B (3:14)

Who have we got here today?

C (3:16)

You got me, Emilio and me, Sheila, Carla and Lyric.

B (3:23)

Thank you very much for joining me, all of you. I have been following Marian's story, as you know, for about as long as it's been going on. And I can never tell you how sorry I am that I didn't involve you the first time around. I've only since realized how important it is to get the family involved. And that's why I wanted to redo Marian's episode with your involvement. So I'll let you kind of take the reins, guys, and you can tell however much you want the world to know, because I'm fine with putting anything out there that you are.

C (3:50)

Okay, we're going to let Carla talk first about Veronica because she has some good information.

E (3:57)

Oh, man. Veronica. Okay, so my first interactions with Veronica was when Marian was what, about two weeks old, probably?

D (4:07)

Yeah.

E (4:07)

So that was when I first met Marian and my first interactions with her. I had had Marian all day and Veronica had came in and took Marian back into the bedroom. And within a few minutes, I hear Marian just screaming at the top of her lungs. So I immediately run back into the bedroom and I'm like, what is going on? And Veronica just starts laughing and she's like, I'm just making her cry. So immediately I pick Marian up and they take her out of the room, you know, and I'm like, I. I don't find that funny. And Veronica comes out of the room, you know, and she's like, let me just show you what I did. And I'm like, no, just go away. Just leave her alone. And then she had taken her for the night and left the house, and she brought her back in the one morning and she kind of just sat the carrier on the floor and she's like, here, you can have this little. That's exactly what she said to me.

B (5:04)

Wow. It is her first child, right?

E (5:07)

Yes, yes, this was her first child. And so I kind of looked at her and I'm like, what's the problem? And we had had her for what, like almost that whole week at the house? And she said she doesn't sleep at all. And I'm like, well, what do you mean? She's been sleeping for us? And she said, well, she went to sleep at like 10 o' clock and she woke back up at like 4am Mind you, she's only two weeks old at this point, right I'm like, well, you know, 4:00am is technically the next day. She's like, well, I like to sleep until, like, noon. And I looked at her and I said, well, then you shouldn't have became a mom.

B (5:47)

Right.

E (5:48)

Because babies don't sleep until noon.

B (5:50)

No, especially that young.

E (5:52)

So when I kind of left Texas and went back to Ohio, I pretty much told everyone in Ohio. I'm like, I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. I mean, I told everyone. I did not get good mom vibes.

C (6:04)

From her at all.

B (6:06)

Did you get to spend more time with her than just the first little bit?

E (6:10)

I did not.

B (6:11)

Oh, no. Okay. So that was the only time you really got to spend with Marion when she was very, very little?

C (6:18)

Yes.

B (6:18)

You kept in touch, though, through phone and everything?

E (6:21)

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

C (6:23)

Yep.

B (6:25)

Was the first incident, the incident where Marian had meth in her system.

C (6:30)

That was basically when we figured that something was going on because she didn't keep Marion. Most of the time we had her. Most of the time we would have to make her take Marian for a weekend. And she had called Emilio to come and pick Marian up because we had made her take her for that weekend. So he went over, picked her up, and took her to his sister Katrina's because he was going to to donate blood. And he asked Katrina to keep her while he went, and that I would pick her up on my way home, which was going to be about 30 minutes. So I got home, I changed clothes, and Trevor walked in, and I said, what are you doing? And he goes, oh, I was bringing some of this stuff of the Marians over that was at the house, and I got to go take a bed over to Katrina's, and I said, oh, can you bring Marion back? Because she has Marion and I'm supposed to go pick her up. He had said, yeah, they had pick her up and bring her back. So he brought her back, and she was screaming hysterical at the top of her lungs. And I said to him, I said, what's wrong with her? And he said, I don't know. She'd been doing that all weekend. I said, did you guys take her to the doctor or call the doctor? He said, no, she cries like that all the time when she's at our house.

B (8:11)

That's not a good sign.

