The Misery Machine - The Case of Cali Anderson

Starting point is 00:00:00 Callie Keani Armella Anderson was born on September 27, 2012 to Leani Robinson and her ex-boyfriend Tyler Anderson. She had big brown eyes and brown hair that was often braided and fastened with big bows. She had a bright, beautiful smile, and her mother said she was always smiling when they were together. She called Callie, My Miracle and Princess, and wished she could have gotten custody of the baby so she could have spent more time with her. Not much is known about what Callie liked, the reasons for that will become more clear as we tell her story. But we can make some guesses based on the pictures available. She might have liked Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse

Starting point is 00:00:40 since she was photographed wearing a cute pink Hello Kitty shirt in one photo and large Minnie Mouse ears in another. She liked drinking out of her sippy cup with a straw. Several pictures her mother posted show her mid-sip grinning at the camera with the straw in her mouth. And she was a good older sister, carefully holding her younger brother in her lap in a photo, both of them smiling. Before Cali was even born, trouble was brewing. The situation that she was born into, think of the worst after-school special

Starting point is 00:01:10 filled with every type of trouble adults try to warn teens about. Though he was only 17, Tyler had already gotten in trouble for using and selling illegal substances. Leone and Tyler had dated briefly, but they had broken up when he met Avriana Enoch. Avriana had recently returned to California. She had been sent to live with her mother in Ohio at age 13 because she was getting in trouble and struggling with mental health issues. After two years in Ohio, she ran away from home in October of 2011 and made her way back across the country to California.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Her grandmother let her move back in and helped her get on medication to treat her bipolar disorder. While living with her grandma, she enrolled at the same high school that Tyler attended, and they started dating in February of 2012, but soon after, lay her in her early. Tyler's ex-girlfriend, realized that she was pregnant with his child. According to Avriana's friends, she was upset when she found out Tyler had gotten another teenage girl pregnant, and the couple had a huge blowout fight. Tyler claimed the argument stressed him out to the point that he had to violate his parole and use illegal substances.

Starting point is 00:02:12 He got caught under the influence and was sent to inpatient rehab, which is where he was when Callie was born. Now, Tyler's mother, Donna Howard, was excited to be a grandmother and wanted her son to be involved in Little Callie's life. She spoke to Leani and got permission to take the baby to visit Tyler in rehab. Or into Tyler, Avriana was angry and very jealous when she heard he met his baby. A couple months later, he got a furlough at Christmas and used his time on the outside to visit Callie, and this made Avriana even more furious because she wanted him to visit her instead of his own baby. Despite her unreasonable jealousy, Tyler still continued his relationship with Avriana

Starting point is 00:02:52 and moved in with her after he was released in March of 2013. A few months later, he took a trip to visit his mother and see Callie. While he was gone, Avriana made threats and eventually ended up in the emergency room after attempting to remove herself from the earth. Meanwhile, Tyler and Liani were involved in custody hearings, and Avriana suggested Tyler might be more likely to win full custody if the couple got married. So eventually they did. She took his last name, changing her name to Avriana Anderson.

Starting point is 00:03:22 Callie's case ended up in arguably the worst courtroom possible in front of Judge Sinda Riggins-Unger. According to a Salana County Advocate organization, this judge, who has since retired, was known to be biased toward giving custody to the father, no matter how unprepared for fatherhood he might seem to be. There had been attempts to recall her from her position because of her bias, but those attempts all failed. One advocate told reporters, and I quote, this isn't shocking. I've seen Unger give custody to many male drug addicts and males just released from jail or prison. It really didn't matter what she did. In Unger's courtroom, she didn't stand a chance. Despite his recent struggles in rehab stint,

Starting point is 00:04:07 in October 2013, Judge Unger awarded Tyler and Avriana full custody of the 13-month-old Callie. Leani continued to fight, but she didn't have the money to afford the type of lawyer that could take on this judge, and she wasn't even given shared custody. However, she was only allowed to visit at a government facility. She posted pictures online of one such visit. In the images, Callie toddled around in a pink and blue monkey onesie, played with toys and hunted for Easter eggs. According to Tyler, their life as a family was good at first.

Starting point is 00:04:39 They moved into a new apartment in Woodland, California. Tyler worked a lot and he was trying to go to school, so Avriana watched Callie most of the time. He said she seemed to love the girl and tried to take to, teach her how to read and taught her how to run alongside with her play vacuum cleaner when Avriana was sweeping the apartment. Now, Tyler's mother, Donna, did not approve of this and told Avriana not to play house with her son. Donna's warnings fell on deaf ears, though, and soon Avriana stopped taking her medication in the hopes that she could get more easily pregnant.

Starting point is 00:05:11 Callie had her second birthday in September of 2014, and Avriana's first son with Tyler was born a little more than a month later on October 31st. Once she had her own baby, Averyana's jealous behavior intensified. She thought Tyler's family cared more about Callie than they did about her son, and family members started to notice that Callie was getting injured more than usual.

Starting point is 00:05:34 She always had an excuse, though, that Callie was clumsy like her dad, that she fell chasing her brother, or that she bumped her head while Avriana was changing the younger boy's diaper. In November, Tyler's aunt, Maline Duenas, visited the couple's apartment to meet the new baby boy and was disturbed by what she witnessed there. Maling was holding the baby when Callie tried to run towards her, excited to see her aunt,

Starting point is 00:05:56 but on the way, Averyana shoved her and caused her to fall down and cry. When Maline asked her why she would do something like that, Avriana told her she was going to hurt my baby boy. She thought Tyler's family was too soft on their kids, and she preferred the type of discipline that she had experienced growing up. She said, if you talk back, I'm going to pop you in the mouth. In December, Tyler took Callie to the doctors for a checkup. She weighed about 28 pounds of that visit, and the doctor also scheduled a follow-up appointment with a cardiologist.

