Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Healthy bouncing baby girl Harper Briar dead from Benadryl overdose at daycare

Episode Date: April 2, 2019

 The owner of a Vermont day care center allegedly fed a lethal dose of Benadryl to an infant in her care, causing the baby's death. Nancy Grace explores the death of little Harper Rose Briar and the case against Stacey L. Vaillancourt with experts including medical examiner Dr. William Morrone --author of "American Narcan," Los Angeles lawyer Troy Slaten, psychologist Caryn Stark, crime scene investigator Sheryl McCollum, and Crime Stories reporter John Lemley. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She was a very happy baby, always smiling. She's just perfect. Yeah, it's just like the best way to describe her is perfect. These are the precious memories Marissa ALWAYS SMILING. IT'S JUST PERFECT. YEAH, IT'S JUST LIKE THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE HER IS PERFECT. THESE ARE THE PRECIOUS MEMORIES MARISSA COLBURN AND BLAKE BREIER WILL CHERISH FOREVER. THEIR BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL,

HARPER ROSE BREIER, HAD JUST STARTED CRAWLING, HOLDING HER BOTTLE ON HER OWN, AND GOT HER FIRST TOOTH. DAD BLAKE WAS WORKING AND MOM MARISSA DECIDED TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL FULL TIME FOR SOCIAL WORK AT CASTLETON UNIVERSITY.

BUT SHE SPENT THREE MONTHS VETTING DAY CARE PROVIDERS TO MAKE SURE SHE CHOSE THE RIGHT WAY. I THINK IT'S A GREAT WAY TO working and mom Marissa decided to go back to school full-time for social work at Castleton University. But she spent three months vetting daycare providers to make sure she chose the right one. She says it was hard enough dropping Harper off with another person, counting down the minutes until they were together again. And on only the third day of daycare, Marissa was just leaving school on her way to the daycare to pick Harper up when she got the news. You are hearing our friends at WTEN-TV. That was Samantha D'Amaschio.

And you are hearing little Harper's mother, Marissa Colburn, who talks about how happy a baby Harper was. Just started crawling, could hold a bottle on her own. Baby Harper was in her third day at Villancourt's daycare center when Coburn gets a text from an EMT, emergency technician, with the worst news ever. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. What went wrong? Joining me in all-star panel, Dr. William Maroney, author of American Narcan on Amazon, medical examiner. Renowned defense attorney out of California, Troy Slayton. Psychologist joining me out of Manhattan at KarenStark.com. Karen Stark with us. And the director of the Cold Case Research Institute, Cheryl McCollum. Right now to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter John Limley.

John, why did mom get a text from emergency services? Well, as you mentioned, she had just dropped the little baby, Harper Rose, off for the third day. This is six months after having the baby. Marissa had decided to go back to school. She had pored over the websites of different daycares trying to find the perfect place to care for her baby. On this third day, she had dropped her off. A few hours later, she gets this text message, not a phone call, a text message from an EMT that her daughter had been rushed to the hospital and that Marissa needed to get there as quickly as she could. This is just breaking my heart, breaking my heart. Cheryl McCollum, do you recall when I was

in the middle of trying to finish a book. And David convinced me the children would be okay at this little Lutheran center for three hours at a time, three days a week. And I would sit in the parking lot in the car, afraid to be away from them and work on the book in the car, in the parking lot and go stare in the window. And oh, I can still hear them screaming, screaming, as I would leave them and walk out the door, and then I would cry out in the hall. It was the biggest drama. I can only imagine what this mom was going through

leaving her baby, baby Harper, at daycare. And then this, Cheryl. I cannot fathom that kind of information through a text message. I mean, you would almost think it was bogus, like this cannot be meant for me. It's been only hours since I dropped her off. She has to be fine. And then they didn't call me. They didn't explain what had occurred and how they got noticed and how, you know, they're taking her to the hospital and what condition is she in right this minute.

But just this sterile, cold text message, I can't fathom. Take a listen to our friends at WCAX-TV. Rutland home daycare provider is charged with manslaughter after a six-month-old baby girl dies in her care. 53-year-old Stacey Vallon, court of Rutland, runs a state-certified daycare on North Street. Channel 3's Dom Amato was in court today for her arraignment. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL.

THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL.

THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. THE LITTLE GIRL. Medical Examiner's Office says the cause of Breyer's death was diphenhydramine intoxication.