C (8:13)

So Emilio came in about 20 minutes after that. I was trying to hold her and walk with her, and she'd be okay for maybe five or 10 minutes, and then she'd scream again. And so Emilio came in, and he Took her and he's walking with her. And I told him, because she kept screaming. And he said, do you think I should take her to the doctor? And I said, yeah, we probably need to take her to the emergency room. I said, because that's not a I'm tired or I'm hungry cry. I said, that's a I'm hurting cry. I said, something is hurting her. And so he proceeded to call Veronica. And she said, she has a doctor's appointment next week. I'm not going to take her to the hospital. And he told her, I didn't ask you to take her. I'm going to take her. I need her medical card. And she said, no, she doesn't need to go. I'm going to take her to the doctor next week. And Emilio said, okay, so you can go or you don't have to go, but I'm taking her. And so I'm standing there and I'm telling him, let's just go. Let's just go. And so finally she said, okay, well, me and Trevor will meet you up there. And so we got there. We were probably there about two and a half hours. And then Trevor and Veronica showed up.

B (9:39)

No urgency.

C (9:41)

And so finally we had left to come home so Emilio could get some clothes and go back up there and spend the night, because they said they were admitting her. And he went back up there, and then he came back home. And I asked him, I said, why didn't you stay? And he said, because Trevor's staying. And I said, that's not Trevor's daughter. And he said, well, she wanted Trevor to stay. He said, so I left. I don't want to be around him. So the next morning, we got up to leave to go to the hospital. CPS called. They told Emilio, they said, are you available, you and your mom, for us to talk to? And Emilio goes, yeah, sure. What's going on? And he told Emilio, he said, they found meth in the baby system. And CPS was called in. And Emilio's like, what do you mean? Method? And he goes, we're on our way to the hospital right now. So we took off. We went up to the hospital. In the meantime, Veronica calls us and tells us, before you talk to cps, come and talk to me and Trevor. So our stories match.

B (10:59)

Oh, no.

C (11:01)

And I said, okay. And so I called CPS right back. And I said, look, Veronica just called, and she told us to come and talk to her and Trevor before we talk to you so that our stories match. And he said, I'll meet you at the elevator. So when we got off the elevator, the guy with CPS was standing there, and Veronica and Trevor were out there, and they just went back into the room and. And the guy walked us down the hall and started asking us questions. And, you know, we told him that they had taken her for the weekend. They had taken her to a party that the family had, and that his one sister. Well, the only sister he has, that she did drugs. And so that we thought that they were smoking meth in front of her with her around, and that's how she had it in her system. And they had us all go drug test, which we all did. And of course, we had to do hair follicle tests too. And everybody passed the test. So while we were at the place to do the test, Emilio had Marion. They were over there by themselves talking, and he was holding Marion. And then they finally came out to take Marion in to do a hair follicle test, and Veronica decided to take her back for that. But they never did find the source of the meth because Trevor's sister wasn't gonna go test. So they just kind of dropped the case. And Emilio told the caseworker, after we had Marion, what do we have her for, 60, 90 days? 90 days. They came to the house and they said, well, we're going to give her back to her mom because we can't find where the meth came from. And what you telling me, Melio?

F (13:17)

I told them if anything happens to that little girl and that it's going to be their fault, right?

C (13:22)

And he told him, he said, I don't want to get that call. I want to get that call. That something happened.

B (13:28)

No, no.

C (13:29)

And then they started bringing her over. Well, they not. We took her to them. They never had her. She got mad at one point and told Emilio he couldn't see her. And she took her for like a week. And then she called him to come and get her. And then she said, well, you can just have her for Halloween and everything, because she got her back at the end of August and wasn't going to let Emilio or me see her anymore. But then it was like the 14th of October, she called Emilio and told Emilio to take her. So Emilio took her to the Halloween party.

F (14:12)

Had her all through Halloween that month.

D (14:16)

I'll pause here for a word from my sponsors.

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C (15:50)

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B (18:28)

Oh, my God.

C (18:30)

