Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Babysitter terrorizes tot CAUGHT ON NANNY-CAM

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

Security video shows a 2-year old boy being physically restrained by his nanny and force-fed. The little boy can be heard saying 'NO" as well as crying and screaming for his daddy. Parent Max and Laura Oglesby turned in their home security feed to the horrifying situation. The couple, working about 45 minutes away, immediately headed home, calling the boy's grandmother to go get him immediately. When the Oglesby couple checked more of their footage they found the ordeal lasted more than two hours. Nanny Lauren Rowe can be seen holding 2-year-old Declan's arms behind his back as she jams pot pie into his mouth. She then holds the boy's mouth shut. Rowe was arrested for misdemeanor child abuse, then released on $2,500 bond on WednesdayJoining Nancy Grace Today: Laura Oglesby - Victim's Mother Tom Patire - America’s Leading Personal Safety Expert, Author: "The Personal Protection Handbook, www.TomPatire.com, Instagram: @OfficialTomPatire Doug Burns - Former Federal Prosecutor, LinkedIn: "Douglas T. Burns, Esq." Dr. Teresa Gil, Ph.D. - Professor of Psychology, Psychotherapist, 25 years Working with Child Abuse & Trauma Victims, TeresaGilPHD.com, Author: "Women Who Were Sexually Abused as Children: Mothering, Resilience, and Protecting the Next Generation" Dr. Free N. Hess - Pediatrician/Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Child Safety Expert & Consultant, Founder of www.PediMom.com Chris Byers - Former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years as Police Officer, now Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner, www.chrisbyersinvestigationsandpolygraph.com  Levi Page - Crime Online Investigative Reporter, Host, "Crime and Scandal" True Crime Podcast, YouTube.com/LeviPageTV  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You're not a believer in nanny cams? You think it invades your child's privacy? I hate to tell you this, but you're wrong. And this is why two-year-old Declan Oglesby. That's why. A two-year-old little boy screaming at the hands of his babysitter while his parents see exactly what's happening in real time. But guess what? They're an hour away. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Take a listen to our friends at WCTI. A nanny is in custody and a family's in shock after viewing that video. A newborn couple saw that video of their home security cameras. The woman they hired to take care of their children, holding down their toddler, forcing food into his mouth, the child screaming and trying to get away. New Bern police say that nanny is 25-year-old Lauren Rowe of New Bern tonight. She's in custody and facing charges. When you see this video, you will agree. A two-year-old little boy screaming at the hands of his own babysitter. take a bite? No. You can sit down.

You can sit down and you can eat your own bite. No, you are not doing it. I don doing this. No, I don't care. You can sit here and eat your food. It all starts with the baby not wanting to eat. How many times did that happen when I was raising the twins? How about three or four times a day, but clamping their mouth shut after you shove food down their throat, the baby choking on the food, screaming when he can come up for air with the babysitter screaming at him. It goes on and on and on it's actually painful to listen to but this is the truth take a listen to more of the nanny cam video You want this? Yeah! Then eat your food. You want this?

Eat your food. Take a bite. You want this? Take a bite. Do you want this? Take a bite. You want this? Take a bite.

Okay, you don't want this? You don't want it? You don't want it? Okay, you can have it. You are hearing little baby Declan crying. And then the nanny starts force-feeding him as he gets the food choked in his throat, and she holds his mouth shut. It just so happens that mommy happens to look and see in real time what's happening to her baby. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us. I'm going to introduce you to our all-star panel. But first, I want to ask our pediatrician joining us, Dr. Free N. Hess at PettyMom.com. Dr. Hess, thank you for being with us. What is it about hearing a baby scream? It didn't affect me before I had children. I mean, I didn't like it. But once you have children and you hear a baby scream, it literally, it just makes your skin crawl. What happens? It is absolutely a parent or caregiver instinct. I think you're right. People are bothered by it prior to, but once, you know,

not only am I a pediatrician and pediatric emergency medicine, but I am a mom as well. And I agree. It hit me differently. I saw children that had issues and were abused or injuries prior to being a mom, and then I saw them after. And it is very, very different. It's just in the core of you to have this feeling to protect and have this feeling of anger when you see that somebody is hurting this innocent child who has no ability to protect themselves from an adult. And you just want to literally jump through the screen, through the speaker, through whatever it is that you need to jump through to help that child. That's just a natural instinct, I think, once you start, once you have babies. Yeah, I don't know what happens, Dr. Hess, but ever since I had the twins,

