Law&Crime Sidebar - Florida Home Health Nurse Tortured Paralyzed Woman: Police

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

Nia Ayers, 24, turned herself in to police in St. Cloud, Florida after a woman reported the home health aide was caught on camera abusing her daughter. The nonverbal, quadriplegic victim reportedly had red marks and scratches on her face after an overnight shift. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber got insight on the investigation from St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke.St. Cloud Police Department: 320-251-1200PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Cybercrime is becoming more dangerous daily. Don’t wait until it’s too late—protect your business with Apollo Networks’ top-tier cybersecurity solutions today. Get a free network health assessment and 50% off your first month! https://www.apollonetworks.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A home health nurse brought in to help a woman care for her nonverbal quadriplegic daughter is now charged with aggravated abuse of this person. And Florida authorities say the alleged attacks were all caught on a home surveillance camera. So now there's concerns there could be more alleged victims out there. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. I have another troubling case for you. Police in St. Cloud, Florida, recently arrested a woman that they say tortured a disabled 18-year-old while she was caring for her

overnight as a home health aid. Her alleged actions came to light when the woman's mother saw marks on her and checked her home surveillance footage. 24-year-old Nia Ayers worked as a home health care aid for two different companies, both of which have now been notified of her arrest. This is according to Fox 35 Orlando. The Florida Department of Health shows that Ayers has been a licensed practical nurse since 2021 and had no documented disciplinary action, which makes these allegations even more alarming. But on May 7th, She was arrested and charged with one count of aggravated assault of a disabled adult without great bodily harm. Now, the victim in this case, who we're not going to be identifying, has cerebral palsy.

This is according to police reports. Her mother, Edith, told investigators that her daughter is developmentally disabled, nonverbal, quadriplegic, meaning nearly her entire body is paralyzed. She requires around-the-clock care, so her mother has two nurses. They come in for 12-hour shifts, one from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., then another. from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and the home health aides are there to help with things like bathing and administering meds and hooking up breathing machines and changing diapers. They also suction nasal and respiratory passages to keep them clear. Now according to what

Edith told St. Cloud Police, errors had been coming over to take care of her daughter every Friday night for about a year. But when she looked back at surveillance video from inside her home, she allegedly saw something absolutely horrific. heirs reportedly taping up her daughter's mouth, shaking her head and cursing at her. So to talk about the details of this investigation, I want to bring in by St. Cloud Chief of Police, Douglas Gerke. Thank you so much for taking the time, Chief. This is a really, really horrifying situation, a tough case.

Have you watched this video? Yes, and thank you for having me. Unfortunately, I have watched these videos. And I will tell you, and all the time in my career, in law enforcement, 25 plus years in doing this job, you do see some shocking things in your career, but I'll be honest with you to see something what I saw in these videos, absolutely shocking. I'm also a paramedic, too, so I'm licensed in the state of Florida to be a paramedic. And, you know, the thing that really jumps out at me is, you know, do no harm, right?

That's usually the motto and creed of any health care worker. And some of the things that we saw in this video is just, it's atrocious to watch some of the things that we saw, the taping of the mouth, the shut, the aggressively shaking her head while she's trying to manipulate a breathing machine, a bipap machine, a washcloth that was actually put over the victim's mouth almost and held over the mouth where you can see the victim writhing around and moving around. To me, it appears that she's clearly in distress. So no explanations for some of the things that I saw on there. And, you know, we're going to do everything we can to ensure that justice is served for this poor victim.

And when you say no explanation, did Ms. Ayers not provide an explanation for what happened? Did she provide a statement about this at all? You know, hey, you're getting it all wrong. I didn't do this. Anything like that? No, we don't have anything of that sort. Once this was brought to light and we actually sought an arrest warrant for her, we made every attempt to find her only to learn that she was actually working at another position.

using her LPN license elsewhere on an overnight shift. So we set up overnight. We were looking for her and she actually came in on her own accord. And then she retained her right or Fifth Amendment. And, you know, obviously we didn't get a chance to really speak to her about any of this. But I'll be honest with you, there's a camera that's in that room. Not only does it record video, it also records audio. So there's a lot that's going to be coming to light here that I believe we have a very strong case in this matter.