Starting point is 00:06:29 Tyler canceled that appointment and never made a new one. On various occasions, Avriana said it was Tyler's responsibility to get medical attention for his kid, and also claimed she couldn't take her to the doctors because she didn't have a medical card for her. For the next year, Tyler's family began to see more. more and more injuries on the little girl, and they noticed she was losing weight as well. Well, Tyler's mother, Donna, and his aunt, Maline, said they didn't get to see Callie as much as they wanted to. If Rihanna wouldn't allow Tyler or anyone else to post pictures of her on social media because she disliked Leone so much that she didn't even want her to be able to

Starting point is 00:07:05 see pictures of her little girl. On the few occasions, she sent photos of Callie to Donna and Maline, the images were always blurry and in black and white instead of color. Though she never admitted it, it seems likely she also didn't want Leani or anyone else to have proof of any cuts or bruises that Callie had. The family still saw Callie in person or at a few family functions. One party, Donna and Maline said they noticed crescent-shaped cuts on both sides of Callie's face that looked like fingernail marks. In the past, they had both seen Avriana grabbed Callie by the head and face and thought the injuries they saw, were caused by her digging her fingernails in.

Starting point is 00:07:43 At another party, they noticed face paint or makeup rubbing off when they kissed Callie. As the concealer wore off, they saw that she had bruises on her cheek. In April of 2015, Callie suffered a serious burn to the palm of her hand while Avriana was watching her. Tyler said he came home and saw Callie's left hand. It was saran wrapped. It had olive oil and Vaseline on it. Avriana told Tyler it happened accidentally when she was helping the little girl wash her hands, but she told Tyler he had to lie to his family and tell them that he was the one

Starting point is 00:08:15 who burned her hand because they already thought Avriana was mean to her. Sure enough, when he met his family at a holiday party, Tyler claimed he told everyone that he had been mopping the floor when Callie accidentally stuck her hand in the mop bucket and got burned. When Maylene tried to feed Callie a treat, Avriana snapped at her yelling, don't feed her that. We don't want her to get fat. At another party in October of 2015, the family noticed that Callie had lost a lot of weight. Though it was warm outside, she was dressed in a long-sleeved, baggy sweatsuit, and had a bruise on her right cheek that had been covered up with concealer. She was also acting differently.

Starting point is 00:08:54 She wasn't playing with the other kids, didn't talk to anyone, and mostly stayed close to Avriana. When no one was looking, she was eating food off of other people's plates, devouring it in a way that made them think that she was starving. Worried about the now three-year-old girl, Aunt Meline contacted Child Protective Services, and on October 15, 2015, filed a report saying she suspected CA and neglect. The agency subsequently launched an investigation. When CPS asked about the burn, Tyler and Avriana told them a different story.

Starting point is 00:09:26 They said the water heater in their apartment had leaked, that Callie had burned her hand from the hot water that leaked out of it. Social workers were concerned the couple were using excessive or inappropriate, discipline, but couldn't find any direct proof of violence. So they closed the case and labeled it inconclusive. After the case was closed, Avriana's friend, Jaila Young Riley, also noticed Callie acting in an unusual manner. At a get-together at a local park, she noticed Callie constantly looking at Avriana any time anyone asked her a question, as if she was trying to figure out what she was supposed to say. She also said the girl was stiff as a board and standing unusually still,

Starting point is 00:10:04 as if afraid to move. While another parent might have seen a CPS investigation as a warning to be a little less harsh, it was at this point, Averyana seemed to ramp up her discipline even more. Even though reports are anonymous, Averyana suspected Tyler's family had something to do with the investigation

Starting point is 00:10:21 and wanted to get away from their influence. In July of 2017, they moved out of state to Reno, Nevada. Leone tried to stop the move or at least ensure she got more visitation rights with Callie, but the court decided against her. In Reno, both Tyler and Avriana started erasing traces of Callie from their life. Though they listed her name on some forms, they didn't mention her on others.

Starting point is 00:10:45 She was listed on the rental agreement at the Brook Tree apartment complex, but the manager said she'd never seen the couple with a little girl. While living in Reno, Avriana gave birth to another boy. Tyler's mom, Donna, visited to drop off a bassinet and meet the new baby. She saw her grandsons, but when she asked where Callie was, as she was told they had dropped her off at a 24-hour daycare facility. The next day, she and Tyler went out to lunch, and he brought Callie with him. Donna said Callie looked ill and thin, and that she wasn't as happy and outgoing as she usually was.

Starting point is 00:11:18 But she and Maline had already tried to call CPS, and all it had done was drive the family further away. The end of the visit, she hugged Callie one last time, then made the two-hour drive back to Sacramento. After the birth of their second baby, Tyler said Avriana wanted to get a dog, so allegedly, they got a dog and named it Maverick. Avriana said he was a sweet dog that was good with the kids, but Tyler said he wasn't good with people and that they had to keep him locked up in a crate in the bathroom most of the time. There were few visitors to the apartment, and none of those visitors ever saw the dog or heard it barking.