That is a sedating ingredient found in many over-the-counter cold medicines, including Benadryl. The autopsy noted more than one dose was in Breyer's blood. It also said that diphenhydramine should not be used on infants without an order from a physician. Joining me right now, Medical Examiner extraordinaire, author of American Narcan on Amazon, Dr. William Maroney. Colleague and friend, Dr. Maroney, explain to me, what is diphenhydramine? Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine that's technically used in allergies, but it's also sedating, so it makes you sleepy. And that's how it's used in over-the-counter medicines. But it is part of a family of drugs. I know everybody hates chemistry. Everybody hates math called phenyl alkyl amines. And those are also the same. Wait a minute. If you know, everybody hates it. Why do you keep talking?

Because I'm here to translate. You said, I know everybody hates this, but. I have to translate this. You know, you do know the only time I ever made an F in college, an F, which I tell the children whenever they make a bad grade, which is hardly ever, I flunked chemistry. In fact, when they started mixing the chemicals, I passed out my freshman year. I passed out.

I came to, on the floor of the chemistry lab, to music in my the chemicals, I passed out my freshman year. I passed out. I came to on the floor of the chemistry lab to music in my head going, me and chemistry don't mix. Hence my major in Shakespearean literature. Okay, dummy down for me, Maroney. That same family of antihistamine drugs also can include methamphetamine and amphetamine. So at high doses, you can have psychosis, seizure, and respiratory failure. The most important thing they need to do is take all the children from that daycare and do hair samples on all of them to see that this person was dosing all those children. It's not likely this poor child that died was the only one that was taking doses. You don't give a drug that's required to be given by a physician at a dose to a six-month-old at the levels they have, because when you interpret it on the bottle, it's getting 10 to 50 times the normal dose.

And they said there was more than one dose, which means she was dosed on the first day. She was dosed on the second day, and she was dosed on the third day. And somebody would do that because they don't want to attend to needs of the child. They want to put them to sleep and let them sleep. Troy Slayton, he said it. He said it right. Maroney's not just a medical examiner and author. He's a father. A father. Troy Slayton, California defense lawyer. Bottom line, you know what it is. She didn't want to take care of the children, so she doped him up with Benadryl and baby Harper

died. So in my mind, this should be murder, not manslaughter. Well, that's one theory, Nancy, but every death of a child isn't necessarily a crime. Well, this one is. Yes. If Dr. Maroney's theory is true, that all these children are being dosed with Benadryl or diphenhydramine, then yes, that would appear to be a pattern and a common scheme. But maybe this certified daycare provider who's been doing this for over 20 years and has never had a death on her hands, if she was doing this for the benefit of the child. The benefit of the child? What benefit?

Maybe the child was having some sort of allergic reaction. Maybe the child was having hives or something for which diphenhydramine is properly indicated. And the daycare provider acting in loco parentis, in place of the parents. Oh, stop it, Troy. Stop with the Latin phrases. That is not impressing me. you're telling me well maybe something happened with baby harper and she needed benadryl

well number one the amount her system if you just heard maroney was way over the top but speaking of a pre-existing condition was she sick did she have hives take a listen to our friends at wten tv john gray and lydia kubra we are learning more tonight about the circumstances surrounding the six dish and was she sick? Did she have hives? Take a listen to our friends at WTEN-TV, John Gray and Lydia Kulbira. We are learning more tonight about the circumstances surrounding the six-month-old found unresponsive at her daycare. Yeah, the recently released autopsy results show that this child ingested high concentrations of diphenhydramine. That's the active sedating ingredient you'll find in the over-counter antihistamines, things like Benadryl. News 10's Samantha Damasio sat down with her parents exclusively. Sam joins us live in Rutland. THEIR BABY GIRL HARPER ROSE BRIER WAS 100 PERCENT HEALTHY THAT MORNING OF JANUARY 24TH WHEN THEY DROPPED HER OFF AT DAYCARE. AND THEY NEVER TOLD THE SITTER

TO GIVE HER ANY KIND OF MEDICATION NOR DID THAT SITTER EVER ASK FOR PERMISSION. SO AS YOU CAN IMAGINE THEY WERE SHOCKED WHEN THEY GOT THE RESULTS OF THAT AUTOPSY. DEFENDANT SEDATED, SITTER WAS NOT INJURED.

THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED.

THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT INJURED. THE SITTER WAS NOT GIVE HER ANY KIND OF MEDICATION NOR DID THE SITTER EVER ASK FOR PERMISSION. SO AS YOU CAN IMAGINE THEY WERE SHOCKED WHEN THEY GOT THE RESULTS OF THAT AUTOPSY. DEFENDANT SEDATED AN OTHERWISE BEAUTIFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY SIX MONTH OLD TO THE POINT WHERE

THAT BABY COULD NOT LIFT HER HEAD AND DIED. BREYER WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD WHILE IN ROUTE TO THE ROTLAND REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER. STATE POLICE SAY VALENCOURT WAS THE INFANT'S ONLY CAREGIVER LEADING UP TO HER DEATH AND HAD

BEEN IN HER CARE FOR THE TWO DAYS PRIOR. THE AUTOPSY WAS A PART OF THE SITTER'S PROCESS. THE AUTOPSY WAS A PART OF THE SITTER'S PROCESS. THE AUTOPSY WAS A PART OF THE SITTER'S PROCESS. THE AUTOPSY WAS A PART OF THE ROTLAND REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER. STATE POLICE SAY VALENCOURT WAS THE INFANT'S ONLY CAREGIVER LEADING UP TO HER DEATH AND HAD BEEN IN HER CARE FOR THE TWO DAYS PRIOR. THE AUTOPSY SHOWS THE

INFANT DIED OF DIAPHANHYDRAMINE INTOXICATION. HER DEATH WAS RULED A HOMICIDE. STATE IS ALLEGING THAT THE DEFENDANT ACTED CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT AND BECAUSE OF THAT ACTION

THE CHILD DIED, HARPER BRYER DIED. SO STATE WILL BE ARGUING THAT SHE ACTED WITH A CRIMINAL NEGLIGENT INTENT. VALENCOURT AND HER DEFENDANT ARE STILL INVESTIGATING.

THE DEFENDANT IS ALLEGING THAT THE DEFENDANT ACTED CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT AND BECAUSE OF THAT criminally negligent and because of that action the child died. Harper Breyer died. So state will be arguing that she acted with a criminal negligent intent. Valen Court and her attorney Robert McCullen declined to comment on the case following today's court proceedings. She was released on a $25,000 security bond. She must not have contact with any children under the age of five with the exception of her nine-month-old grandson. She will be back in court next month. That's our friend at WVNY-TV, Spencer Collins, speaking with the state's attorney, Rosemary Kennedy, about baby Harper's death after being OD'd, overdosed with Benadryl.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. And I can't think of a more important topic than your children at daycare. John Limley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What more do you know? For instance, what did the daycare worker owner, Stacey Villancourt, say when cops got there, when EMTs got there? Villancourt told police that she found Harper unresponsive a while after putting her down for a nap. Villancourt told police she found Harper with a blanket covering her face with vomit on it. Apparently, Valancourt's son performed CPR before the paramedics arrived. With me, Director of the Cold Case Research Institute,

Cheryl McCollum, crime scene investigator. Cheryl, weigh in. If this was my scene, Nancy, one of the first things I would have done is I would have looked to see how much Benadryl was in that daycare. Did she have one bottle? Did she have 12 bottles? Did she have like a super size bottle? What was the expiration date? How much was missing from the bottle? So in other words I would want to see did she buy this two days ago and half of it was already gone? Has she had it for three years, but only a little bit was missing? That

to me would be very critical to show how much of this is she really, you know, passing out to all these children to knock them out so she doesn't have to deal with them. You know, to Dr. William Maroney, how much Benadryl is safe for children? Let me tell you a story. When the twins were first born, let's just say they were about six to eight months old, I could not find anywhere. We were living in New York. I could not find anywhere when we visited Atlanta that had what we call bucket swings because they couldn't sit up. And they would be up all night, one up at 1230, one at 130, one at 330, and they'd both be awake by about five. So by 530, they were ready to go.

And I would take them out of the house and we'd go to a playground. Well, I found a playground with bucket swings. It was behind a church. And I put them both in the bucket swings. I'd been swinging them both. I was there alone with them and they both fell asleep. Well, they hadn't been up, but about, you know, 45 minutes to an hour, I knew something was really wrong. As it turned out, they had a really bad cold. I had given them Benadryl. I found out my husband, who was not allowed to dispense medicine, had also given them Benadryl. Can I tell you how much I flipped out? Flipped out. They were asleep and their bucket swings slumped over. Well, I nearly had a fit. Dr. Maroney, how much Benadryl is safe to give children? At this age, zero. None. End of story. Period. Zero. Without physicians, guidance, and possible hospitalization, zero to six months old.