when I hear a child cry, if it's on a plane, I immediately turn around. It's like I can't stop myself. And hearing baby Declan crying is just, you know, and I want to go to you, to Doug Burns joining me, former federal prosecutor, now TV lawyer, at Doug T. Burns Esquire on LinkedIn. Doug, thank you for being with us. You know, have you ever seen a prosecutor or a defense attorney act something out or let something go in the courtroom, it's full time. For instance, if we say it takes two minutes to choke somebody out, to strangle them dead. And then the prosecutor, I guess we'll go with prosecutor, holds a dummy, you know, to look like a human for two minutes.

And that two minutes feels like forever in a courtroom. Yeah. It's so interesting that you ask that because forget two minutes, you could go with 20 seconds, Nancy. And it's like, ladies and gentlemen, right? You heard the 20 seconds elapsed. So let's just take a look at that for a minute. And now we're going to sit here for 20 seconds.

And it's an eternity. And it really dramatically hits it home. So in this particular case, when I was looking at the facts, the amount of time that elapsed is just absolutely horrific. No question about it. And there's something about it, Doug Burns. You've tried a lot of cases in federal court. When you do a demonstration in court, like we're about to do right now with our listeners and viewers, I know what I'm about to play is about 50 seconds, but it feels like 50 hours when you listen to it. Have you had that experience in

court? Because I have. Many, many times. And, you know, a number of, I guess, clear lack of a better description. One is, you know, a number of, I guess, clear lack of a better description. One is, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words. So the video in this particular case, and again, with any apologies for talking X's and O's as opposed to the horrific emotion of the parents on what they went through. But from a courtroom X's and O's standpoint, the drama and impact of this type of video would be devastating to the defense. Devastating. As you're talking, Doug Burns, guys, Doug Burns and I go way, way back.

He is a longtime federal prosecutor. It's in his blood. His father was a federal prosecutor as well. Wasn't he the AG? Thank you for asking, my late dad. He's gone eight years now. But he was Deputy Attorney General of the United States, which is the number two law enforcement position in the country. Right.

Yeah. Exactly. I knew that. You just had to refresh my recollection. No, no, no. We haven't spoken in a little bit. Exactly. But he was a very effective Deputy AG.

Yeah. This thing I want you to listen to is exactly what I would play for a jury in an opening statement. Tyler, if we could go out of order and you play for me, cut 21, please. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You know what, Tyler, if you could just stop. And see, that goes on for 55 seconds. And then there are many other, as we call it, natural sound off that Nanny Cam video that are much, much longer. And you're hearing Declan crying and he's having food shoved down his throat. And then the babysitter would clunk the mouth shut and hover over him with the food stuck in his throat.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Let me go right now to a very special guest joining us. Laura Oglesby is baby Declan's mother. Laura, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. Laura, I want to take this in the order of what you saw that day. What was the first thing you saw on the nanny cam? And what led you to look at the nanny cam? So it's not necessarily a nanny cam. It's a security camera that I have throughout the house.

And she's well aware of them. I check them religiously because I'm normally not away from my kids. I've had them since they were born. We're just doing renovations. So I was unable to have them in the bar. It's unsafe. And, um, but every break I have, I normally check on them. Well, whenever I pulled up my camera, it was facing the front door, but I could hear screaming. So I turned my camera and she actually had him in his booster seat at the kitchen table and was yelling at him and trying to force feed him in the booster seat. And that's when we started running out of the bar. And then she picked him up by his wrist. This is all not shown on there yet.

She picks him up by his wrist and sticks him in his brother's high chair, his little brother's one. Sticks him in his little brother's high chair to have more control over him. And that's whenever the video starts. That's when the recording starts. Okay, picking up by the wrist back to you Dr. Hess I've heard of I think it's called nanny's arm nurse me's elbow and where you pull a child by the arm like by the wrist or the arm, and it actually loosens their arm at the socket. It dislocates their radius at their elbow. Yeah, it's actually a really common injury. It can

happen pretty easily. But you, I mean, doing something like that with full weight can not only cause the nursemaid's elbow, but can also cause fractures of the wrist. I mean, and that's just the beginning of it. You know, the part that I saw where his arms are being pinned behind him, that can cause significant physical injury. The part where he's getting food shoved into his mouth not only can cause choking, but because he's screaming and crying during it, increases the risk of aspiration where food can get down into his lungs.