Starting point is 00:11:53 This is important because what the couple said happened over the next few months is probably not what actually happened. Now, having a dog could explain the dog crate, but it wouldn't explain the human handcuffs that were attached to it. It is much more likely they're both still lying to avoid telling the truth of what happened to Cali in that apartment over the next two years. Tyler said Avriana became more aggressive than the punishment she gave Callie. He said she would use belts, she would use wooden spoons, she would use brushes and combs. You know, she would just, she wouldn't stop, you know, I'd have to stop her. When he would stop her, Avriano would accuse him of taking Callie.

Starting point is 00:12:30 sighed and interfering with her discipline. She would tell him that she hit her younger brothers and needed to be punished to keep them safe. On one occasion, he said, she had the belt and I get in front of her and I'm holding it around the back. She's trying to climb over me to get to her. She's telling me, you know, you always save her.

Starting point is 00:12:48 You can't always save her. He said their arguments over Callie would get so vicious that Avriana would kick him and Callie out of the apartment in the middle of the night, shouting, take your dumb ass baby with you. He may have sometimes tried to protect Callie, but there were plenty of times that he went along

Starting point is 00:13:05 with her idea of discipline too. Text on his phone showed that she sent him a video of Callie standing in the corner with her arms raised while she threatened to hurt her if she put them down. She sent him messages like, Dummy is back in the corner, shaking my damn head and caught her dumb ass playing. When you get home, we'll whoop her little butt.

Starting point is 00:13:26 His reply to that text was, 10-4, corner pocket until then. Tyler said he was away from home a lot. He was working two jobs every day and taking college classes too. He said he had told Avriana she couldn't hit Cali anymore, but when he came home one day, he saw that she'd started using a new, crueler form of punishment. He said, I go to the bathroom, right?

Starting point is 00:13:47 She's in there, and she's got Callie and Maverick's cage. You know, the first thing I do is get her out of the cage, so she goes, she's not crying, and she's not hurt, and she's not bruised. You know, what the hell is she doing in that cage? Avriana said she pushed her brother. They were drifting apart as a couple, but still sometimes did illegal substances together in order to feel close and like they did when they were younger. When they were under the influence together,

Starting point is 00:14:11 sometimes Avriana would tell Tyler things she did to Callie. He said she would sometimes put frozen bags of vegetables on the little girl's injuries so the bruises wouldn't show when Tyler got home. She told him the things she would say to Callie, including making her lie to her dad, he said, I would call while I would be at work when I'm starting, when we're staying out here. I'm working two jobs, so I'd call to talk to my kids, you know, because I miss them and I hardly spend time with them. And she said she would leave Callie in the room. And when I called, she would go in

Starting point is 00:14:40 there and she'd give Callie the phone and I'd be on speakerphone and she'd be telling Callie what to say to me, that she's playing with her brother and that she's eating, she's watching TV. And Avriana said she would have her lie and she would leave her in there, in her room. And then, you know, she said she'd cry out for you and Avriana would go in there and tell her, your daddy doesn't love you. Nobody loves you. The person that gave birth to you doesn't even love you. Your daddy doesn't love you.

Starting point is 00:15:06 If he did, he'd be here with you. So shut the fuck up. Even when describing her utter cruelty, he still went along with Avriana's claim that they kept Callie in her room. Two other visitors entered the apartment during these months, and their story suggests something else in touch. Hirely. Avriana's friend Jala visited the apartment on several occasions, and in December of 2017,

Starting point is 00:15:31 she even spent a night sleeping on the couch in the apartment's living room. She saw Callie's room while she was there, but Callie was never in it. She noted there wasn't even a bed in the little girl's room and no toys or any other sign of her in there, but there was a big king-sized mattress in the boy's room. And she asked why Callie didn't have a bed, Avriana said she didn't deserve one because she always wet herself. Instead, she said Callie said, Callie slept on a chair in the living room, but Jaila never saw her there. Jaila saw both of the boys

Starting point is 00:15:59 when she visited, but she never saw Callie. When she asked where Callie was, Avriana said she was with her grandma, but this was not true. She had never been allowed to visit Tyler's family. When she visited in December, Avriana told her that Callie was at a 24-hour daycare, but no record of her attending any such daycare was ever found. Jaila said the apartment was clean and tidy when she visited. At one point, she tried to use the guest's bathroom, but Tyler and Avriana, and I'm quoting her here, screamed at her and told her she had to use the master bathroom attached to their bedroom instead. They said there was a huge dog in there. It was too dangerous to enter the bathroom because of that dog. Jala found this odd because she never heard any

Starting point is 00:16:41 barking and she never once saw a dog. During the time she stayed there, no one took it out of the bathroom for a walk and no one entered the bathroom to feed or care for it. During the December visit, Jala met a man named Tyrese at a local Applebee's. Later that night, they went to the one-up club with Avriana. Jail and Tyrese had a brief hookup, but she wasn't able to spend the night with him because he didn't have anywhere to go. After Jaila returned to California,

Starting point is 00:17:08 Avriana began an affair with Tyrese, and they were intimate in her apartment twice in December while Tyler was at work. In January, she told Tyrese she was pregnant with his baby, but that seemed to be a lie. He continued a relationship with her for the next two months, months, visiting the apartment a number of times. The guest's bathroom was blocked off with a short dresser, and he said Avriana told him he couldn't use it because it was too messy. He knew she was

