do. John Limley, Crime online dot Com investigative reporter,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: what more can you tell me? Well, Harper's autopsy showed
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: diphenhydramne blood concentration of six hundred seventy nanograms per millimeter. Now,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to put that in layman's terms, the chief medical examiner
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: says that's about eight times the average blood concentration for
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a baby of Harper's weight. Incidentally, the parents told police
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: that the day before Harper's death, Harper napped for an
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: unusually long time after coming home from daycare. And they
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: have said over and over again they never authorized the
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: ben a drill and that Harper did not have a
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: doctor's note ordering use of dife and hydromine. For those
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: of you just joining us, a beautiful baby girl, Harper
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: had only been in this daycare for three days. Her
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: mom thought long and hard before she decided to go
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: back to school. The husband had a full time job.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Just three days into it, she gets a text from
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: EMT's telling her Harper's in trouble. Her beautiful baby girl.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Le to doctor William Moroney, who has just told us
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: that no amount of bit a drill is appropriate for
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: a child this age. Well, that's followed up. Take a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: listen to wte MTV Samantha DEMICEO. I actually got a
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: text message. It wasn't a call, So then I called
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and I talked to an EMT person. She texted you, Yes,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: what did she say? She said, baby is sick. Ambulance here,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: go to hospital. Once the autopsy results were released, fifty
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: three year old Stacy Valancourt was arrested. She's now facing
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: charges of manslaughter and cruelty to a child. Well, Blake
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and I both want for her, you know, the person
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: who's slowly taking care of her at that time, to
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: be held responsible. Still many unanswered questions. The family now
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: just hoping for justice for Harper. Really was no need
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: for it. There's no need to give a healthy, happy,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: you know baby, any thing to sleep them. I mean,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: there's just there really is no reason, and we don't understand,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and I don't know if we ever will understand. But
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: it's awful to Karen Start, psychologist. You can find her
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: at Karen Start dot com. Karen joining us from Manhattan today, Karen,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the parents have got to be out of their minds
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: because it was their decision to put her in the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: daycare for mom and to go back to school, and
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: now the baby is dead. I can't even begin to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: imagine how awful it is for them. Nancy. I think
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: of you, and I remember when the twins were born,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and I remember going to visit and how we had
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: to use hand sanitizeer, How careful you were, how important?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And these people think about it psychologically? How old they
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: every cover? I mean, are you talking about when I
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: made you take your shoes off before you came in
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the apartment in Bay to you and Purel and made
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: you stand ex feet away from the children. Then to
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: go to a complete washdown and run down before I
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: was there. And I don't know how psychologically they are
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: going to be able to recover in any way. It
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: will always be there. They will get better, but they
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: will always remember the loss. Of this child. Something is
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: very wrong with what happened at the Stake Care Center,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: as we all know, just terrible. My heart goes down
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: to me, me too, to doctor William Maroney, a medical examiner,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: extraordinary author of American Narcan, an incredible book written by
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: doctor Moroney, one of the nation's leaders and opioid addiction
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and the fight on it. You can find his book
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: on Amazon. American Narcan, Doctor Maroney, here's the problem. I mean,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: there's so many problems, but there's one of the problems,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: doctor Moroni, is that parents who love their children more
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: than anything in the world, like me. I see Ben
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: and Jill over the counter. It says it will help
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: your child if they have a cold, or if they're
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: having highs or an allergic reaction. I don't don't know.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I'm a lawyer, I'm not a medical doctor. I'm not
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a pharmacist. So I don't know anything's wrong with giving
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: them Bena drill. But in this dosage, clearly it was
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: too much Ben andgrill. She had to know. I want
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you to address giving children benagriel place. Here's what you have.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: If you think your child is stuffy, if you think
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: your child has an allergic reaction. You seek an urgent
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: care already med or er, or you go to a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: pediatrician and you say, help me, teach me what dose
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: do I give this child? And a professional ways the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: child looks at your medicine and says, here's how you
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: do it. Don't buy any benadrul by infant bena drill.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Don't do anything without having a nurse practitioner, a family physician,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: a physician's assistant, a qualified prescriber licensed by your state
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to supervise the first dose to let you know everything
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: is safe. That's how we give benadrol. Is very happy baby,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: always smiling. It's is perfect. Yeah, it's just like the
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: best way to describe her is perfect. These are the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: precious memories Merissa Colburn and Blake Brier will cherish forever.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Their beautiful baby girl, Harper Rose Briar had just started crawling,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: holding her bottle on her own and got her first tooth.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Dad Blake was working in mom Marissa decided to go
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: back to school full time for social work at Castleton University,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: but she spent three months vetting daycare providers to make
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: sure she chose the right one. She says it was
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: hard enough, dropping Harper off with another person counting down
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the minutes until they were together again. And on only
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the third day of daycare, Marissa was just leaving school
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: on her way to the daycare to pick Harper up
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: when she got the news. You were hearing baby Harper
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Rose Brier from home videos. That's BTE MTV Samantha Di
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Machio speaking to Harper's mom, Marissa Colburn, and I'm just
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: imagining the mom watching videos, looking at photos I saw
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: she has left of Harper. She left Harper at daycare
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: on day three, she gets a text from EMTs. There's
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: a problem. Troy Slayton, California defense attorney. How can you
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: with a straight face argue that this was an accident
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: or negligence when it's clearly an overdose of beIN a drill.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: She didn't even know the baby had vomited all over
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: her baby blanket because she wasn't taking care of the children.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: She would have known that a child can vomit and
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: not make a lot of noise. What we really need
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: to look at is all the surrounding circumstances. Doctor Moroney
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: laid it out well at as well as your crime
