Boy dies 2 years after shaking
Ricky Edwards
Savon Edwards
The machines have been unhooked and his body moved from a respiratory center in rural Kentucky to a funeral home.
Savon Edwards, who lived in a persistent vegetative state for two years and one day after being
shaken so violently his brain filled with blood, was pronounced dead Monday.
The death could mean more charges for Savon's father,
Ricky Edwards.
Edwards, 32, is serving the maximum eight-year prison sentence at the London Correctional Institution after being found guilty of child endangering nearly 11 months ago.
At the time he was injured, Savon became a poster child for a child welfare system that failed to protect him and let him live with a man with a history of hurting children and domestic violence.
After Savon was injured, one of his caseworkers was fired, two resigned and a fourth was suspended for 20 days.
Cincinnati Police Sgt. Robert Liston would like to see more charges leveled against Edwards.
For now, Savon's biological mother is trying to come up with money for a proper burial gown, a grandmother wonders were Savon's final resting spot will be, and police are trying to protect their case in the event one goes forward now that Savon has died.
That will hinge on the outcome of an autopsy and the decision of prosecutors.
Homicide investigators Tuesday told the funeral home in Mount Vernon, Ky., not to prepare Savon's body for burial for now. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
"There is so much that is unknown," said Jerry Gries, Savon's grandmother.
But this much is known: The short, sad life of Savon has fractured a family and called into question whether
Tammy Gries, Savon's biological mother, withheld permission for tests that medical professionals at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center wanted to do because she worried that her boyfriend, Edwards, would face tougher charges.
The case also showed how badly the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services handled it before Savon was injured.
Jerry Gries, who has been raising Tammy Gries' three eldest children since they were born, has been outspoken about her daughter's actions since Savon was hospitalized Dec. 26, 2008, after he stopped breathing.
"Tammy Gries' continued refusal to cooperate in Savon's management prevents proper evaluation of Savon's medical status," Juvenile Court records state.
Liston has called Tammy Gries' behavior shameful.
Saying it could do no more for Savon, the children's hospital asked that Savon be moved to Mount Vernon a year ago.
Savon could be moved only after a judge severed Tammy Gries' legal rights to Savon and made him a ward of the Department of Job and Family Services.
After he was moved, a Juvenile Court judge said he would not authorize the additional test that could have declared the infant dead, something the hospital and Savon's grandmother wanted.
"I feel Savon was done wrong," Jerry Gries said. "The fact that he laid there that long. He never should have laid there that long. Never."
Savon died Monday afternoon. He was 27 months old.
Early indications show he died as experts predicted, from complications of pneumonia.
About one of five children who have such head trauma dies, but it's rare for a child to languish in a coma for two years as Savon did. Infections and pneumonia generally hasten the death of children with severe head trauma, hospital officials have said.
"I cannot believe the timing of this," Jerry Gries said of the two-year anniversary since Savon was first brought to the hospital from the Corryville home where he lived with his father, great-aunt and other relatives.
Savon was never supposed to be left alone with his father, who has a long criminal record that includes a
conviction for shaking another child and several domestic violence arrests, the child welfare agency determined shortly after Savon was born.
He was also not supposed to be left alone with his biological mother, who also has a criminal record, is considered mentally ill and has since lost custody of all five of her children.
As it turned out, Savon and his father shared a room and were often left alone when Edwards' aunt was at work and his cousin was in school. One woman, an acquaintance of Tammy Gries, called the child welfare department in 2008 telling them they she was under the impression that Edwards was being too rough with Savon.
"He didn't die on his own," Jerry Gries said. "What else can I say? Someone else killed that baby."
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101228/NEWS010701/12290361/Boy-dies-2-years-after-shaking
lives with his sister, and his family lives in Louisiana. He reportedly said during a phone call that he should leave and not come back.