Starting point is 00:17:35 married and saw two boys when he visited, but he never saw a little girl. When he asked if she had any stepchildren, she said she had a step kid, but it was not her child. Over the next few months, Avriana's mental state deteriorated along with her marriage to Tyler. In addition to her relationship with Tyrese, she was also using Tinder to find dates. She was disconnected and often under the influence of substances. She wasn't taking adequate care of the boys or the apartment. The fridge and pantry were almost empty and she wasn't buying food, even though she had WIC and she could use it to buy food and basic items. She stopped cleaning up so the apartment was filthy with trash, diapers, rotten food, and items strewn everywhere. Both Tyler and Avriana claimed that Callie was

Starting point is 00:18:17 suffering from some sort of stomach issue that got worse in April, but neither of them ever took her to a doctor to get help. Or in Avriana, Callie said her stomach hurt and had been vomiting a couple times a month for a long period of time, perhaps ever since they moved to Reno. She said she Googled her symptoms on the internet and was watching what she ate. According to Tyler, Avriana had it all under control. He said she told him, I'm the family doctor. I take care of my family. I'm a stay-at-home mom. That's what I do. I can figure it out. She said she didn't take Callie to the doctors because that was Tyler's job and because Callie's symptoms often got better after a couple days, according to her.

Starting point is 00:18:55 At some point, most likely on April 26 or 27th, Callie stopped breathing. On April 26, Avriana used her iPad to search for CPR, which, along with other evidence, led authorities to believe that the couple weren't telling the whole truth. However, both Tyler and Avriana said that Callie died on May 4th, and they both told different stories about what happened. One thing that was common in both versions was that they never called a daughter. doctor or an ambulance or got any help for the five-year-old girl. They also kept her hidden from sight and isolated from anyone who could have gotten her help.

Starting point is 00:19:31 None of the neighbors could call for help because they had never seen her and didn't know she existed. According to Tyler, he got home from work around 5 p.m. and walked their most likely imaginary dog. When he got back, he said, Avriana told him she had something to show him. He said, she goes into our son's room and brings out Callie and her hands. hands in her arms. She was lifeless, you know, limp lifeless. She wasn't breathing, so I started doing CPR. In his version of the story, both he and Avriana tried to do CPR while their other

Starting point is 00:20:04 kids cried and the dog barked. He was really committed to mentioning the dog. Tyler continued his story saying, I tell her, it's not working. We need to call an ambulance. She said, no, you're not going to call an ambulance. I can't go to prison. If you call an ambulance, I'm going to fucking kill you. You have to save your daughter. You know CPR. You're certified. You have a card.

Starting point is 00:20:26 You have to save your daughter. So I grabbed my phone. I said, I'm going to call an ambulance. I can't help her, you know. And she's snatching the phone for me. She throws it at the pantry or at the wall. It hits the pantry. Whatever.

Starting point is 00:20:37 It hits the floor. I'm just talking to Callie saying, please breathe. Her eyes are open, but she's not blinking. He thought he performed CPR for an hour and a half to three hours before he heard Callie's heart stop beating. He claimed he tried to leave the apartment to get help, but Avriana blocked the door.

Starting point is 00:20:53 Once he was sure she was dead, he said he put Callie in a duffel bag, then went to talk to Avriana who was smoking something in the bathroom. He said, she's asking me, you know, what are you going to do, Tyler? What's your plan? This is your fault. I say, I need to tell somebody. I need help. She says, no, you aren't going to tell anybody.

Starting point is 00:21:12 You tell somebody, her brothers are going to get taken away. This is God's plan, you know? In his version of this story, Avriana made him bundle up evidence of the crime like the rug Callie died on and the sweater he was wearing while performing CPR. He said she wouldn't let him out of her sight, so they left their two young sons alone in the apartment

Starting point is 00:21:29 while they disposed of the evidence in a dumpster. He also said Avriana forced him to keep Callie in the trunk of his car when he went to work so he wouldn't be tempted to turn on her and call the police while he was away from the apartment. According to Tyler, Avriana said, no, you're not putting that in my house. You're going to keep that with you. So if you try anything, I'm going to be able to call the police and tell them you have a body in your trunk.

Starting point is 00:21:53 In Avriana's version of the story, Callie had lost what she called a considerable amount of weight since the family moved to Reno because of health problems that made her vomit and struggled to digest food. Around 10 p.m. on May 4th, she went into Callie's room to feed her and found Callie immobile and unresponsive. The pulse was weak and her breathing was shallow. She brought her to Tyler and he tried to do CPR on her. and put her in the shower to wake her up. That didn't work. They both tried to do CPR again, but she stopped breathing. Once they realized she was gone, they changed her clothes,

Starting point is 00:22:24 and you put her in a duffel bag in the closet. On April 28th, Averyana used the same iPad she used to look up CPR to search the terms, liquids that deteriorate, acid, and storage units. That search happened six days before she and Tyler claimed that Callie died. According to Tyler, she was concocting all sorts of schemes to get rid of Cali, including setting her on fire under a bridge in woodland, leaving her on the train tracks, dissolving her in acid, and throwing her into the Sacramento River.