Yeah, that evidence is quite compelling to say the least. Do you know if she was aware that there was a camera there? It's my understanding that I believe that there was interaction with the family on this camera from time to time. So I believe that she was aware. But again, I'm not the acting, I'm not the detective on this case, but it's everything that it's my knowledge that she was aware or she should have been aware that that was a camera. I don't believe it was a covert camera. It's clearly it's exposed. It's visible. So to actually do something and some of the things that we saw here makes there's no justifiable medical explanation of why some of this was done. By the way, our content shows just how rampant crime is right now. And that is especially true with cybercrime. Cybercrime is growing more dangerous and widespread. It is threatening businesses like never before. I mean, did you know that in 2024, one in five businesses fell victim to ransomware? Half of those were small businesses. Let that sink in.

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They have custom solutions to fit every industry. So right now, you can go to Apollo Networks.com slash sidebar or scan the QR code on screen to get a free network health assessment and 50% off of your first month. It's interesting because it would be very common for a health aide, a nurse, to know that there's a camera there. There's a conversation between the client and the medical practitioner that there would be a camera there. they're usually alerted about it. So, you know, it makes these allegations even more alarming and even more blatant, if true, knowing that she was being recorded or taped. But I guess sometimes, hey, look,

there's hot mics, there's hot tapes. Sometimes people forget that they're being recorded. And that could be a situation with what we're doing here with these allegations. But I want to dig a little bit more into this. I want to dig into the arrest warrant, what it says about what happens. So it reads, quote, on the morning of May 3, 2025, Edith noticed that her daughter had red scratches around her mouth area and eyelid. Edith stated the marks she found were not there the previous day and raised suspicion. Edith stated she went back to view camera footage from when Ayers was there. Edith stated she observed several instances where Ayers was aggressive and abusive with her daughter while caring for that evening. While watching the camera footage at approximately 2358 hours on May 2nd,

2025, I observed Ayers placed tape on the woman's mouth and then very aggressively hold a washcloth tight to her mouth. I observed Ayers aggressively ripped the tape off of the woman's mouth. Edith informed me that at no time is its standard procedure to tape her daughter's mouth. And according to Edith, the only time tape would be used would be when her daughter was sleeping and needed to have her eyes taped shut to prevent them from being too dry. The affidavit continues, after Ayers ripped the tape off her mouth, I observed Ayers adjust her body on the bed by yanking her left arm very aggressively. I then observed Ayers very aggressively suction the woman's airway.

After Ayers' suction the airway, she holds a white washcloth up to the woman's mouth and holds it there for several seconds, appearing to be hindering the woman's breathing. While Ayers was holding her mouth closed, it appeared the woman attempted to move her head in a way that depicted she was uncomfortable and unable to breathe. At one point during the evening, time unknown in the camera footage, I observed Ayers placed the white washcloth over the woman's mouth and shake her head violently. Ayers then places tape over the woman's mouth again and then throws the roll of tape across the room towards the wall in an aggressive manner. Observed Ayers walk over to the other side of the woman's bed and adjust her breathing device.

And as she just adjusted it, Ayers reportedly swore at the victim saying things that we just can't repeat here. You know, Chief, I'm trying to figure out from a defense perspective if there is any way to say this was the care that was required. This might have been a difficult patient. I'm having struggle. I'm struggling to think of that. Just curious to your thoughts on it. You know, and again, I go back to my paramedic training and certification. You know, someone with cerebral palsy, a quadriplegic person, they don't move.

They're not moving. So when you think of a difficult person per se, I don't know anything. I'm not aware of any reason why we could be treating someone differently, especially even if they are a difficult patient per se. And I've seen them before out in the street. They're difficult. But again, our job is to do our very best and not harm the individual that we're in the duty and care of. Again, some of the things that I saw, I believe, are not only medically unjustifiable, but they're morally reprehensible. These are things that should never be done to a poor person who has, by all accounts, probably had a very challenging life. And she's bedridden and she can't move. And from what we saw on this video, I don't see any justification of why something like this would be necessary. The violent motions on the head and moving the head around and screaming at this person, throwing tape, the way she's holding a washcloth over this poor woman's mouth, I don't believe there's any justification for it. Now, mind you, and again, a licensed practical nurse in the state of Florida, and if I'm not mistaken, across the country, has to go through an educational process to become certified and take a state exam.