Zero. None. How about that? That's a pretty clear answer. To Karen Stark, psychologist joining us out of Manhattan, creator of KarenStark.com. Karen, why would you dope children? You're a daycare provider. You're there to take care of the children, not dope them up and let them sleep until they vomit on their blanket and you don't even know about it. You know, Nancy, I wonder how much they actually vetted this person, the one that was in charge of the children, because

she is there to deal with children, whether they're crying, they're sick, whatever is happening. And if there's a problem, she's supposed to call somebody, call a physician. So I don't understand how in the world this person would be able to administer any kind of Benadryl to this child without parental permission or the physician having said she could do it. Something was really wrong with her. please. 40 relatives or so and supporters of baby Harper and the family in the courtroom wearing pink Justice for Harper Rose t-shirts. And what I'm thinking about right now, Troy Slayton, is what that family is going through. Their baby is dead. There's no nice way to say it. And now all they can do is print up t-shirts and show up to court. I mean, if I didn't have my children, Troy, I would have no reason to live. And they are left with printing up t-shirts and showing up to court. I mean, I cannot even imagine their desolation,

Troy Slayton. I can't imagine it either. It must be the absolute worst thing that a person could experience in their life. Now, there is a civil remedy that won't bring their child back, but they will certainly file a lawsuit against this daycare provider, against her insurance company. She's a certified, a state-certified daycare provider. So there will be a wrongful death lawsuit alleging negligence against this daycare provider. And I'm sure the bad insurance provider will tender the policy limits. Well, I understand they can sue civilly. I get it. But, you know, on an emotional level, there's no way to replace a child. To John Lindley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. I understand that the night before, Villancourt,

who is charged in this case, a 53-year-old daycare provider, son and his fiancee both say they got sick the night before and they could not help with the children that day. So she had all the children by herself. She didn't have her regular daycare crew. Take a listen to this. Investigators say there was no physician's order and that Valancourt was the only person to provide care to Breyer before her death on January 24th, which was Breyer's third day attending Valancourt's daycare facility, which has since been shut down. And the Rutland County State's Attorney, Robes Kennedy, says the family is just asking for privacy at this difficult time, and they just want justice for Harper Rose. That was our friend at WCAX-TV, Dom Lomato, reporting to Dr. William Maroney.

From what you're telling me, Dr. Maroney, Benadryl's main ingredient is diphenhydramine. Are you telling me that there is a buildup? A buildup? Like if you take it three days in a row, it builds up in your system. And if that's true, how can they tell how much was administered the day of baby Harper's death? Well, diphenhydramine will go through metabolism and there'll be so much that you would call a parent drug and so much you would call a metabolite. And the higher the dose of the metabolite, the longer the medication was dispensed. But you also have the fact that it's going to reach certain organs in the brain.

At autopsy, they're going to take brain slices, and they're going to see how much got in the brain, and they'll take levels of tissues. It's also important they did the death certificate. That medical examiner said homicide, period, end story. Homicide is important. So it builds up. It's not allowed to be given in children at that age at all without a doctor. And the medical examiner said homicide. I'm going to be a homicidal. What more do you need? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Daycare owner is free tonight after denying charges of manslaughter and child cruelty in the death of an infant in January. CHARGES OF MANSLAUGHTER AND CHILD CRUELTY IN THE DEATH OF AN INFANT IN JANUARY. AN AUTOPSY FOUND HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF OVER-THE-COUNTER ANTI-HYSTAMINE MEDICATIONS IN THE GIRLS' BLOODSTREAM. LOCAL 22'S SPENCER CONLIN HAS MORE FROM BRAUNLAND. AN EMOTIONAL COURTROOM AS FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF HARPER-ROSE BREYER WATCHED STACEY VALENCOURT CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER AND CRUELTY TO A CHILD. A FEW DOZEN