Which wasn't the truth. We were making her take her for the weekend. So Emilio said, I'll pick her back up on Tuesday, which was the seventh, because he was off. And so he came and picked me up at work. We decided to go get something to eat and then go get her. Well, Emilio said, no, I need to stop at Home Depot first. I need to pick up some lumber to make a bookshelf. And I said, no, let's go eat first. And he said, no, I'm going to stop here first. Which was a good thing because we weren't in Home Depot 20 minutes till Veronica called. And she called my phone and she said, are you with Emilio? Because Emilio wouldn't answer his phone to talk to her. And I said, yes. I go, what's wrong? And she goes, I've been trying to call him because there's a medical emergency with Marion. Well, that's all Emilio heard. I said, what do you mean? She goes, I don't know. I'm at the house. I go, where's Marion? She goes, I don't know. And Emilio took off out the door, and he's like, come on, come on. And so we took off, got to the house. She's just standing out there. We're asking her what's going on. And she goes, well, Marian's with Trevor and this is his location. She was following his location on his phone. And she said, he has Marion with him, but I don't know what happened. The police said, it's a medical emergency. So they were there. The police was there. And I asked him what was going on, and he said, we don't know yet. And Emilio goes, what do you mean you don't know? He goes, where's my daughter? And the officer said, well, we're not sure. The police are with her right now. And I said to Veronica, show me the where they're at. So she did on her phone. And I told Emilio, let's go. The officer said, they're transporting her to the hospital. So I Called the hospital and they verified that she was there. And so I told Emilio, well, let's go. Let's go get your paper showing that you have rights to her and let's go to the hospital. And the police told us that we couldn't go. And I looked at him and I said, we're not in trouble. We're not the ones being detained here. I said, we're gone. And so we left. We got to the house and the officer called and we're getting out of the car. And he told Emilio, I'm sorry to tell you, but your daughter didn't make it. And so Emilio was screaming and punching the garage door. And my other grandson came out and he said, what's wrong? What's wrong? And we told him, marion's dead. And he said, no, she's not. Don't even say that. And so we took off, went to the hospital. Emilio called the caseworker, and she answered the phone and she said, how can I help you? And he said, I just called to tell you that my daughter's dead. And she goes, what do you mean? He said, just what I told you. I told you the last three caseworkers that this was going to happen. And he hung up on her. And then he could probably tell you a little bit more from there.

B (22:17)

I'm so sorry, all of you. I really am. I can only imagine how frustrated you are and were then.

F (22:23)

Ever since then, I've called many law offices here in Lubbock and even in the surrounding areas. Nobody was willing to take the case. They pretty much all outright denied me, saying, oh, we work very close with cps. This isn't a case we're going to take that. There's just not anything that we could do. There's no reason to even fight it. Every law firm that I called wouldn't even. There was even one that said, oh, we'll take it, but we're going to need, like, a $5,000 deposit before we even do anything.

B (22:57)

It's you versus the state. And a lot of times with government immunity, it's like you can't touch them. And that shouldn't be the way it is when they are directly responsible, second only to Veronica and Trevor, right?

F (23:12)

I was like, so there's nobody fighting for me and my rights with my daughter, but they'll fight for Veronica's rights with her daughter. And then when I'm warning you to the world that this little girl is going to end up dead, it fell all on deaf ears. Nobody wanted to hear it. Nobody wanted to listen. They automatically just assumed, if you're just fighting for custody, you need to quit calling us.

B (23:36)

Right. They assume the worst about you and the best about her.

F (23:40)

Yes.

B (23:41)

Which is so unfair when an entire family is telling them something and they just decide that you are just vengeful. When did you start seeing signs from Marian that she was afraid of them?

F (23:54)

Ooh.

C (23:56)

She was not very old because she stayed with us all the time. Trevor showed up at the house. She was probably about five months old because she. That's when she started saying, hi, Dada. And we were in the bedroom, and we were trying to get her to say it because I was recording. It took us forever to get her to say it. Well, Trevor walked in, and he walked up to the door, and she looked over Emilio's shoulder, and then she looked at me, and then she looked at Emilio, and then she looked around at Trevor again, and she just started holding on to Emilio. And Trevor said to her, what are you looking at? And Emilio was talking to him and talking about the dogs. And it was at that point that we realized something was wrong, because once Trevor walked in, she didn't want to talk. She got real quiet. You know, she wasn't babbling like she normally does. And then when he walked away from the door, that's when she finally started talking again. And we got her to say hi, Dada again. We knew then that something was going on, but we couldn't pinpoint anything until they brought her over one day, and she had a bruise on, like, her hip and her thigh. And Emilio asked Veronica what happened. And her thing was, Trevor's two kids were there, and she was doing something, and the kids accidentally hurt her. And then Emilio called cps. They came out. They basically ignored it. She told Emilio, just because you want custody of your daughter is not a reason to be calling us. And Emilio told her, I do want custody of my daughter, but not because I want custody, but because she's being abused. And she said, well, we don't have proof that that's happening. And so then they had taken her for two days, brought her back. She had a rash from her hips all the way down to her knees, bleeding, where they had not changed her the whole weekend.

B (26:25)

Oh, that's awful.

