The worst fears about the troubling death of a two year old girl has been confirmed. Today a post mortem revealed that Vernice Rodriguez died due to severe head trauma. So indications are that little Vernice was beaten in the head with a blunt object. While no arrests have been made Ladyville Police continue to detain prime suspect, the young victim’s babysitter, Ladyville resident Donna Banner. According to the child’s father Haydon Rodriquez in April he entrusted Miss Banner to take care of his daughter because he operates a bar establishment in the Cayo District and believes that it was an unsafe environment to raise a child. Little did he know that the environment he sent her to would be far from safe.
Haydon Rodriquez, Father of Deceased
“It was a shock and I just dealt with it the way it came."
Jacqueline Godwin,
It is definitely not something you had expected?
Haydon Rodriquez,
“Not expected. That is the last thing I expected would ever happen to her but right now I can’t say much because it is not something I thought I would ever have to talk about. I can’t judge based on what the police say, I have to go by what I see for myself. But from what the police told me, from the best of their knowledge, it sounded pretty gruesome and some of it I saw myself but I can’t say much about that either ‘cause I didn’t see much.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What did you see?
Haydon Rodriquez,
“Well some scratches and bruises on her forehead and on her cheeks. That is about it. My daughter has never suffered any kind of fit. My daughter
didn’t, up to my knowledge, didn’t have kind of medical condition. My daughter was perfectly healthy, so to speak, if there is anything such as perfectly healthy and she was in good condition, at least up until the day that she left from me.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
If she is found responsible for your daughter’s death, what would you like to see happen to Miss Banner?
Haydon Rodriquez,
“Well I would like to see a lot of things happen but it is not in my hands so I can’t say much about that.
She ended up with me because when I got word that my daughter’s mom was pregnant, we made an agreement, a verbal agreement that whenever the baby gets nine months old I will be responsible for her because my daughter’s mom has a medical condition and she was kind of unfit to deal with a situation like that at the time. So we came up with the agreement that when the baby got over breastfeeding, that she would come to stay with me. As far as we were concerned, her sister worked for me and due to reference, we found her fit enough to do the job and we never expected that it would come to this.”
According to Haydon Rodriquez the last time he saw his daughter was last week Monday and she appeared to be fine. But on Sunday Ladyville Police responded to a call that led them to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. According to the police Vernice Rodriquez had bruises to the back and abdomen and her feet were also burned. The main suspect Donna Banner remains in police custody.