FAMILY AND FRIENDS WORE PINK JUSTICE FOR HARPER-ROSE SHIRTSILD. A FEW DOZEN FAMILY AND FRIENDS WORE PINK JUSTICE FOR HARPER ROSE SHIRTS MONDAY AS A SHACKLED VALENCOURT, A CHILD CARE PROVIDER IN RUTLAND FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS, ENTERED COURT. We would enter a plea of not guilty to each of the counts. COURT DOCUMENTS SHOW POLICE RESPONDED TO THE 53-YEAR-OLD'S STATE-year-old's state-certified in-home daycare center on January 24th, where Breyer was found unresponsive. You are hearing from our friends at WVNY-TV talking about the report that this baby, baby Harper, dies at daycare OD'd on Benadryl. Also, the caregiver, Stacey Valancourt, pleads not guilty. Now, she is apparently charged with some type of a manslaughter, but in my mind, when you give a child an overdose of Benadryl and

that child dies, that's murder. Because remember, Troy Slayton, California defense lawyer, that's like saying, oh, I raised the gun and pulled the the trigger but i didn't mean to kill the person this is like saying yeah i poured an overdose of benadryl and gave it to a healthy little baby but i didn't mean to kill her that's murder prosecutors here nancy didn't feel that she had the appropriate level of mens rea guilty mind that's necessary to charge somebody with murder. In order to charge murder, you have to have had the intent to kill. And it doesn't look like that's what she was going to do here. We don't know whether or not she was dosing the child

for the purposes, for her own sick purposes of having the child go to sleep to make it easier to run her facility. Well, wait a minute, right there, right there you've admitted murder because if she dosed a child overdosed and the baby dies, that's murder. That's like me pointing a gun at your head and pulling the trigger and go, oh, I didn't mean to.

I just meant to scare him. It may have been gross negligence. She may have had experience over her 20 years running this daycare center, giving an occasional dose of Benadryl and having there be no problem and thinking that this was something that was appropriate to do. Something appropriate to do. John Limley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What more can you tell me?

Well, Harper's autopsy showed diphenhydramine blood concentration of 670 nanograms per millimeter. Now, to put that in layman's terms, the chief medical examiner says that's about eight times the average blood concentration that the day before Harper's death, Harper napped for an unusually long time after coming home from daycare. And they have said over and over again they never authorized the Benadryl and that Harper did not have a doctor's note ordering use of diphenhydramine. For those of you just joining us, a beautiful baby girl, Harper, had only been in this daycare for three days. Her mom thought long and hard before she decided to go back to school. The husband had a full-time job. Just three days into it, she gets a text from EMTs telling her Harper's in trouble, her beautiful baby girl. To Dr. William Maroney, who has just told us that

no amount of Benadryl is appropriate for a child this age. Well, that is followed up. Take a listen to WTEN-TV's Samantha D'Amassio. I actually got a text message. It wasn't a call. So then I called and I talked to an EMT person. She texted you? Yes. What did she say? She said, baby is sick, ambulance here, go to hospital. Once the autop RELEASED, 53-YEAR-OLD STACY VALENCOURT WAS ARRESTED. SHE'S NOW FACING CHARGES OF MANSLAUGHTER AND CRUELTY TO A CHILD.

BLAKE AND I BOTH WANT FOR HER, THE PERSON WHO'S SOLELY TAKING CARE OF HER AT THAT TIME, TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE. STILL, MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. THE FAMILY NOW JUST HOPING FOR JUSTICE FOR HARPER. THERE REALLY WAS NO NEED FOR IT. THERE'S NO NEED TO GIVE A The family now just hoping for justice for Harper. There really was no need for it. There's no need to give a healthy, happy, you know, baby anything to sedate them.

I mean, there really is no reason. And we don't understand, and I don't know if we ever will understand, but it's awful. To Karen Stark, psychologist, you can find her at karenstark.com. Karen, joining us from Manhattan today. Karen, the parents have got to be out of their minds because it was their decision to put her in the daycare for mommy to go back to school. And now the baby is dead. I can't even begin to imagine how awful it is for them, Nancy. I think of you. And I remember when the twins were born. And I remember going to visit and how we had to use hand sanitizer, how careful you were,

how important. And these people, think about it psychologically, how will they ever recover? You mean, are you talking about when I made you take your shoes off before you came in the apartment and bathed you in Purell and made you stand X feet away from the children? Absolutely. I felt like I needed to go through a complete wash down and run down before I was there. And I don't know how psychologically they are going to be able to recover in any way. It will always be there. They will get better, but they will always remember the loss of this child. Something is very wrong with what happened at the state care center, as we all know. Just terrible. My heart goes out to them. Me too. To Dr. William Maroney,

a medical examiner extraordinaire, author of American Nar Narcan an incredible book written by Dr. Maroney one of the nation's leaders in opioid addiction and the fight on it you can find his book on Amazon American Narcan Dr. Maroney here's the problem I mean there's so many problems but here's one of the problems Dr. Maroney is that parents who love their children more than anything in the world, like me, I see Benadryl over the counter. It says it will help your child if they have a cold or if they're having hives or an allergic reaction. I don't know. I'm a lawyer. I'm not a medical doctor.