C (26:27)

And then Emilia went over and took them diapers, and she was like, oh, we have some. And he goes, well, evidently not, because she came with that rash. And she said, oh, she always gets that. No, she doesn't, because we have her all the time. You maybe have her one or Two days out of a month, and she comes back with a rash. And then another time, they had had her for one day, she came back and her finger was bleeding and bruised. Veronica, Tony, Emilio. I already called and turned it into cps. The kids accidentally smashed her finger in the door. So there was little things that we were seeing all the time, and we were turning it in, and it was like they didn't care.

F (27:17)

Any problems that we brought up to CPS they openly shared with Veronica and Trevor.

C (27:23)

Oh, yeah, yeah.

B (27:26)

They were sabotaging that relationship.

D (27:28)

Yeah.

C (27:29)

They would call them and tell them they needed to come over because we told them. We went over one night because the baby was over there. And so we had went over to take her some diapers and make sure everything was okay. Well, she didn't have any formula. They had been feeding her water for the weekend. And Emilio said, if you don't have formula, you need to tell me, because I have six cans of formula at my house for her. And so he went home, brought back a can of formula. Well, when we had first got there and knocked on the door, they didn't answer right away, but we could hear Marion real faintly crying. And so Emilio knocked a little bit harder. And then Trevor said, who is it? And Emilio told him. He goes, it's Emilio. Okay, give me a second. Give me a second. And so we're standing at the door, and we hear Marian's cry getting louder. So at that point, I figured they had her in the back room and they were bringing her out. Well, when Trevor opened the door, she was in a playpen in the living room. Him and his kids were in the back. Veronica wasn't even there. And Marion was soaked with sweat from her head to her feet. She had the outfit on that we had taken her over there in. They hadn't changed her. There was dog poop all over the living room. You couldn't even walk in there.

B (29:21)

And that was his rented duplex.

C (29:23)

Yeah. Trevor's son came running down the hall and slid in it.

B (29:29)

Oh, no.

C (29:31)

And I told Emilio, take a picture. And he looks at me and he goes, I don't have my phone. It's in the car. You take it. I said, mine's in the car, too, because we had already turned that into cps. And they said, well, when we went over, it was clean.

B (29:46)

I don't imagine they could have cleaned it that thoroughly if there was that much of it. They just ignored it.

C (29:51)

Yep. So then I picked Marion up out of the playpen. She kept looking at Trevor, crying, And I said, do you have some wipes and diapers so I can change her? And Emilio told him, can you make her a bottle? And so he made her a bottle, and I was cleaning her with baby wipes and changed her and put a new outfit on her. And then Emilio looked at Trevor, and he said to Trevor, what is that backpack doing there? Because there was a backpack laying right by her crib, and the straps to the backpack were hanging over the crib. And he didn't even look Emilio in the face. He kept looking away, and he's like, oh, I just threw it up there. And Emilio goes, she can get caught in those straps and die if she gets them around her neck. Oh, I. I'm going to move it. And so he grabbed the backpack and moved it after she had died. And we heard about the backpack. That's when we realized he had her in that backpack. Were positive when we pulled up and knocked on the door, and we could barely hear her crying because she was zipped up.

B (31:20)

It sounds that way.

C (31:22)

And that's why she was wet with sweat. And I told the detective, I know in my heart that's what happened. He said, possibly, but we don't have proof. And I said, well, if you would have been there and you would have seen it. And Emilio kept telling me, no, mom, that's not the backpack. He has a bigger backpack. That's what he put her in. So when we talked to the detective, the detective said, no, that was the backpack, the one that Trevor had laying on the bed.

B (31:57)

So it was pretty small, this one.

C (31:59)

Yeah, it was very small. And then we got to talking, and because Veronica had said to Emilio, you have two car seats, and we don't even have one for her, she outgrew hers. And Emilio goes, what do you mean you don't have a car seat? He goes, I gave you a car seat. No, we don't have it. He goes, okay, well, I have another one. I'll give you another car seat. He said, I'll bring it over. She told us, you know what? Never mind. I don't need the car seat, because we have a way of keeping her restrained. And I told Emilio they were probably putting her in that backpack whenever they got in that car, Right?

B (32:41)

As if that's going to keep her safe.

D (32:44)

Time for another quick sponsor break.

A (32:50)

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G (33:17)

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B (34:51)

And you had said something about Benadryl?