There is so much physical damage that can happen here. And that's not even including the psychological damage. That's just the physical damage that can happen here. It's horrifying. And speaking of psychological damage, I was just about to go to Dr. Teresa Gill, Ph.D., professor, psychology, psychotherapist, 25 years working with child abuse and trauma victims. She is also an author and you can find her at TeresaGillPhD.com. Dr. Gill, one of the happiest moments that we have in our lives is when we all get together for supper after we've been working and at school. And I look forward to it all day long. When the children were younger, I looked forward to giving them their baths and eating.

It wasn't really supper time because they would, you know, they didn't like high chairs. So we would sit them in their stroller, you know, totally surrounded by blankets, and feed them, a double stroller twins, you know, at their pace. And it meant a lot to me. And I wonder sometimes, Dr. Gill, if people don't have, as they grow up, eating disorders because of the way they were fed when they were a baby. I've never even seen a study on that, but I've wondered about it. But Dr. Gill, what does this do to a child?

Not only can kill the child, but emotionally? Well, I think a lot of what they talk about today is that if a child feels scared and they don't feel connected and safe, that it actually changes for that period of time, their autonomic nervous system, and they go into a stress response. Now, what I saw that was really lovely. So I've done studies on what makes people resilient and not resilient, both in childhood as well as adults. There were two parents that love this kid. And back to Laura Oglesby, this is Declan's mom. When you saw that happening, what went through your mind? Believe it or not, a lot of people want to say that they would have, you know,

hurt the, they wanted to get home and get the nanny, whatever. That's the last thing that was on my mind. I could care less about the nanny. The only thing that I was worried about is my children getting to safety, like somebody getting there, getting the nanny as far out of my house as possible, and them being taken care of. Guys, take a listen to our cut for the nanny cam video, or at least part of it.

Nanny! You ready? You want to take a bite? You can take a bite and then come down. Oh God. Take a bite and then you can be done. You can take a bite and then be all done. Take a bite. Have some chicken. Jackson, do you want to be all done?

Okay, we can sit here all night until you eat that. And when you hear Declan yelling out, Addie, Addie, he's calling for his daddy, daddy. And you can hear where he starts actually choking and gurgling up the food. This as mommy, Laura Oglesby, spots what's happening on their security cameras and immediately tries to rush home to save her two-year-old little boy, Declan. You know, I'm listening. Let me introduce the rest of our panel. With me, of course, is Declan's mother, Laura Oglesby,

but also with me, Tom Pateri, America's leading personal safety expert and author of the Personal Protection Handbook. You can find him at TomPateri.com. Doug Burns, former federal prosecutor, veteran trial lawyer. Dr. Teresa Gill, professor of psychology. Dr. Free and Hess, pediatrician at PettyMom.com. Chris byers joining us former police chief john's creek georgia 25 years on the beat now private investigator at chris byers investigations and polygraph.com and crimeonline.com investigative reporter levi page to you chris byers did you ever see one flew over the cuckoo's nest did you ever see that moview Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Did you ever see that movie? Okay, do you remember Nurse Ratched?

Do you remember Nurse Ratched? Do you remember when she would speak to other people? She would be perfectly calm and normal, but she was crazy and evil. Do you remember her? Have you ever dealt on all your years in the force with somebody that when they're talking to you, they're perfectly calm and normal, but you find out in the course of your investigation, they are pure evil. Yeah, absolutely. Been in the interrogation room many a times and gotten a completely different side of somebody than, you know, the other testimony and video proves. So, yes, been face-to-face with that many times.

You know how I've seen it a lot of times, Chris, is in child abuse cases where people would burn their children with cigarette butts and beat them into a coma. Child sex predators, but really like parents or caregivers that beat the children or harm the children. And I've seen it in domestic abuse, typically with a husband or the male partner. They're so charming and polite and kind when they're talking to you. But then you look over at the woman or the child and they're totally covered in bruises and broken bones and fat lips.

