It was December 6th, 2008 when Allysa’s mother finally called the police to report the incident. Allysa Ellis was born in Florida, January 2, of 1970 into a broken home with a single mother of four, Allysa being the youngest of three brothers. Allysa always wanted a little sibling to look after, she loved kids and wanted many of her own. Allysa was an introverted person throughout her childhood and did not have many friends growing up. In the fifth grade Allysa met a girl named Sarah Lee. They clicked almost instantly and did everything together, sleepovers, shopping, she was the only person who understood her. In highschool Sarah and Allysa drifted apart because Sarah met a boy, and Allysa met Eric in math class freshman year. First day of highschool Eric walked in late and was seated by Allysa, they looked at each other, and Allysa couldn’t look away. Eric introduced himself, but Allysa couldn’t say a word. Almost everyday Allysa would help Eric with his work, occasionally their elbows or knees would touch and neither moved. It was June, and Eric still didn’t have her number. He worked up the nerve to ask her after class ended, they exchanged numbers and they texted her all summer. A few months later they were officially dating. Allysa reached out to Sarah because she was not around, unfortunately she had moved to another school. When it was their senior year, Eric asked Allysa to prom with a big poster and a bouquet of red roses at lunch. Getting married when they were both 24, and moving in with Allysa’s mother, Donna. Donna adored them and begged them for grandkids. 

When Allysa and Eric were both 38 years old they were still a hard working couple, but they were struggling to have a child of their own. After many tries and miscarriages a miracle happened! Allysa was pregnant with a baby girl, giving birth to her on August 10,  2005, naming her after Eric’s mother, Mariah, who was no longer with them. Eric and Allysa were planning to move out the following year, but they needed enough money to do so. Donna cared for Mariah while they worked, other times they hired a nanny for the day. Allysa and Eric dreaded being away from Mariah. Both working two jobs made their lives very hectic, but her birthday was around the corner. Wanting to plan a trip to Disneyland for her third birthday. They were going on a business trip to New York. They could not find a committed babysitter, there were just many teens just needing extra cash. Allysa recently downloaded a babysitting app, with many available nannies. Knowing that Donna was going to be visiting Allysa’s brother for a few days, she thought it would be their only option. She sent a few messages to a couple of nannies but most were booked or did not respond. But one did, relieving Allysa of worry.

“Hi I’m Alyssa, I have one kid, she's two years old, me and my husband are going to be on a business trip for work, are you available this week ?” Alyssa sent.

“Hello, I am available from Monday to wednesday.” replied the babysitter, Kelly.

“Sounds great! Can you be here tomorrow by 7 am?” Alyssa replied.

“Yes, is it okay if I bring my own supply bag?” said Kelly.

“Sounds great!, I’ll send you the address.” Allysa replied in relief.

Allysa got ready for bed, ran to the living room to tell Eric the good news. 

“Guess what!” Alyssa said excited as she sat next to him on the couch.

“What?” Eric replied as he put his arm around her.

“I got us a babysitter for a few days but my mom should be back on Thursday.” she said.

“Nice! I already put our luggages in the trunk and put Mariah down for bed.” he said, turning off the television.

Eric and Allysa got ready for bed, checked on Mariah, seeing her peacefully asleep. “I love you”, they both said, giving her a kiss on her head, and shutting the door behind them. Allysa could not sleep at all that night before their trip. She rolled over to Eric who was sound asleep, she tapped him on the shoulder for reassurance, he spoke in his sleep. At about two a.m. , she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and a sleeping pill, seeing a shadow pass through the window of the living room. Her eyes widened but she figured maybe she's just tired and imagining things. She checked the lock on the front door, seeing that the screen door was wide open, she shut the door and locked it in fear. She hurried to bed and fell asleep. Woke up at five a.m. to Eric shaking her telling her the nightmare he had.

“Babe! Babe!” Eric pleaded as she woke up confused. “I had the worst dream!”

“Huh?” she said, waking up.

“Where's Mariah?” he said, running  to her room. “Oh thank God!” he said in relief.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “What happened in your dream?”

“Something happened to Mariah,” he said. “I don’t want to think about it.” he said, changing out of his pajamas.

“She’s okay, it was just a nightmare” she said as she rubbed his back.

She packed lunches and snacks for the drive as he warmed up the car. She waited for the nanny to arrive with Mariah in her arms. It was six a.m. and she needed to be on the road. She saw a red Volkswagen with tinted windows and a faded license plate. The woman walked out the car in all back and a diaper bag on her back. Allysa noticed Kelly did not match her profile page. She had a completely different hair color and nose shape. She figured maybe she just dyed her hair.

“Hi I’m Kelly” She said to Allysa. “I'm going to be your nanny,” she said to Mariah, smiling. “We're going to have so much fun!”

 Mariah whined as she got passed into Kelly’s arms, Allysa told her where the hidden house key was if she needed it. Kelly assured her everything would be taken care of. Eric honked the car to hurry her. Allysa felt anxious but she had to go, she kissed Mariah’s head.