Starting point is 00:22:55 As each day passed, the problem got worse and worse. They dumped carpet deodorizer over the duffel bag, sealed it in a large blue tub and put the tub in a box with dryer sheets, but nothing could cover the smell. By this point, she said her and Tyler's relationship was struggling. They were both frequently using substances and they decided to separate. May 10th, the couple rented a U-Haul van, took it back to their apartment, and loaded it up with several boxes. The next day, Tyler called a friend he had met in rehab, a man named Joe Garcia, who operated a storage facility. He told Joe he was moving back to Sacramento and asked if he could put a few things in one of Joe's storage units in preparation for the move. Joe agreed to help his friend out. Tyler made the two-hour drive in

Starting point is 00:23:37 the U-Haul while Avriana and the two boys followed in her white hatchback. He met Joe and Joe's daughter Charlene at the storage facility, but his visit was short. Joseph Tyler unloaded three boxes from the van into the storage unit, number one zero five. While Tyler unloaded the boxes, Avriana sat parked across the street and watched from the car. He left quickly once the boxes were unloaded, and Avriana drove away after him. They drove back to Reno and returned the U-Haul van. Brett Weddelland worked at the U-Haul facility, and it was his job to clean the rentals

Starting point is 00:24:07 after they were returned. He said that the smell in the van was unbearable and that Tyler had left spruce brinklings of white powder and an unidentified liquid behind. Van was very hard to clean. He wasn't able to remove all the residue Tyler left behind. Back in Sacramento, Joe had a bad feeling about the encounter, and his daughter, Charlene, thought Tyler had been acting suspiciously. It seemed like Tyler had come an awfully long way to store just a few items, and both Joe and Charlene thought his demeanor had been strange. It's twitchy and acting guilty. Because they had met in rehab and had past issues with substance use, Joe was very worried the small boxes might contain drugs.

Starting point is 00:24:42 He was on parole, he would get in a lot of trouble if anything like that was found on his property. His daughter Charlene said he should open up the boxes and look, and after worrying about it for a little bit, he finally did. Using a knife, he cut into one of the boxes. Inside, he found a blue barrel made of thick plastic. He opened the barrel and saw a duffel bag at the bottom, so he cut a hole in the bag. Through the hole, he saw what looked like the skeletal arm of a baby. Shaken, he called 911. He told the dispatcher.

Starting point is 00:25:15 The other night, some guy, someone that I've known for a while, asked me if you could put some boxes in my storage, right? And so we were going through the stuff and the hell. He literally got, there's a baby in there. Responding officers were confused when they first saw the contents of the barrel. The smell made them think it was human remains, but it was so tiny it looked like a doll or an infant. Based on what they saw, they guessed the child was around six months.

Starting point is 00:25:40 They wanted to know if Joe had any children, and even worried there might be more children hidden in the storage facility, but eventually realized that Joe's only mistake was trying to help a friend out. Joe told them what he knew about Tyler, and officers began tracking the couple down. A few days later on May 16, Tyler called Joe and asked to get back into the storage facility so he could store some more items. Joe let officers know, and they pulled Tyler over while he was driving to the facility. They searched his car, they found lighter fluid and sticks in the trunk, which he was likely going to use to burn the remaining evidence of his crime. Officers arrested Tyler at the traffic stop,

Starting point is 00:26:15 and other cops headed to the couple's apartment to arrest Avriana. When Reno homicide detective Ben Rhodes and other officers arrived at the apartment, they split up to gather evidence and talked to witnesses. Officers talked to neighbors in the complex and many of them knew of and could describe the couple's two sons, but none of them had ever seen Callie, even though they had lived there for almost a year. Detective Rhodes knocked on the apartment door, and when Avriana answered, She told him she had just woken up, even though it was 1.30 p.m. Inside, he found Avriana and the two boys living in filth. He said, upon entry into the residence, I noted the apartment was extremely unkempt and in disarray as dirty clothing, food, and other various items were all over the floor throughout the apartment. Additionally, a mattress with food stains was located in the living room, and the kitchen area was unclean with dirty kitchenware and spoiling food left out all over the and floors. Avriana stated she was home with her two children, who were observed to be in the bedroom. She told officers she had been using Coke earlier in the day, and she was in no shape to be

Starting point is 00:27:21 caring for the two boys, one of which was still a baby under a year old. During a search of the apartment, they found very little edible food in the pantry, and mostly old condiments in the refrigerator. Officers contacted Washoe County CPS to get help for the boys who were eventually placed in foster care. The detective asked her how many children she had, and she said three. When they asked for Cali was, first she said she didn't know because she had just woken up. Then she said she was with Tyler's people. It took the officers some time to track Grandma Donna down and then Aunt Maline, but they were soon able to confirm no one from Tyler's family had seen the girl in over nine months. Though she wasn't arrested right

Starting point is 00:28:01 away, officers took Avriana down to the police station for an interview. Once they had a search warrant, investigators continued searching the apartment. In the guest's bathroom, they found a wired dog crate with a pair of handcuffs attached to it, but no dog in the bathroom or any other room in the apartment. In fact, despite all the mess, Detective Rhodes didn't find anything that indicated a dog had ever been there. And his report, he said, it is also noteworthy to mention that there did not appear to be signs of a pet living in the residence, such as animal hair and feces amongst the apartment's unkempt environment. They found clumps of hair and smears of feces on the floor of the bathroom, but they were from a human and not an animal. There was a

Starting point is 00:28:40 dog collar in the medicine cabinet, empty dog bowls on the floor, and a small amount of dog food in a container. There was also stale and rotting human food in the bathroom, including part of a piece of pizza, a donut, and a hot dog bun. When I asked, Tyler said they fed the dog people food because they had run out of dog food. Detective Rhodes also searched the apartment for signs that a little girl was living there. He focused on finding her clothes, hair clips, or even toys. After much searching, he found a little girl's backpack with some of her clothes in it, including a hat that had her name on it. All of those items were found in the guest bathroom, in the bathtub, next to the wire cage. At the police station in Sacramento, Tyler talked to detectives for a couple of hours, but eventually asked for an attorney, so they had to stop questioning him.