Something's not right, Byers. Yeah, absolutely. And you're exactly right. Domestic violence cases more often than not have that exact, they present themselves just like that. There's this charming person, and then you get to see that other side and child predators. I think it's just, it's part of their MO that they do. It's just this overcharming

of people outside of what is happening in the private home and private life. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, we've got a lot of really educated people as guests today. And I find out the more college education you get, the less you believe in good and evil. I really believe in good and evil. I think there's good and bad in the world and that good people can somehow end up doing evil, horrible things like what happened to baby Declan. And if it had not been for the mother who's with us today, Laura Oglesby, having those security cameras in her home.

We would never know what happened. Baby Declan's not old enough to articulate. He can't even say daddy correctly in this video anyway. He couldn't tell mom what was happening. Tom Pateri with me, America's leading personal safety expert and author of the Personal Protection Handbook. Tom, tell me about security cameras i call them all nanny cams we've got our home totally tricked out with nanny cams well let's let's talk about what's out there all right so there are the nanny cams the best part of new pinhole

cameras you can put them all over your house you can use them anytime or click it on your phone and check and balance. The key is whether you want people to know or not know. So the old security adage is, you know, you keep them covert, you don't tell anybody. But the new theory is if you have somebody, especially if they're watching your kids or something, let them know they're in spotlight. Let them know you can hear and see everything and every minute, you know, so if you see something on that camera, get on the phone, say, what are you doing, you know, and do a check and balance. But that's one phase of it. And, you know, you do the background, that's another phase. But let me tell you what

people are doing now. You have the neighborhood watch, right? Now people are calling a neighborhood responder. So all the parents get together and say, okay, I'm working on this day. I'm off on this day. I'm, you know, and they figure out who's around. So let's say in what happened in this young lady's case, she has somebody she trusts. She can now make the call for somebody to get over that house now and check, you know, what's going on and get ready to call the police. So people are using their own resources of people they trust and love to protect our kids. Remember, as parents, we are protectors. So we're protective parents, but we need help.

And help is putting things in spotlight and using the people you know and trust to help. You know, I'm like you, Laura Oglesby. When the twins still had babysitters during the day, I told the babysitters right up front, there's a nanny cam. I've got them all over the house. Just know that. And I didn't suggest that they were going to do anything bad or wrong. I just, you know, wanted it very clear. I had my eyes on them 24-7, 365. Thank God in heaven. Guys, take a listen to Hour Cut 5. This is Justin Lundy, WITN. I wanted to kick her ass.

I wanted to come here, and I wanted to pin her down, and I wanted to put food in her mouth. That was Lauren Oglesby's initial reaction when she and her husband, Max, took a peek at their at-home security camera while at work Tuesday night to discover their nanny, Lauren Rowe, restraining their crying two-year-old son, Declan, and appearing to force feed him. In the video, you can hear Declan struggling against Rowe as she appears to try and push chicken pot pie into his mouth. Did you ever suspect your nanny of doing something like this? No, of course. I mean, you don't leave your child with someone that you suspect would harm them. So we had no thought process that she would do anything like this or anything. Complete shock.

Complete shock. And I'm just trying to figure out, Laura Oglesby, when you were racing home, trying to get home, what was going through your mind? My child's safety. I was wondering what else was going on. I also was still watching it live. So, yeah, I mean, I was just, I was at a loss. Guys, we are talking with Declan's mom, Laura Oglesby.

Levi Pays joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Levi, take it from the top. What happened? So Max and Laura Oglesby live in Newborn, North Carolina, and they're renovating a bar that they own 45 minutes away in Washington, North Carolina. They took a break from renovating. They decided to look at the security cameras they have set up in the house. And October 26th, that's when this happened, they discovered two-year-old Declan screaming no, crying out for his daddy, sobbing, and the nanny force-feeding him chicken pot pie. She was also holding his arms behind his back. And also, Nancy, the most disturbing part to me is when she put her hand over his mouth after forcing food into it. Okay, guys, pinning a child's arms behind its back.