So I don't believe anywhere in any state exam, this would cover half the things that she was doing. Do you see these cases often? Do we see it? I would say we come across them, and I will tell you, law enforcement sees, unfortunately, a lot of horrific things in society that's done. What I do, what I will tell you is I think there's there's people that are in every profession that do not deserve to be in the profession specifically because it gives other nurses, LPNs, health care workers a bad name, just like we have in policing. We have police officers that potentially shouldn't be wearing a police uniform, attorneys, people that are in every profession, doctors, you know, something like this, very rarely you'll find it. But to see it on video like this and actually have audio of these things, it makes it more despicable if she knew that the camera was there. And it's my indications that she actually did know.

And I believe there was interactions on this camera before. So she's aware that it exists. And you know, the heartbreaking part of this is the victim's mother is in the very next room sleeping with the knowledge that there is a caregiver that's in the very next room taking care of her loved one. And the fact that this happened under her roof, I will tell you. she's devastated. She's absolutely devastated. I met with her the other night. I gave her a big hug. She is in tears. It keeps her up at night now. It's heartbreaking to think that the people that we put in in care, that people that need that kind of care, and we get good health care workers that we perceive to be carrying individuals, and then they betray trust like this and actually do it. It's unacceptable. And again, we'll work day and night to ensure that justice is served on somebody like this. Do you know how her daughter's doing?

She's doing well. When this first occurred, I know they immediately relayed their concerns to the home health aid, the unit itself of the company, and I believe she was removed so she would never go back there again so she cannot be harmed.

I did speak to, again, her mother and the daughter is doing very well now. She's in good hands and good care. And again, I would say that not everyone does this in the world. So this is not a condemnation on healthcare workers because they do an amazing job and they take care of a lot of good people

and you do a lot of amazing things in our society. But if we're aware of those people, it's a duty of all of us, healthcare workers, police officers to make sure that we actually report that immediately. Because again, it gives everyone a black eye in the community, gives everyone a black eye in that profession

when things like this happen. This person is an outlier, I believe, I truly believe that. There's a lot of good people with good hearts that get into the healthcare profession. I can't say that this is clearly one of them. I don't know what was going on her life at the time, but there's nothing that justifies anything that she did here.

No, 100%. These allegations are horrendous. And by the way, there was a second detective who reviewed the surveillance footage, noted instances of alleged abuse in a supplemental report that was filed with the court. And he also referenced photos of the victim's face, noting that there were red marks and scratches around this woman's mouth, as well as around her eyelid, where it appeared skin had been ripped off from tape. According to the court, to the timeline in this supplemental report at 12.17 a.m., Nia's observed aggressively shaking the bi-pat machine attached to the woman's nose and again applying tape over her mouth. At 1220, she adds more tape. One minute later, the report said Nia shook the bi-pat machine

with such force that the victim's nose begins to bleed. Two minutes later, Ares cleans up the nose bleed, but then puts more tape on this woman's mouth. And just two minutes later, according to the report, she rips it back off again. The detective writes, the video footage clearly documents signs of acute psychological distress and physical suffering exhibited by the victim. The nature of these acts, particularly the unnecessary and prolonged covering of the victim's mouth,

while she is in a distressed state, appears to go beyond improper restraint. These actions may be reasonably interpreted as acts of torture, deliberately inflicting physical and psychological pain on an already vulnerable individual. You know, Chief, there are concerns that there could be more victims out there. Do we know how many patients heirs was caring for? Do we know if anybody else has been reaching out?

What does an investigation like this look like? So, and I appreciate that. And obviously, if you don't mind, I'd love for you to share our phone number for our criminal investigations unit so we can share that anyone. And I mean, anyone that has interactions with this woman, with this suspect, that has potentially anything that they can share with us. We certainly want to talk to them. Now, she worked in several different areas. It wasn't just St. Cloud. She worked in the greater Orlando area. So if we come across another victim and families contact us and say, yes, she was taking,

she was caregiver for our victim or our family member. We'll get them in touch with the right agency to ensure that we can review all that. We are constantly, as a matter of fact, we're still reviewing more video. We've asked for every piece of video evidence that we have, from the recordings of every single night that she was there so we can watch every minute of it to ensure that if there's more offenses that were committed or any more violent acts that were committed, we'll be dropping more charges on this person

and we'll be sure that the courts can see that as well. So we're in the process of doing that now. Our detectives are fielding calls and we're making referrals to other agencies. But again, this is still early in the investigation, but the most important part is she is not out there and she's not able to harm anybody else at this time. No, and look, she turned herself in to St. Cloud Police.