C (34:54)

Yes. So Marian had got sick and I was in New Mexico for Christmas and I took her to the hospital and she had an upper respiratory problem and so they gave her Benadryl. And the lady said, give this to her for five days. Do not give it to her any longer. Throw it away. I said, okay. So when I got home, she had one more day of the Benadryl. And I had told Veronica, don't give her that Benadryl, because I had left it in her backpack. I said, don't give her that Benadryl. Throw it away. Because she was only supposed to take it for five days. And she said, oh, we give it to her all the time anyway because it makes her sleep. She was also given her Melatonin and she'd brought a bottle of Melatonin over to the house and she said, just give her this and she'll go to sleep. And I told Her? No, I'm not giving her that. I said, she's too little. Oh, it makes her sleep. She sleeps for a long time.

B (36:04)

Yeah, that would happen.

C (36:05)

And then she started giving her Benadryl because she seen that the doctor had prescribed it. So when I talked to Detective Bonds, I told him, I said she was given that baby Benadryl. I said, if you give a child Benadryl, it can kill them at that age. And it looks like they died from SIDS because it suffocates them. And so when they took everything out of the house and they said that they had found 10 empty bottles of Benadryl, so I figured they were giving it to Marion and to his kids to make them sleep. Detective Bond said she didn't have any Benadryl in her system when they did the autopsy. And I told him I'm sure she didn't. I said, because you know what the half life of Benadryl is? 6 hours. By the time you guys got to her and she was pronounced dead, it was already 5 o' clock in the evening. I was already off of work. I said, that was way over six hours. She's not going to have any in her system. And he just looked at me and I said, I'm a nurse. I know. And then of course the autopsy came back that she suffered from asphyxiation. You know, we haven't got a copy of the autopsy. I was just saying today I need to get a copy of the autopsy to see what all it says. They wouldn't let us have a copy until after Trevor's sentencing and everything. And we've just never asked for one since then.

B (37:49)

Texas is very tight about these sorts of things when it comes to child cases. So Emilio, you might have to be the one to ask for it. You did have parental rights?

F (37:59)

Yes.

B (37:59)

Okay. Yeah. So they'll probably give it to you then.

C (38:03)

We had asked Detective Bobbins for it because he had it. And he said, I can't give it to you guys until after the sentencing and everything. But then he never gave it to us.

B (38:14)

How are you dealing with the frustration that you've had over everything that you tried to do and weren't listened to or were disregarded?

F (38:24)

It was for. At least for me, it was rough. I wasn't really. I wasn't in the workforce for a couple of years. I was strictly doing doordash and like Uber Eats deliveries. Anything that just had no interaction with people was pretty much what I went for. I wasn't doing anything creative wise. I wasn't doing anything that I used to do, I pretty much.

C (38:51)

He hibernated in his room. He took his TV in his room, he put it on the wall. He would go get something to eat. He'd go in his room. He wouldn't come out. One day, his best friend from elementary school came over, and he said, is Emilio here? And I said, yeah, he's in his room. And he said, can I come in and get him? We want to take him out to eat. And I said, sure. So he came in, and he walks in the room, and he goes, hey, we're going to go out to eat. Come on. And Emilio goes, nah. He goes, I just got some food right here. He goes, I just got back. His friend Feliciano grabbed the food off his table, threw it in the trash in his room, because he had a trash can in his room so he didn't have to come out and told Emilio, now you don't have any food, so you have to go out and eat. So Emilio went out to eat with him, and he tells me, I'll be back in a little bit. And I said, okay. Feliciano opens the door and looks at me and says he won't be back until later tonight. And that he started coming and getting Emilio and making Emilio go over because all of their friends were there. They were all together, but Emilio was the only one that stayed away. He didn't go around them. And so Feliciano was the one who actually got him to where he was going out and doing things.

B (40:28)

That's good. I'm so glad you had good friends who wanted to help you that way and who recognized that you needed it.

F (40:35)

Yeah, they were my big support system, and they're still very much my big support system. I purposely found a job to where I got weekends off because we'd all hang out on Sundays, and that's pretty much been a consistent thing since then.

B (40:50)

That's good. And, Carla, how did you deal with all of this happening while you were out of state?

C (40:56)

Oh, man.

E (40:58)

Yeah. Not easy. Not easy. When my mom called and told me about the math, what did I immediately tell you?

B (41:06)

Mom?

E (41:07)

I said, veronica's involved. Because like I said, when I went back to Ohio, man, I told everybody, like, everyone back home. I was like, man, I don't trust her. I didn't trust her judgment. I never got good vibes from her. I never got that. That mom, you know, Marian was a baby, and she was not a nurturing person.