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: scene investigator, We need to look at what the other
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: children had as far as dosage of benadrill. If all
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: these kids have hair samples that show positive for benadrill,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: then this daycare provider is finished. And I agree with
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you that they should charge murder in that instance. But
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: if this is an isolated incident and she was just
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: dosing this child for a legitimate purpose, some sort of
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: allergic reaction, some sort of hives, something for which benadrill
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: obviously not in this dose, would be indicated, then I
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: think we don't have a case of murder or even manslaughter,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and I think that it should be something even less,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: like some sort of gross criminal negligence. I'm sure you do,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Troice Light, And I am sure you do, Troice Light
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and renowned California defense lawyer. And now you see why
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: you wins so many cases. It's like a snake charmer.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: If you listen long enough, you start swaying along and
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: believing that. But sometimes you just have the facts in
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the law on your side. M let's talk about the facts.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Doctor William Moroney, medical examiner, author of American Narcan on Amazon.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: You can't argue with the level of diphan hyjamine in
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: this baby girls system. You can't argue with that she
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: did not the baby Harper did not drive to CVS
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: and buy the benadrill and down it out in her
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: car in the parking lot. Somebody gave it to her
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and it wasn't the parents, it was the daycare provider,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Stacy Villancourt. What does the evidence tell you, doctor Moroney
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: about the level of benadrill in this child's system. The
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: other thing we have to consider, babies don't metabolize like adults,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: so it built higher. What you have is whatever dose
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: she got might have been on the first day, might
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: have been on the second day. But we have evidence
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: from the patient, the client when the deceased went home,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the parents said this baby slept like way too long.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: That's physical evidence. That's a story that benagrul was given
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: previous to the day that she died, in addition to
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: benadryl was given on the day she died. So you
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: have at least two days where benegrol's given back to
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: back in a baby with the acceptable level of benegrul
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: without physician supervision is zero. And you have the medical
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: examiner's death certificate saying homicide this is no accident. Well,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, when I don't get doctor Moroney, is
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: somewhere in that medical explanation I didn't get from you.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: How much benajil you think the daycare woman Villancourt gave her?
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Is that because you don't know if it's a build
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: up over the last two days. Well, how much benegel
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: do you think the child had in her system to
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: kill her? That she could have got infant benadrol and
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: would have been a high volume where she could have
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: got regular benadrol the low volume but a high concentration.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: But the end result is to get to that six
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: hundred nanograms, that baby had to have between fifty and
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: one hundred milligrams, and those are adult doses that are
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: ten times the does to John Limley, Crime online dot
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Com investigative reporter John Limley, how much did she have
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: in her system? I think you may know the answer
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: to that as well. Six hundred seventy nanograms per milli leader.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: As I said before, the chief medical Examiner says, that's
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: about eight times the average blood concentration for a baby
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: of Harper's weight. What does that mean, Doctor Moroney? In
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: a nutshell and in regular people talk plays. Eight to
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: times the amount that was in her system means she
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: got ten times the amount that would have been a
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: normal dose under physician supervision, and the acceptable doses still
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: zero good gravy. Well, we know what the autopsy said, listen.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Defendants sedated he otherwise beautiful, happy, healthy six month old
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: to the point where that baby could not lift her
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: head and died. Bryer was pronounced dead while en round
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: to the Runtland Regional Medical Center. The State Police say
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Valencourt was the infant's only caregiver leading up to her death,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and had been in her care for the two days prior.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: The autopsy shows the infant died of difen hydramine intoxication.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Her death was ruled a homicide. The state is alleging
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: that the defendant acted criminally negligent and because of that action,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: the child died. Harberbrier died, so state will be arguing
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: that she acted with a criminal negligent intent. Valencourt and
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: her attorney, Robert McCullen, declined to comment on the case.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Following today's court proceedings, she was released on a twenty
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: five thousand dollars security bond. She must not have contact
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: with any children under the age of five, with the
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: exception of her nine month old grandson. She will be
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: back in. We're hearing w v and YTV Spencer Colin
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: talking to the Rutland County States Attorney Rosemary Kennedy. And
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: just so you know, the state asked for a fifty
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars bond and a judge reduced that in half
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: to a twenty five thousand dollar bond, which she put
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: up twenty five hundred dollars to get out. Clearly, to
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: some people, a baby's life means less than an adult's life.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Why would you let somebody out on a case like
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: this where you've got a dead child on twenty five
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: hundred dollars payment to John Limley Crime online dot Com
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: investigative reporter, I got a question, why did the EMTs
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: contact the mother via text? Why didn't the daycare owner,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Stacy Villancourt call her. Well, we've found that information out
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: from the police. Harper's mother told the investigators there that
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Villancourt didn't have emergency contact information for her the mother
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: to fill out, because her printer was broken. Every Thing
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: is wrong with this scenario. I am researching a book
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: I'm working on Don't Be a Victim, And one of
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the chapters that took the most time for me to
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: write is your child safe at daycare with babysitters at
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: play school. And one of the first things I've learned
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: you're supposed to do is to have all of the
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: contacts emergency contacts, poison control, mom's number, dad's number, other
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: contact number, everything about whatever drugs, medications the child is
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: supposed to have or not. Everything is supposed to be
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: filled out so at the drop of a hat you
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: can be contact. I mean, it's just insult to injury.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: She didn't call mommy because she didn't have her number
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: because her printer was broken. Oh we wait as justice
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: unfolds for baby Harper. Nancy Grace crime story signing up
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Goodbye Friend,