I'm not a pharmacist. So I don't know anything's wrong with giving them Benadryl. But in this dosage, clearly it was too much Benadryl. She had to know. I want you to address giving children Benadryl, please. Here's what you have. If you think your child is stuffy, if you think your child has an allergic reaction, you seek an urgent care, a ready med or ER, or you go to a pediatrician and you say, help me, teach me what dose do I give this child? And a professional waves the child, looks at your medicine and says, here's how you do it. Don't buy any Benadryl, buy infant Benadryl by infant Benadryl. Don't do anything without having a nurse practitioner, a family physician, a physician's assistant, a qualified prescriber licensed by your state to supervise

the first dose to let you know everything is safe. That's how we give Benadryl. She was a very happy baby, always smiling. She's just perfect. Yeah, it's just like the best way to describe her is perfect. These are the precious memories Marissa Colburn and Blake Breyer will cherish forever. Their beautiful baby girl, Harper Rose Breyer, had just started THEIR BABY GIRL, HARPER ROSE BRIER, HAD JUST STARTED CRAWLING, HOLDING HER BOTTLE ON HER OWN, AND GOT HER FIRST TOOTH. DAD BLAKE WAS WORKING, AND MOM MARISSA DECIDED TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL FULL TIME FOR SOCIAL WORK AT CASTLETON UNIVERSITY. BUT SHE SPENT THREE MONTHS

VETTING DAY CARE PROVIDERS TO MAKE SURE SHE CHOSE THE RIGHT ONE. SHE SAYS IT WAS HARD ENOUGH DROPPING HARPER OFF WITH ANOTHER PERSON, COUNTING DOWN THE MINUTES, AND THEN SHE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL.

SHE SAYS SHE'S HAD A LOT OF THINGS TO DO, BUT SHE'S STILL NOT READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL. SHE SAYS SHE'S HAD A LOT OF THINGS TO DO, BUT SHE'S STILL NOT READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL. SHE SAYS SHE'S HAD A LOT OF THINGS TO DO, BUT SHE'S STILL NOT READY TO GO BACK TO But she spent three months vetting daycare providers to make sure she chose the right one. She says it was hard enough dropping Harper off with another person,

counting down the minutes until they were together again. And on only the third day of daycare, Marissa was just leaving school on her way to the daycare to pick Harper up when she got the news. You were hearing baby Harper Rose Breyer from home videos. That's WTEN-TV's Samantha DiMaschio speaking to Harper's mom, Marissa Colburn. And I'm just imagining the mom watching videos, looking at photos. That's all she has left of Harper. She left Harper at daycare on day three. She gets a text from EMTs, there's a problem.

Troy Slayton, California defense attorney, how can you with a straight face argue that this was an accident or negligence when it's clearly an overdose of Benadryl? She didn't even know the baby had vomited all over her baby blanket because she wasn't taking care of the children. She would have known that. A child can vomit and not make a lot of noise. What we really need to look at is all the surrounding circumstances. Dr. Maroney laid it out well, as well as your crime scene investigator. We need to look at what the other children had as far as dosage of Benadryl. If all these kids have hair samples that show positive for Benadryl, then this daycare provider is finished. And I agree with you that they should charge murder in that instance. But if this is an isolated incident and she was just dosing this child for a legitimate purpose, some sort of allergic reaction, some sort of hives, something for which Benadryl, obviously not in this dose, would be indicated, then I think we don't have a case of murder or even manslaughter. And I think that it should be something even less, like some sort of gross criminal negligence.

I'm sure you do, Troy Slayton. I am sure you do, Troy Slayton, renowned California defense lawyer. And now you see why he wins so many cases. He's like a snake charmer. If you listen long enough, you start swaying along and believing that. Or sometimes you just have the facts and the law on your side. Let's talk about the facts. Dr. William Maroney, medical examiner, author of American Narcan on Amazon. You can't argue with the level of diphenhydramine in this baby girl system. You can't argue with that. She did not, the baby Harper did not drive to CVS and buy the Benadryl and down it out in her car in the parking lot. Somebody gave it to her and it wasn't the parents.