C (41:32)

It was hard.

E (41:33)

I mean, I have another sister in Ohio, so this is the second Niece that I've actually buried. But my first one, you know, she was stillborn. My sister had a stillbirth, you know, and that was completely different.

C (41:45)

But this was.

E (41:46)

Man, it's very different.

C (41:48)

Very different.

F (41:50)

And then the other thing is, we've all. Besides your story, we've seen recently a lot of people covering the story a lot. And I think a lot of the thing is we're always open to messages or emails, and a lot of them got the story wrong in a lot of different ways.

B (42:08)

Yeah, that's why it was so important to me to get your perspective on it. It doesn't help to get the story out and it's wrong. And that's not doing Marian any justice. It's not giving you any respect. And that's why I definitely wanted you involved.

C (42:22)

And one person even said that Emilio should have been prosecuted too, because he said that he forgave Trevor for what he did. That was not what he said. He told Trevor. When we went to the sentencing and we did our victim impact statements, he basically told him, we were friends, we had good times together. You were a pallbearer at my dad's funeral. I trusted you. All it took was one call. And, you know, I would have been there to get her. You did it before, why couldn't you do it again? He said, I can't say I hate you. It's my job to forgive and God's job to judge. And he walked off the stand. And so then someone took that as he forgave Trevor. You know, he told Trevor in court, I don't want to talk to you. I can't talk to you.

F (43:29)

One of them even said that I went and visited Trevor in jail and talk to him. Even to this day, I have never been to the jail. I've never visited him. I have never spoken a word to him since then.

B (43:43)

I don't understand it. Even if you had forgiven him, that's not a reason for you to be prosecuted. That's an insane thing to say. And people can be so cruel without understanding a single thing about the situation. And Monday morning quarterbacking coming in saying, well, this is what I would have done. They have no idea what they would do because they've never been in the situation. So to judge people like you who did everything you possibly could to protect that girl, it's not right. You've gone through enough.

F (44:13)

I would also like to say, because I see a lot of people on Thomas Weems and I see a lot of hate towards him. I truly. He was just A guy that was stupid at the beginning. But as for relations to Trevor, those never existed. We just all happened to work at the same place and all know each other. I still to this day don't know how Veronica convinced him to lie to his family knowing he wasn't the father. But ever since then he has apologized and his family have apologized and have even spoken to us to this day and don't understand why she would even lie or force them to lie.

B (44:56)

Now it sounds like she's got a lot of self preservation going on. For whatever reason she feels like she needs it. She's not with Thomas now. She's with someone else who she has these children with.

F (45:07)

Correct. Ever since Mariam was born she pretty much left Thomas because basically once I had fought for the parental test, there was no way she can.

B (45:19)

Right? Right. She couldn't hide it anymore once DNA was involved.

F (45:22)

Yeah.

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B (46:18)

And I had seen in one of the articles. But Sheila, you said that that was not what Veronica said in her impact statement. What did she say? Do you remember?

C (46:29)

Everything was about Veronica. She had got on the stand and she said ever since Marian died, everybody on Facebook has been coming after me and making my life miserable because of you. And she said. What else was it she told him.

F (46:51)

And because of you I've been harassed and threatened and receive messages daily because of what you did. And they all are after me and blame me is basically how that all worked.

C (47:06)

But nothing about Marion. It was all about her and how he did this to her.

B (47:12)

Not even you took my daughter?

C (47:15)

No.

B (47:16)

That's unbelievable. Well, you can tell someone's priorities from something like that. I mean she's the one who wore his jacket to the funeral.

C (47:23)