Officer's body cams were rolling when she was placed into handcuffs. Yeah. Be being in charge with aggravated disabled persons abuse, they disabled adults, okay? Yeah, Chief, that's an interesting video, right? What was it like taking her into custody? I watched it just as you did. The detectives actually told her that she was being charged with aggravated abuse of a disabled adult under Florida State statute 825.102, which is where it's covered under that. But if you watch her face, I don't necessarily know if she really understood the levity of what she was being charged with.

She seemed to have a smirk on her face. But again, you know, that's what the video is. And it's potential that I was a little surprised at that. But she did turn herself in. I will tell you, we did go to her house. The minute we got the warrant, we went to our house looking for her. And then I'll be honest with you, we were set up to find her all night long. We were going to stay out until we actually found her so we could take her in on the warrant.

She obviously must have heard that we were looking for her, and she came to the police department and turned herself in. Are you going through her phone, computer, things like that as well? That's all part of the investigation right now. So, yes, we're analyzing any evidence that we've actually uncovered, anything that we could look at as an instrument that potentially bring more. charges to her that we're going through everything right now you had mentioned the charge that she's facing aggravated abuse of a disabled adult we believe it reads aggravated abuse of a disabled adult occurs when a person commits aggravated battery on a disabled adult or willfully tortures maliciously punishes or willfully and unlawfully cages a disabled adult and based on the allegations

we put forward or that have been put forward you can see how it matches up to the elements of that crime this is a first degree felony our understanding she could face up the 30 years in prison if she's convicted, Chief, the correct charge? And what do you think the correct sentence would be if she's convicted? I think you just said it right there, 30 years in prison right there. Just so you know, also on top of that, we're actually working with the state of Florida, the Department of Health, to ensure that they're in the loop of everything that occurred here so they can conduct their own administrative review.

Just like me as a paramedic, I can potentially lose my certification. And obviously, that's something based on what we saw here in the videos. I can't necessarily recommend that she actually touches another patient or even visits to another patient anymore under operating under a license like that. So there's more to follow too. Again, we're looking at every piece of video evidence. And if there's more out there, I'll be honest with you, one charge can become 10. It all depends on which day it is. We're going to look at each day.

And if we find more evidence to suggest that she actually committed this multiple times, she'll be getting hit with multiple charges. The one charge is just to get started. And she apparently posted a $2,500 bond the day after her arrest. She was released. She had her initial appearance on May 8th. There's been really no update from the court on when the next court date is. She's been ordered not to have any contact with the victim or her family. Chief, I want to end on this.

I cover crimes all the time, and every crime is awful. There's an element where, you know, the victims are defenseless. But there's something about this kind of case. And there's something about crimes committed against children, young children, where those two, disabled and young children, they really cannot, not only defend themselves, so they're really in a position where they're defenseless. They can't even articulate what happened to them. And there's so much care and attention that needs to go to look out for these individuals. And to see people who are accused of abusing them, it just, it's a different kind of crime. And for somebody in law enforcement, what is the feeling of seeing something like this? Because I feel it's this type of crime or alleged crime that is just different for you to ultimately investigate and cover. So, and again, I appreciate that question. But first and foremost, I think it's very, very important to understand that I think we approach every crime regardless of how heinous it is with the same fair and balanced approach.

I think that's the most important thing to remember in law enforcement. just because we see something that's horrific like this doesn't give us an extra zeal that we're going to go say let's do everything we can to wreck this person and that's not the case we take the facts we follow the facts and then this is done I will tell you we'll grieve over this I was almost in tears when I had a chance to talk to the mother it's it's horrific because when you think of the victim you think of people that are vulnerable like this they're completely at the mercy of their caregivers and and in this one specifically in particular she's unable to move or even voice her concerns or anything. To that end, I will tell you, the St. Cloud Police Department takes these matters very seriously. Our detectives work very hard. We have zero tolerance for abuse, especially against our most vulnerable residents. So to answer your question, it is horrific to try to work through these things. And the things that law enforcement officers see on a daily basis, you know, it keeps me up at night. I will tell you there's not one incident, these kinds of things just carry with you throughout your entire career and long into

when you're finished. The one thing I can hope and pray for is that we do bring justice to these innocent people that need someone to be their champion and stand up for them. And that's exactly what we're going to do each and every day. Very well said. Sane Cloud, Chief of Police, Douglas Gerke, thank you so much for coming on. And thank you to you and your team for the great work that you do in day and day out. Thank you so much for taking the time, sir. Thank you for having us. And that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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