Starting point is 00:29:26 After officers stopped questioning him, they left the camera's recording. Once he was alone, he was recorded saying, I fucking killed her out loud to himself. At the police station in Reno, Averyana waited an interrogation room, huddled on a couch and sometimes crying. Cameras also recorded her actions as she waited. At several points, she kneeled against the couch and prayed out loud. Once detectives began questioning her,

Starting point is 00:29:52 she tried to pretend that she didn't know anything. She told them they went to Sacramento to get something I'm ashamed to talk about, but she didn't seem very ashamed when she claimed they went there to buy coke. When officers asked about the U-Haul, she acted like she didn't know much. She said Tyler wanted to move a dresser because they were splitting up. They talked a little about their troubled relationship. One point while talking about how small and petite all her kids were, she said about Callie, she ate, slipping up and using the past tense to refer to her. She claimed she didn't know where Callie was and tried to make it seem like Tyler was Callie's primary caretaker,

Starting point is 00:30:28 but as officers poked holes in her story, she admitted to knowing more and more. Finally, after the detective, made it sound like Tyler was telling them his side of the story, she confessed that she was there the night Callie died. As much as possible, she pointed the blame at Tyler. She insisted that Callie had been in her bedroom, the one without a bed and no toys or clothes that belonged to a little girl the night she died. She cried when the officers told her she was going to be arrested. They left the room, she knelt by the couch and prayed, saying, I don't deserve to go to jail for this. Oh, God, what did I do to deserve this? What did I do, God? I've done every that you've asked me to, God. On the advice of his attorney, Tyler did not share details with

Starting point is 00:31:09 the police until much later, July 5th, 2019. He was arrested the day he was questioned and made a phone call to his mother that night. Grandma Donna told him she hoped the truth would come out, and his reply was chilling. He said, it's going to come out, and it's not going to be what everybody wants to hear. The truth is going to come out, and it's not going to be pretty, you know. It's going to be the truth, and it is what it is. It is. It is going to be the truth, and it is what it is. what it is. A phrase we might use when dinner doesn't turn out right or we make a typo in an email, but it holds a very different weight when using it to describe the death of a young child. After his arrest, Tyler was held in the Sacramento County main jail before being extradited

Starting point is 00:31:52 back to Reno where he joined Avriana, who was being held at the Washout County Jail. Neither of them were allowed to post bail. They were charged with open murder, CA with substantial bodily harm and destroying concealing evidence. The charge of open murder meant the DA could determine the degree at a later date. As primary caregiver, Avriana was eventually charged with first-degree murder, and Tyler was charged with second-degree murder. At one of Tyler's hearings, his father, Brett Anderson showed his support for his son by calling out, love you, son. Later, he told reporters, I love her, I love him. It was an accident. Brett seemed to believe his son was innocent because he told they would understand when they heard his boy's side of the story. He said,

Starting point is 00:32:37 It's going to be an interesting story when he gets the chance to tell it. It seems unlikely that Brett would have been so hopeful if he had known more about what had happened. In March of 2019, Tyler and Avriana both entered not guilty pleas. A month later, Tyler filed for divorce, and when it was finalized in August, Avriana changed her last name back to Enoch. In July, Tyler finally agreed to tell Paul. police his version of the events surrounding Callie's death. He admitted he found her in the dog crate on one occasion, claimed that otherwise she was kept in her room. He also continued to insist that the dog existed and was kept in the guest bathroom. On January 24th, 2020,

Starting point is 00:33:18 Tyler and Avriana both pled guilty to their charges and were scheduled for sentencing on June 17th in front of Judge Kathleen Dracolich. At the June hearing, Avriana was scheduled to be sentenced first. Her negotiated sentence for first-degree murder was like to be. with the possibility of parole after 20 years. But given the facts of the case, Judge Dracolich refused to accept this plea. She said, I can't do it. And as a result, she has the opportunity to withdraw her plea. Tyler pled guilty to second-degree murder and destruction of evidence.

Starting point is 00:33:49 During his time to speak, he told the court, I tried my best to save Callie, that the decisions needed to rescue my daughter needed to be made long before that horrific day. His negotiated sentence was life in prison with the possibility of parole. after 10 years. The judge accepted his plea saying, I understand the decisions of the parties in this case and why Mr. Anderson was permitted to plead the way he pled. But I think it's a very lucky day for him. And of course, when I say a lucky day, I just mean as we've talked about it, it's an incredibly heinous case and possibly the saddest case that's ever come before this court.

Starting point is 00:34:26 Avriana withdrew her plea and her trial date was eventually scheduled to start on July 21, 2021, in front of Judge Drakulich. Cameras were not permitted in the courtroom during the trial. Avriana's attorney, Kendra Bershey, told the jurors that her client loved Callie, better oatmeal, and was an overwhelmed mother struggling to take care of three young children while suffering from a history of trauma, depression, and mental illness.