So she even left the funeral home. She came for about an hour maybe. Yeah. And she said I gotta go because she had to go to the Jail to visit Trevor. And then the day of the funeral, my nephew who did the funeral for us, he said, auntie, is it okay if I invite her and her family to come to the church for dinner? And I was going to tell him no, but I said, yeah, that's fine. So he did. And she said, well, I can't, I have something else I have to do. Because she had to go to the jail to visit Trevor again. So when someone told me that she was going to the jail and visiting Trevor, I was like, no way, there's no way. And so then I told Emilio, I'm going to call in to work, I'm going to tell him I'm going to be late, I'm going up to the jail. He goes, okay, well, I'll go with you. So he sat in the car. I went into the jail and I watched for her to come and I started recording her coming in because Trevor's family was the one that said she's on her way to the jail and she's using their car to get there. So I went up there and I confronted her and I told her, I said, veronica, I can't believe you're here to visit the guy who murdered your daughter. And she said, it's none of your business and I don't have to answer to you. There was a bunch of people in the lobby and I said, hey everyone, this girl's visiting the guy who murdered her 10 month old daughter. I said, she's just as guilty, she deserves to be prosecuted too. Of course they asked me to leave the jail. I said, don't worry, I am leaving, I said, because I don't want to be in here with someone who supports a murderer. And so I left and I went outside and I sat in the car and the officer came out and saw me still in the car. So he went in and got Veronica and walked her to her car. And I drove off and I rolled the window down and I told her, I said, you know what, you're the scum of the earth. And the officer said, you need to go. And I said, I am, I'm leaving. And we drove off. But yeah, she didn't say anything at the sentencing about how she was hurt because her daughter wasn't there anymore. You know, it was all about her. I think there was one time she said something about missing Marion or something.

B (50:15)

She knew enough to at least insert one small comment, but pretty obvious what her priorities were. And I think you going to the jail is incredibly brave. And if I've Ever heard an example of righteous indignation? That's it right there.

F (50:30)

And I. As far as I was aware, she pretty much visited him every day since. Until she met the guy that she's currently with.

B (50:41)

So she was basically still in a relationship with him, most likely.

F (50:45)

That's what we're assuming. And we'll never truly know because unless someone decides to pull the call records, because it's all always recorded and whatnot.

B (50:56)

Oh, I bet they would give that to you if you requested it through the Freedom of Information Act.

F (51:01)

Yeah, I'm sure they would give it to me now. They weren't going to give anything until the case was over, right?

B (51:07)

Right. Yeah. It might be interesting, but I don't know if it's a rabbit hole you'd want to go down. So. I do want to talk about one more thing. I definitely want to know more about who Marian was. I think that's the most important thing to remember.

F (51:24)

Oh, she was a sweet girl. We were with her every day, and she was growing so quickly. She loved soc, even though most of it was gibberish. She was starting to walk, take her steps. When I'd get home from work, she would crawl as fast as she could.

C (51:51)

To me, chasing him down the hall because he'd go to his room first, and she'd be as fast as she could down the hall after him.

E (52:00)

Honestly, one of the best babies ever. She hardly ever cried, just really.

C (52:07)

Yep. She was always happy.

B (52:10)

And how do you keep her memory alive now?

F (52:13)

To this day, we still hold a lot of photos here in the house. I still have the urn with her feet that are printed on it. I hold a necklace of her ashes.

C (52:27)

We have a wall done for her with a little shelf. We used to have all of her little toys on the shelf, but kids that have came over have played with the toys. And I have another granddaughter that my daughter found out she was pregnant the day that Marian died.

D (52:46)

Wow.

C (52:47)

And so this one just turns five today.

B (52:51)

Today. Well, happy birthday.

C (52:53)

Yeah. So she just turned five today, but she would get Marion's little toys down and play with them and chew on them and everything.

B (53:04)

So do you tell her about Marian?

C (53:08)

Oh, yeah. She sees the pictures of Marion, and all the kids talk about Marion. My one grandson, he's just. He's been through a lot, you know, and it's hard for him to even say anything about Marian. If you talk about Marion, he'll say stuff about Trevor. I should have hit him in the head with my baseball bat. He was, like, seven when she was killed.

F (53:38)

He's a very heartfelt kid. He's very passionate about his brothers and sisters. He's very protective of Lyric as well.

B (53:48)

It must be hard for all of them. It's hard for kids to understand this sort of thing in the first place. But to know that it happened because of someone who was supposed to care for her, that's got to be confusing.

C (53:59)

Yeah. And it's like I told Trevor in our. When we went to the sentencing, I told him, you have two kids of your own. How would you feel if someone did that to your kids? I said, with Marian, we don't get to see her get her first tooth. We don't get to see her ride her bike. We don't get to see her start kindergarten. We don't get to see her go to her first prom. We don't get to see her get married. We don't get to see her have her own kids. You took all of that away from us, all the milestones. We don't get to see her lose her first tooth. I got to see this one lose her first tooth the other day. Oh, wow.

B (54:46)

Just before her birthday.

C (54:48)

She lost it before her birthday. So we think she swallowed it. We never did find it.

B (54:54)

Oh, no. Yeah. And Marion would be 6 now, right? She'd be in kindergarten.