It was the daycare provider, Stacey Villancourt. What does the evidence tell you, Dr. Maroney, about the level of Benadryl in this child's system? The other thing we have to consider, babies don't metabolize like adults. So it builds higher. What you have is whatever dose she got might have been on the first day, might have been on the second day. Might have been on the second day, but we have evidence from the patient, the client, when the deceased went home, the parents said this baby slept like way too long. That's physical evidence. That's a story that Benadryl was given previous to the day that she died. In addition to Benadryl was given on the day she died. So you have at least two days where Benadryl is given back to back in a baby

where the acceptable level of Benadryl without physician supervision is zero. And you have the medical examiner's death certificate saying homicide. This is no accident. Well, wait a minute. What I don't get, Dr. Maroney, is somewhere in that medical explanation, I didn't get from you how much Benadryl you think the daycare woman, Villancourt, gave her. Is that because you don't know if it's a buildup over the last two days?

How much Benadryl do you think the child had in her system to kill her? That she could have got infant Benadryl and it would have been a high volume or she could have got regular Benadryl, the low volume, but a high concentration. But the end result is to get to that 600 nanograms, that baby had to have between 50 and 100 milligrams. And those are adult doses that are 10 times the dose. To John Limley, crimeonline.com investigative reporter. John Limley, how much does she have in her system? I think you may know the answer to that as well. 670 nanograms per milliliter. As I said before, the chief medical examiner says that's about eight times the average blood concentration for a baby of Harper's weight.

What does that mean, Dr. Maroney? In a nutshell and in regular people talk, please. Eight times the amount that was in her system means she got ten times the amount that would have been a normal dose under physician supervision, and the acceptable dose is still zero. Good gravy. Well, we know what the autopsy said. Listen. Defendant sedated a otherwise beautiful, happy, healthy six-month-old to the point where that baby could not lift her head and died.

Breyer was pronounced dead while en route to the Rutland Regional Medical Center. State police say Valancourt was the infant's only caregiver leading up to her death and had been in her care for the POLICE SAY VALENCOURT WAS THE INFANT'S ONLY CAREGIVER LEADING UP TO HER DEATH AND HAD BEEN IN HER CARE FOR THE TWO DAYS PRIOR. THE AUTOPSY SHOWS THE INFANT DIED OF DIPHENHYDROMINE INTOXICATION. HER DEATH WAS RULED A HOMICIDE. STATE IS ALLEGING THAT THE

DEFENDANT ACTED CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT AND BECAUSE OF THAT ACTION THE CHILD DIED, HARPER BRYER DIED. SO STATE WILL BE ARGUING THAT SHE ACTED WITH A CRIMINAL NEGLIGENT INTENT. VALENCOURT AND HER ATTORNEY action. The child died. Harper Breyer died. So the state will be arguing that she acted with a criminal negligent intent. Vail in court and her attorney Robert McCullen declined to comment on the case following today's court proceedings. She was released on a $25,000 security bond. She must not have contact with any children under the age of five with the exception of her nine-month-old

grandson. She will be back in court next month. You're hearing WVNY-TV's Spencer Colon talking to the Rutland County State's Attorney Rosemary Kennedy. And just so you know, the state asked for a $50,000 bond, and the judge reduced that in half to a $25,000 bond, which she put up $2,500 to get out. Clearly, to some people, a baby's life means less than an adult's life. Why would you let somebody out on a case like this where you've got a dead child on $2,500 payment? To John Limley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, I got a question. Why did the EMTs contact the mother via text? Why didn't the daycare owner, Stacey Villancourt, call her? Well, we found that information out from the police.

Harper's mother told the investigators there that Villancourt didn't have emergency contact information for her, the mother, to fill out because her printer was broken. Everything is wrong with this scenario. I am researching a book I'm working on, Don't Be a Victim, and one of the chapters that took the most time for me to write is Your Child Safe at Daycare with Babysitters at play school. And one of the first things I've learned you're supposed to do is have all of the contacts, emergency contacts, poison control, mom's number, dad's number, other contact number, everything about whatever drugs, medications the child is supposed to have or not. Everything is supposed to be filled out

so at the drop of a hat you can be contact i mean it's just insult to injury she didn't call mommy because she didn't have her number because her printer was broken oh we wait as justice unfolds for baby Harper. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.