Right there. Chris Byers, you've seen a lot of child abuse cases. When you're pinning a child's arms back, that should be an internal bell of alarm to you that what you're doing is wrong. Yeah, absolutely. Just, you know, as a parent, I just cannot imagine doing that to a child. And as a caregiver, she knew exactly what she was doing that was injuring that child. Absolutely. And what is that? Joining us, our psychologist, psychotherapist, Dr. Teresa Gill, to exert, to want to exert power and control over your child. And I don't mean when they misbehave, you don't swat them on the booty or

give them time out or take away a privilege. I'm not saying don't discipline your child. They have to know don't run out in the road, don't jump out of the car, wear your seatbelt. They have to know certain rules to live. But when you physically exert control over them, what is that need inside an adult to do that to a child? I think the thing that stood out for me the most when I watched the video was how calm she was and unaffected by his cries. And she really believed the word control comes up again. If you don't control your two-year-old, he will walk all over you. And I don't believe, and I've seen this before in working with mothers or parents who have been abusive, that they have any recollection or any idea of what they're doing is actually abuse. I'm sure if you talk to her, she would say, I was disciplining him, and I was teaching him right

for wrong, and I was making sure that he ate. And I was looking at some of the Facebook comments from people and a number of the Facebook. And I usually go to Facebook comments just to kind of gauge how people are thinking on things. And one woman said the nanny was in control and not abusive. He was just a spoiled child and she just wanted him to take one bite. You know, that's so interesting that you said that, Dr. Gill, because we recently covered the case where a cop and his new wife took his natural son that he had from his first wife and to discipline the child, would make him go sleep out in the garage at night to discipline him. And he died.

He died of hypothermia. It was later discovered that he had been disciplined with beatings and withholding food. All sorts of discipline that ended up with the boy dead. And I have heard that same sad song about just disciplining the child from so many murderers that it actually makes me feel nauseous to hear some uninformed person on Facebook say that. And just because it's done in control and it's not done with screens and it's done with thinking ahead of exactly what you want to do, they think the parents that it's not abuse, it is punishment and teaching them right from wrong. Okay, to you,

Laura Oglesby, you're hearing what our Facebook friends have to say about this. What's your reaction to that, Laura? I'm kind of trying to take everybody's comments with a grain of salt. I mean, there's some that are really supportive, but there's also a lot of people out there that are saying, like, that mothers shouldn't work, that they should be at home taking care of their children, and that nobody else should be taking care of your children for you. And that my child is a brat and that several, I mean, several mean things have been said. But I'm just trying to let it brush off my shoulder because clearly a lot of those people probably don't have kids. So, yeah. You know, Laura Oglesby, you said you were going to take it with a grain of salt. As I like to say, I'll take it with a box of salt on that one.

Guys, take a listen to Our Cut 7. This is Kate Hussey, WCTI. The couple's emotions still running high. Thinking about the moment Laura just happened to pull up her home security camera footage on her phone while at work Tuesday night. To see their nanny, who police confirm is 25-year-old Lauren Rowe, holding their child down in his high chair, forcing food into his mouth. We were in shock. It didn't seem like it was all real at the time, but the immediate reaction was we need to get her as far away from our children as possible. The couple nearly an hour away in

Washington, racing home as quickly as they could. While we were driving, we had it on and we were watching the whole thing. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, in this case, the parents race home to get to the scene as quickly as they can. Take a listen to our cut eight, News Channel 12. The couple filed a police report with New Bern Police the very next day. She came highly recommended.

Her background was clear. And there were no red flags up until that point. No. Roe even had a profile on care.com. The company tells me they background check all caregivers, a process that includes running a social security number trace, checking national sex offender public websites, performing multi-jurisdictional criminal database searches, and going through both federal and county criminal records. To you, Laura Oglesby, how did you find this babysitter? So I went onto a Facebook moms group and I saw that she had been recommended in there as a swim teacher for infants. And a lot of people were recommending her for that. And then whenever I actually reached out to her to see if she did nannying, she said that she had done it for three years back in California. So we brought her in for an interview. And then after the interview, I rechecked on

care.com to make sure that she was verified and everything. and she was. And so then we ended up hiring her on. You know, Doug Burns, we have covered several Care.com cases. Sure. And usually they did not end up the way this case ended up. Guys, take a listen to our cut 15. This is Heather Lee at KMEG Fox 44. October 29, 33-year-old Rochelle Sapp was watching three-year-old Autumn Eldersma at her in-home daycare center. A court document, Sapp called Autumn's mother around nine o'clock that morning to tell her Autumn had fallen down the