Starting point is 00:34:50 Prosecutors allege that she hated Callie and tortured her to death because of her jealousy and hatred. Grandma Donna and Aunt Maylene testified, saying that Avriana had hurt Callie in front of them on multiple occasions, and that they had seen bruises and signs that Callie was losing weight. Aunt Maylene explained that they had reported the CA, but as far as she knew, CPS had taken no action. They also testified that Avriana often told them

Starting point is 00:35:13 the girl was at a 24-hour daycare when they asked to talk to her or see her. They said she refused to let them see Callie, and they believed she hurt the girl out of spite. Grandma Donna said, Avriana wouldn't let anyone have her. She damaged her because everyone would know what she was doing. Investigators spoke to all the daycare facilities in the area, and none of them had any record of Callie ever being there. In addition to using digital evidence from her phone and iPad that showed Avriana discussing punishments with Tyler and forcing Callie in the corner,

Starting point is 00:35:46 prosecutors also presented a great deal of evidence involving the guest's bathroom and the dog cage kept there. When detectives talked to Tyrese, the man having an affair with Avriana, he said he never saw the girl on his numerous trips to the apartment. He was convinced Cali was trapped in the guest's bathroom during his visits. He said, she did that. That is so fucking wrong. She did that. They both did that for so fucking long.

Starting point is 00:36:13 She would not let me in that fucking room. Avriana's friend Jala also testified. She said she had known Avriana since they were in fourth grade together and explained that she never even saw a glimpse of Callie when she visited. the couple's apartment in December of 2017. She saw both boys and thought Averyana seemed patient and loving with them. She took good care of the boys and Jaila said the apartment was pristine. However, Averyana told her not to go in the guest's bathroom because of the vicious dog

Starting point is 00:36:43 and Tyler blocked her from entering the bathroom. She thought it was a little strange at the time, but once she heard about Callie on the news, it seemed very unusual. She told the jury she couldn't stop thinking about, and I quote, how weird it was I couldn't go in the bathroom. Detective Rhodes also took the stand and testified he found no dog, dog hair, or dog droppings anywhere in the apartment, even in the layers of dirt ground into the carpet. He said he saw the dog crate, the handcuffs, and Callie's clothes in the guest's bathroom.

Starting point is 00:37:16 He did not touch the crater handcuffs, but instead let the forensic investigators collect samples. DNA analysis of those samples found skin cells on the hair. handcuffs that matched Callie. As part of her defense, Averyana's lawyer asked one of the detectives of Tyler said, I fucking killed her on camera. The judge quickly called for a break and sent the jury away. Her lawyer tried to argue that Tyler's statement was an excited utterance, which would mean it wouldn't be subjected to hearsay laws, but the judge rejected her argument and the jury was told to ignore the comment. Her defense could have called Tyler to the stand, but must have decided that things he had to say were just as likely to make her look more guilty.

Starting point is 00:37:56 because they chose not to call him as a witness. The defense also tried to argue that Avriana hadn't meant to hurt Callie, but instead had been too mentally ill to care for her properly. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Melissa Piazeki testified in her defense, claiming she had a history of CA and trauma growing up and suffered from untreated depression, anxiety, unspecified psychosis, and schizophrenia when Callie died. According to the doctor, these issues were compounded

Starting point is 00:38:21 because Avriana was using illegal substances and was supposed to be on medication for depression and PTSD but wasn't taking it. She said the untreated depression prevented Avriana from doing day-to-day chores like getting groceries and watching her kids. In her professional opinion, she said Avriana didn't want to hurt Callie, but was remorseful about her death. Mental illness is a serious condition. Her prosecutors argued that what Avriana did to Callie went far beyond simply not taking good care of her during the short time when she was overwhelmed and struggling. They claim that Avriana systematically tortured and starved the girl over a period of at least several months, possibly up to three years. And they had heartbreaking forensic evidence to support those claims.

Starting point is 00:39:05 Sacramento Chief Forensic Pathologist Dr. Jason Tovar performed the autopsy and explained his findings to the jury. He said five-year-old Cali was 36 inches tall, weighed 16 pounds, and was wearing size 18-month pajama onesies, a knit cap, and mismatched Hello Kitty socks. Her height was short for her age. She was only in the third percentile and was a few inches shorter than average, but her weight was unbelievably low. Her weight was so low,

Starting point is 00:39:34 it fell well below the bottom of the scale and couldn't even be charted using the guidelines established by the CDC. An average five-year-old girl should weigh close to 40 pounds. At 16 pounds, she weighed what a healthy six-month-old girl should weigh. She was 12 pounds less, then she weighed at her last doctor's appointment when she was only two years old. This was three years prior.

Starting point is 00:39:58 According to the doctor, the only explanation for her condition was malnutrition as a result of willful neglect in CA. Her internal organs were also small, shrunken, and starved. All of her organs weighed less than average, and she had no fat reserves anywhere. He told the jury that the lack of fat was, a big red flag. there's something that's going on with his child to get to that point where you don't have those fat reserves on the muscles or in the abdomen inside or underneath the skin. It's a very severe state. He also noted that her thymus, an important part of the healthy immune system, was particularly

Starting point is 00:40:36 shrunken. Young children usually have a large thymus, but hers was very small, which often happens when children suffer a significant amount of stress. He told the jury, seeing that thymus that small was an indication to me that, yes, this has been going on for a period of time. This didn't happen overnight. In his professional opinion, it had shrunk because of the malnutrition she had been suffering for an extended period of time. The medical examiner noted that her ribs were very pronounced and from the outside she looked malnourished and frail.

