You will be scared after you learn about the horrific stories related to the murder of the little four-year-old child! Can you imagine seeing bite marks on the child’s skin? The doctor at the UNC intensive care unit was appalled by the injuries of the little girl.
Here, I will be sharing with you the horrendous crime committed by Jonathan Douglas Richardson, the man who was responsible for her. While her mother left the child in his charge, Richardson tortured her in the worst possible way.
In this article, I am going to talk about the investigation and the trial of the murderer. You will learn about the details that made it difficult for many police officers and doctors involved in this case to have a non-biased approach.
When the Caretaker Is The Abuser, You Are Scared Of Leaving Your Child Behind!
You will also get emotional if you see a little child being abused or tortured! The same happened with Dr. Keith Kocis and Detective Matt DeSilva, who were handling the case. According to DeSilva, the detective, it was quite unbearable to look at the little girl’s injuries.
According to the detective in the court, when the doctor turned her to the side, it was very difficult for the detective to keep looking! There were tears in the detective’s eyes. Once the jury left, he told the judge it was one of the worst things he had ever seen!
Furthermore, I will share with you what the doctor thought about Skiba’s injuries. In the article, I will talk about what happened to the little girl and how Richardson misused the trust that the little girl’s mother had in him.
The mother was out of state, and for ten days, Richardson was accused of sexually assaulting and beating the child. He also used to beat her, as there was evidence of a black eye that Teghan got from Richardson one month before.
The investigators also found a video in which the little girl is begging Richardson not to hurt her even though Richardson’s defense team objected to this video being exposed in court!
The sources inform that the little girl is seen standing against the wall, begging Richardson not to hurt her as she will never accidentally relieve herself!
What Happened To Teghan Skiba?
A four-year-old child, Teghan Skiba, was born to Jerry Skiba and Helen Reyes in 2006. Her father was imprisoned on charges related to drugs; hence, it was her mother, Helen Reyes, who took on her sole responsibility. She was raised by her mother alone till she was 4!
However, in 2010, the mother needed to go away for army reserve training; hence, she put her boyfriend, Jonathan Douglas Richardson, in charge of little Teghan’s care. Richardson was 21 years old at the time, and it was a completely wrong choice to become the caretaker of the little girl.
They were living in his grandparents’ house when Reyes went away! This horrible man took the little girl to a barn behind the house and tortured her for ten days. Teghan urinated and defecated on the bed when both she and Richardson were sleeping.
It was due to this reason that the disgusting man tortured the little girl and raped her repeatedly until she finally lost consciousness. He then went on to hit her on the head with a blunt object, and it was this trauma that finally killed her.
Richardson constantly maintained that the girl kept jumping down the furniture repeatedly. There were even signs of injuries on the little girl’s neck that were like injuries caused by the power cord.
What Did Jonathan Douglas Richardson Do?
Richardson, after torturing the little girl and hitting her on the head, brought her to the Johnston Medical Center on 16 July 2010, located in North Carolina. Can you imagine that this man lied to the doctor, saying she fell off the bed?
However, serious trauma was visible on Teghan’s body in the form of bruises, bite marks, and forced signs. As the medics discovered the extent of her injuries, she was transferred to the University of North Carolina Hospital for more intensive and specialized care.
I am sad to say that with all the efforts the doctors induced in treating the girl, they could not save her as she passed away a few days later. It was Dr. Keith Kocis who treated Teghan at the UNC’s intensive care unit as he experienced disturbance.
In his 25 years of experience as a doctor, Kocis said he has never seen these kinds of injuries! Teghan is described as fragile and pale as she went through the ordeal. Richardson beat her up as there were whip marks on her body along with bite marks and scars.
Investigation And Trial
In the investigation, Doctor Kocis detailed the injuries, which, when you hear them, will feel unreal! The girl was shaken violently as she underwent severe brain damage, so at one point, the doctor had to poke a needle in her foot to check if the brain was still functioning.
There were intracranial injuries on the left side of Teghan’s brain; there was bleeding while the brain was swelling. Brain matter was coming out due to the swelling! Imagine a little girl suffering severely as her brain activity is failing and deranged.
There were multiple injuries on the body of the little girl, including 66 bite marks, whip marks, lesions, and bruises. Her blood was on 30 articles or objects, according to the investigators, such as a wooden rod, underwear, a sleeping bag, a pillowcase, and others.
She had poor circulation of air, probably due to which there was excessive acid in the blood. She lived in the air-conditioned with others and Richardson behind his grandfather’s house.
In that barn, there was no bathroom or running water and only an air mattress to sleep on the floor. The detectives went across the barn, where everything was covered with trash!
What Was The Sentence?
The charge implemented on Richardson was first-degree murder, child abuse, and felony, inflicting serious bodily injury, and sexual abuse. The bite marks on Teghan’s body matched Richardson’s teeth! Can you believe that there were bite marks where the flesh was torn?
Even though the defense lawyer of Richardson pleaded that Richardson was himself a victim of childhood abuse along with mental health issues! The autopsy photos were so distressing that the jurors were visibly shaken.
They even tried to misguide the judge and the jury by establishing a demeanor that showed that he did not sexually abuse the little girl! Can you imagine the audacity? The tragic event was further supported by evidence where the detective found underwear and tissue with blood on it.
Richardson was sentenced to death and is currently on death row, as his charges also include sexual offense and kidnapping. While the mother, Helen Reyes, was given a sentence of 18 months in prison as she was guilty of felony negligent child abuse.
It was due to her negligence and her trust in her six-month-old boyfriend, Richardson, that led to bodily harm to the four-year-old girl and then later her death.
Finishing Off…
To sum it up, the untimely death of Teghan Skiba was an outcome of negligence on her mother’s part and a predator’s attitude from Richardson. It is one of the scariest criminal cases that questions basic human sanity and how it deals with survival instincts.
The murderer had mental issues, due to which the torture and the abuse that Teghan experienced were so extreme. Anyone related to the case firsthand questioned the man’s stability perspective.
Comment on what you think should be the appropriate punishment for Richardson and how to highlight his punishment so that no one ever repeats such an instance.
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