stairs. She said she would keep a close eye on Autumn and give her some Tylenol. Not even 20 minutes later, Sapp called Autumn's mother again to tell her Autumn was, quote, way out of it and that she thought her neck was hurt. Autumn's mother rushed to Sapp's house. Autumn was taken to Orange City Hospital, but because her injuries were so bad,

she was airlifted to a hospital in Sioux Falls. Doctors there diagnosed her with a skull fracture and brain swelling. She died ofifted to a hospital in Sioux Falls. Doctors there diagnosed her with a skull fracture and brain swelling. She died of her injuries October 31st. Sapp's initial claim that Autumn fell down the stairs didn't match up with a medical opinion that the little girl's injuries were not consistent with that kind of fall. Sapp later told police she threw the girl down hard on the floor causing her to hit her head because she was frustrated with Autumn, who was having trouble getting her jacket off. To Laura Oglesby, the Autumn case, little Autumn,

who died after being thrown down the stairs by her babysitter, after they had had an escalating argument over where this little three-year-old, whether the little girl, three years old, would wear her coat. And it's amazing how an adult with a child, a two- or three-year-old child, can have an argument escalate and the child ends up dead. When you think back on what you saw on your home surveillance cam, the argument escalating between your baby, Declan, just two years old, and Lauren Rowe, the 25-year-old babysitter, can you imagine what could have happened?

Yeah. I mean, that was honestly the first, one of the first things that went through my head is that he, she could end up killing him. Like that was one of the main reasons that I wanted somebody here to take care of him and her gone because I didn't know what she was capable of after that point. Um, and we do have stairs at our house. And she literally had no problem with sticking her hand over his mouth and plugging his nose while he's also sick and has a runny nose, so he can't breathe out of it anyway. Laura, how has Declan behaved after this incident? Every night since this all happened, he's been waking up in the middle of the night,

and it's not a normal, like, toddler sometimes will wake up and fuss. He screams bloody murder to the point where I'm almost scared to go in there because I'm scared somebody's in there with him. Then, also, now he, if you try to go up to him to, like, hand him anything or ask him to come here, he'll run and hide. He'll hide behind the couch. He'll hide behind, if you're outside, he hides behind trees. And he has been attached to my hip since this all happened. I cannot even get out of his eyesight without him freaking out. You know, and it makes me wonder what has happened before you saw it on the video. What may have happened outside the video eyeline? And that's what I was asking you earlier, Tom Pateri, safety expert, author of Personal Protection Handbook, where should you place the videos?

I call them all nanny cams, the home surveillance security videos. Where should they be? You've got to put them in direct angles where you could cover the whole room. You know, most people see exterior cameras. They may have one or two inside. But for the cost of cameras today and as small as they are, I mean, it's very cost effective. But when they're placed, they're at the highest angle that opens up the whole room so you can see everything. Mommy races home to try and save her two-year-old little boy, Declan.

Not everybody has been as lucky as Laura Oglesby. Take a listen to our cut 16. A nanny camera captures shocking images of a nanny named Dana Cash allegedly shaking a one-year-old girl. Child's mother, who didn't want to be identified, spoke to us exclusively. I was appalled.

She says she first found this video after her eight-year-old son, who witnessed the attack, told her about it. After the mom found the video and watched it for herself, she then showed it to Cash. That baby was saved, much like Laura Oglesby's baby was saved. But we haven't all been so lucky. Take a listen to our Cut 17. When a mother checked in on her two-year-old special needs son from the

nanny cam app on her phone, something didn't seem right. I saw her just looking at him and not doing anything while he's screaming and crying and I thought that was odd. What Diana Coe was about to see next would shake her to her core and change her life forever. Diana quickly figured out the nurse who was supposed to be caring for her son was beating him. The nurse's abuse gets more savage. At one point, she rolls up a magazine and uses it as a weapon. The excruciating scene played out as Diana watched it live. She and her husband were at least 20 minutes away. Diana and her husband called 911. Police raced to the scene. You see them arrive and arrest the nurse, making this all the more horrific. You were hearing our friends just then at CBS LA and before at ABC 7. Now take a listen to our cut

18 ABC 7. Mariah Gonzalez is facing child abuse charges after Livermore PD says the 20-year-old nanny was caught on camera. Neighbors describe Gonzalez as smiling and bubbly. According to charging documents, on February 18th, Gonzalez was caring for a 13-month-old boy. When the boy's mom came home, she discovered abuse when she watched nanny cam video. Specifically, Gonzalez was attempting to calm the baby. When she placed her hands closer to the baby's face, his cries went from clear and audible to muffled. The baby began to squirm and kick and then went limp.