C (55:00)

Yep. We would have been in kindergarten this year. And that's what I told. I said in the thing. I said, we don't get to see her start school. You know, you took everything from us. And I thought that would have been something that Veronica would have brought up. I don't get to spend time with my daughter. I don't get to see my daughter go to school. Nothing, you know? And then afterwards, the bailiff came up to us and said that Trevor's family wanted to talk to us, but they told him that they couldn't talk to us unless we were willing to talk to them. And we told them that we didn't have a problem talking to them. What Trevor did was what Trevor did. It wasn't what they did. And so they came in, they took us all in this room, and they were very nice, and they were very apologetic. And they go, I shouldn't even be apologizing, because there should not have to be an apology. You know, what he did was wrong, and we don't know why he did it. They said, but we know for a fact that Veronica was involved. And we said, we know, too. But like the DA Said, we don't have enough evidence to prosecute her. And Trevor admitted To everything. And so then when he came back and said, I didn't tell you the whole truth, they said, too late. And the detective. I said, well, you know, he said that he told you guys what actually happened. And he said, but now the way they see it is he's just trying to get off and get a lesser sentence. That's why he's saying that Veronica was involved.

B (56:56)

So he basically didn't mention her at all. He said it was all him to begin with. Yeah, it sounds like they had a very codependent relationship in some way. But either way, I'm glad that part of it is over for you that you don't have to deal with any more court. He can't appeal. Is that right?

F (57:15)

He can never appeal.

C (57:16)

No, he can't. And that was the thing. They had asked me and Emilio. They called us in, and they said, we want to know what you want. Do you want the death penalty? And we said, no, we want him to have life in prison without the possibility of parole. So they went back with that offer, and his attorney said, we'll do life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. The DA said, no, not doing it. So then he came back 50 years, and the DA said, nope, it's life in prison without the possibility of parole. And so finally, Trevor agreed to it. And so they had talked to the judge, and the DA Told us that he was going to end up with life in prison without the possibility of parole, but that Veronica had said she wanted him to have the death penalty. And the judge said, well, she's not getting what she wants.

B (58:25)

I like that they gave you the bulk of the respect that. That's so important. I think everyone recognized that your family was Marianne's family.

C (58:35)

Right.

F (58:36)

It was the respect we finally got, because even. Even for the funeral, we didn't get any options. It was all Veronica's options.

C (58:47)

But the director of the funeral home afterwards, the day that we went to the viewing, he came up to Emilio and he told emilio, I am so sorry. I just found out what happened. Had I known what I do now, you would have had a choice, too, because he let Veronica make all the choices.

B (59:14)

Yeah. I do hope that you were satisfied, at least with the way you were able to send her off.

F (59:21)

We fought for a lot, so we made sure that we got some things.

B (59:26)

That's good. Well, I really appreciate that you took the time to talk to me and straighten things out and that we were able to get all of the facts in order and were able to tell Marian's story for what it actually is. I appreciate that so much and thank you for trusting me to tell her story the right way.

C (59:46)

No problem. Thank you.

F (59:48)

And I'd just like to say if, you know, if anybody out there listens listening to this, we're always open to talk about the story. You're free to message me on any of my social media websites, Facebook, TikTok. I'm always open to talk about it and give more insight into the situation so that the facts are out there. And I would love to do something for the community so that other people aren't in the same situation as I am. I want to find something to do. I just don't know how to do it.

B (60:22)

Yeah, well, the inspiration will probably strike at the oddest time, but I'm sure something will come to you. Marianne will tell you what to do.

D (60:34)

It's my honor to give Marian's family a voice and I can't thank them enough for filling in so many blanks and helping me ensure I have the facts so I could tell Marian's true story the way she and they deserve it to be told. I wish them all the best in the future and I can promise them that I'll always do my best to help them keep their sweet girl's memory alive. Quick shout outs to my newest patrons. Thank you to Amber L. From Columbus, Georgia, Desiree B. From San Marcos, California, and from the wreckage of a spacecraft in a field in Smallville, Kansas. Thank you to Marguerite P. Thank you all for your support. I'm going to try very hard to get at least two episodes out per month going forward. It's hard to plan around my freelance writing job because there's no predicting when my projects will hit, but I'm at least going to give a regular podcast schedule another try. Wish me luck. That's it for this episode. Join me next time for Another Child's Story. If you like the show, please follow or subscribe to Suffer the Little Children.

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