“Okay well I should get going,” she said to Kelly. “I love you!” she said to Mariah, kissing her head.

Kelly waved as Eric and Allysa pulled out the driveway, Allysa blew kisses out the window.

Allysa sighed, “It’s going to be a long week.”

Eric held her hand, “We’ll be back before we know it!” he said, trying to cheer her up.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Mariah headed inside as Mariah cried. 

“Would you shut up?” she said irritatedly, “It’s been two minutes!” she said, frantically looking for her binkie. Putting it in her mouth and sitting her down in front of the television. They watched “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” as they played with her toys for a couple hours.

“Are you hungry?” Kelly asked.

“Apple,” Mariah said, pointing at the tv.

“That I can do,” she said as she looked for fruit. 

After Kelly cut her an apple, mashed carrots and a peanut butter sandwich, she put Mariah in her highchair. Mariah began to whine as Kelly tried to feed her. Mariah pushed her hand away causing Kelly to become frustrated.

“Just eat it!” she begged Mariah “One bite!” she said, putting the spoon full of carrots at her lips. Mariah smacked the spoon away, getting it on Kelly’s shirt. 

“You did not just do that!” Kelly yelled, trying to feed her one more time cursing under her breath. No surprise Mariah did it again, Kelly splashed the carrots on her, making Mariah cry.

“Shut up you big baby” Kelly mocked, grabbing her sandwich, trying to feed it to her.

Mariaha hit the sandwich out of her hand, Kelly picked it up, pulled it apart and smushed it in her face. Mariah continued to cry and flap her arms, trying to get out of her seat . Kelly picked her up and took her to the carpet to watch t.v; Kelly looked through Alyssa's closet shoving her jewelry and blouses in her diaper bag. Kelly carried Mariah to her crib, and shut the door behind her. Mariah cried feeling angry, so she stomped in her bed screaming for attention. Kelly came in with a jar of mashed peas and Mariah’s favorite spoon, it had a purple handle shaped like a butterfly. Kelly tried to feed her but Mariah would not calm down, Kelly grabbed her mouth and shoved the spoon of peas in, letting her rage and frustration take over she kept shoving the spoon down her throat, causing her to pass out. Kelly then put a pillow over her face to muffle and suffocate her. Watching Mariah take her last breath around 12:50 a.m. 

“ What the hell did I just do?” she said, stepping backwards and out of the room.

She shut the door and looked for a rag to remove her fingerprints from all the doors and the spoon in Mariah’s mouth. She then deactivated her account on the babysitting app, where she and Allysa met. She went back into the kitchen, picked up her bag and keys and walked out the front door, leaving Mariah to suffer and pass. On Tuesday Allysa tried to call Kelly, but her account was no longer accessible. She worried but was not able to go home, so she called Donna to make sure she was going to be watching Mariah on Thursday.

Two days later, December 6th, 2008, Donna was on her way home, exhausted from the long drive. She walked in the front door, she noticed it was too quiet. She looked for a note or a baby sitter. 

“Mariah!” she said, walking down the hall to her bedroom.

She slowly turned the knob of her door, remembering she must be napping. She took her hand off the knob and headed to pick up her toys in the living room, and plopped down on the couch. It was around 2 p.m. when Donna finished making a strawberry jelly sandwich and a bowl of applesauce. She couldn’t find her favorite spoon, it wasn't in the drawer, the sink, or in the dishwasher. She walked down the hall, opened Mariah’s door calling her name once more. She walked over to the crib, dropping the plate to the ground. She let out an awful blood curdling scream, she panicked in fear. She saw food all over Mariah’s precious, chubby face and hands. She held onto her hand crying and confused on who did this to her. She called Allysa’s phone but it was sent to voicemail , she called Eric and the same thing happened. She was scared that she wasn’t the only one in the house.

 She crouched down next to her crib, dialed 911. 

“911 what is your emergency?” said the dispatcher.

‘My granddaughter is dead!” Donna cried out.

“How old is she ma’am?” said the dispatcher.

“Three! three years old! Her name is Mariah ” Donna yelled.

“Okay ma’am we're sending an ambulance to you now” said the dispatcher, “Can you check her pulse?”

“She’s purple, there’s a spoon stuck in her throat!” Donna yelled, as the ambulance arrived and hung up. 

Donna waited by the front door, the paramedics showed up and hurried to Mariah’s room. Seeing her lifeless body they put her on the stretcher, crime scene investigators took many pictures of the house. Donna called Allysa to come home immediately, not telling her why but that she needed to be quick. Allysa and Eric arrived the next day, hearing the awful news from Donna. They were shattered, Allysa blamed herself she told them that Kelly did not match her profile but she trusted her anyway. After two months the murderer went unknown, a forensic artist drew a sketch described by Allysa and was then matched to a girl in her highschool yearbook, Sarah Lee.