She was strangling and smothering the baby. All this was revealed on Nanny Cam. To Laura Oglesby, baby Declan's mother, what do you have to say to those non-believers about security cams? I think it's incredibly important because outside of even if you don't have a nanny, you can still see, like if your child somehow falls down and hits their head and something's wrong with them, you can replay back the film and you can see what happened and know better on what you can tell doctors and emergency people that come responders. I altogether security system is so important in our day.

To you, Chris Byers, police, former police chief, Johns Creek, I included in my last book, Don't Be a Victim, a case where three children went missing and they'd been playing in the front yard. and screaming for them. And they were found in an abandoned freezer that had, like one of those chest freezers that had been pulled out by either them or the neighbor to go out with the trash when the trash men came. And all three children had gotten into the freezer and they all three died. If they had had a nanny cam like Laura Oglesby

has her security surveillance, they may have been saved. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just think if you had that surveillance system, you could go back to and watch and get to them within minutes. It would have been, like you said, life-saving. And Doug Burns, now juries practically expect it. When you have a case, they want to know, is there surveillance video? And it has cracked so many cases, Doug Burns, now juries practically expect it. When you have a case, they want to know is there surveillance video. And it has cracked so many cases, Doug Burns. No question about it, Nancy. You know, whatever they call it, the CSI effect.

You know, jurors are expecting more and more, you know, concrete evidence. And again, not to be a broken record. In this case, you have the whole thing right there on the video. And, you know, the statute, by the way, real quick, talks about creating an unreasonable risk of physical injury. That's crystal clear. And that makes it a crime under North Carolina law. You know what I'm really surprised about, Doug Burns?

This has only been charged as a misdemeanor. You know, have you noticed that when a child is the victim, very often the cases are pled down to manslaughter or the perp gets a lighter sentence. I noticed it when I was prosecuting. You kill a man or a woman, you're going down for murder. You kill an infant and it's chalked off as, oh, the parent was frustrated. And it's a voluntary manslaughter.

I hate that. It's interesting that you say that because, of course, I noticed that it was charged that way. Unfortunately, and again, apologies, this is just X's and o's you know courtroom talk the point is um thank god obviously obvious editorial um that the child was not you know seriously uh harmed although i'm talking about charging as a felony doug but the point is no no no thank god the baby's not dead. You didn't let me finish. And the point I'm trying to make is that in the real world, day to day, it's too much driven by the level of injury.

That's what dictates how it's charged. Well, I can tell you this. If somebody got you, Doug Burns, which would be probably hard to do because you're over six feet, but somehow managed to get a hold of you, throw you down, pin your arms to get a hold of you, throw you down, pin your arms behind your back, stuff something, let's just say a sock down your throat, pinch your nose and hold your mouth shut.

I bet that would be an aggravated assault, which is a felony, Burns. Yeah, inherent in what I was saying is that I disagree. And I've seen it time and time again in over 30 years where the injury dictates everything, and that should not be the case. No, it shouldn't be. You're right. In this particular case, you could have had this child choked to death so fast your head would be spinning, and it should be charged as a felony. I agree with you. Laura Oglesby, this has got to make your head spin.

Why is this woman just charged with a misdemeanor? She's going to get straight probation. You know that, right? Yeah, they told me that the max that she would probably do would be 60 days. And actually, whenever I went to the police station to begin with, the cops, they were all very nice. He was trying to find something in the video to be able to charge her with child abuse. And what happened was I had to slow down the video and zoom in to prove that she was covering his mouth and his nose, not just his mouth and not cupping under his chin.

And that's what made it child abuse. I think this is really wrong the way it's charged, Laura. This should be a felony. If this was done to an adult, this would be a felony. If I grab Jackie here and pinch her nose and hold her mouth shut. And no, that is a felony. So, Levi Page, what is happening with this case? Well, Nancy, that nanny, Lauren Rowe, 25 years old, was arrested. She was charged with misdemeanor child abuse.

And 30 minutes later, she posted bond and was released $2,500. And in the state of North Carolina, for misdemeanor child abuse, the max that she can get is 150 days. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friends. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Goodbye, friends.