Starting point is 00:41:11 In several areas, her skin was discolored from scrapes and bruising she suffered prior to her death. She had injuries on her head, arms, and legs, and a very strange wound on her hip. Dr. Tovar said it was a pressure sore, the kind of wound usually seen on elderly patients who are bed-bound or confined to a wheelchair. It is very rarely seen in young children. He explained the pressure sore to the jury, saying, That happens to the skin when you have a prolonged pressure to a particular area because the bone is pressed against the skin, and the skin is laying on a surface for a prolonged period of time.

Starting point is 00:41:48 It ends up causing that skin to have less blood flow because of the pressure and ultimately undergoes breakdown. Callie should have been an active, wriggling five-year-old, but instead had been confined in one position for so long she had developed a pressure sore on her hip. She also had extensive damage to her muscles and internal organs. Damage the doctor said would have occurred over weeks or months of starvation and dehydration. He concluded that her cause of death was complications of malnutrition, and her manner of death was homicide.

Starting point is 00:42:22 Assistant District Attorney Kelly Kassau showed the jury gut-wrenching pictures of the clothes she was wearing when she died. Children's Bible found next to her, and Callie herself, curled up in a ball, her tiny frame, nothing but skin over bones. B.D.A. Casau told the jury that Callie had been handcuffed and kept in a dog crate in a filthy bathroom for months, possibly the entire nine months or so that the family lived in Reno before her death. By the time visitors like Jela and Tyrese were allowed in the apartment, he was likely too sick, weak, and afraid to yell or even cry out. More than that, prosecutor said she had been suffering chronic malnutrition for up to three years,

Starting point is 00:43:01 which would have explained the weight loss and behaviors Grandma Donna and Aunt Maylene observed on the few occasions they got to see her before they left California. Avriano was given a chance to speak to the jury before they did. decided her fate. She told them she didn't plan to hurt the girl and didn't harm her on purpose. She said, I want you guys to know, I loved Callie. Not in the past tense. That will never change. After a 15-day trial, the jury deliberated for about five hours before finding Avriana guilty of all charges. The next day, August 6, she was sentenced to life with the possibility

Starting point is 00:43:34 of parole after 20 years for the first-degree murder charge. She was sentenced to an additional 8 to 20 years for CA resulting in death and another 364 days for destroying evidence. But since all the terms were set to run consecutively, her final sentence was still life with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Now it should be noted that her sentence, life with the possibility of parole after 20 years, was the exact same sentence she was offered in her plea deal that the judge rejected. Basically going through this trial to end up in the same exact situation. We bring this up to mention that district attorney Chris Hicks wanted her to be sentenced to life without parole, a sentence that many might find more fitting in this scenario. After the sentencing, he said it was a merciless death, disrespectful, horrible, torturous, it's as bad as they come.

Starting point is 00:44:24 Callie died mercilessly at the hands of those who should be the very first to protect her. No child should ever suffer the way she did, and our entire community mourns her death. The verdict in sentence reached today was only a small measure of justice for her. Avriana appealed her sentence but lost her appeal in December of 2022 when her sentence was affirmed. She's currently serving her time at the Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center in North Las Vegas, and her earliest parole date is May 4th of 2046. Though her release is still many years away, Avriana is already back to dating, posting the following advertisement on a website that allows prisoners to meet pen pals and romantic partners.

Starting point is 00:45:05 online. The ad she posted said, and I quote, I apologize to anyone who has already judged me and has any preconceived notions because of my crime. Let me say that my past does not define the woman I am today. I take every experience of something to learn and grow from. Because of that, I don't dwell on mistakes I've made. Life doesn't come with a how-to manual. If it did, we'd all make it through happy and unscathed. My current and previous circumstances have made me strong, more honest, open-minded, forgiving, optimistic, and less judgmental. I still seek to find the good in every person in every situation.

Starting point is 00:45:45 I'm still learning who I am and what defines me. I am hoping to meet people that can be positive influences in my life. I need all the support and encouragement that can be offered along this journey. Looking forward to corresponding with you. We hope no one ever shows her any interest, And even more than that, if she does attract any responses, we hope those people don't have any young and vulnerable children in their lives. By all the support encouragement that could be offered along in this journey, what she really means is that she wants you to throw money on her J-pay, but I digress.

Starting point is 00:46:19 Don't give money to this trifling bitch. A vigil for Cali was held in Vacaville at Andrews Park on May 23, 2018. Mortoners lit candles, said prayers and tried to comfort her mother, Liani. who hadn't been allowed to see her daughter since the couple took her out of state. No one who knew Tyler could reconcile the crime he committed with the man they knew and loved. Callie's uncle told a reporter, I wouldn't wish this on any child, and it's sad that it had to be my niece. Another close family friend said,

Starting point is 00:46:49 it's hard for me to believe Tyler would do anything like this or be involved in something like this because he loved that little girl, but you don't know what people do behind closed doors. Reporters also talk to Callie's cousin Shailen Ward, who said, Just to talk about it, it's like there's a rock in my throat. It's not right. She also said Tyler didn't seem like the person she knew growing up. When I see the pictures of him on the internet, the look in his eyes, I'm like, that's not him. I'm really disgusted.

Starting point is 00:47:17 Cousin Shailen started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Callie's funeral. On the go fund me page, she described the tragedy with blunt honesty, saying simply, my baby cousin was five years old. She was tortured and murdered by the hands of her father and stepmother. She deserves a proper funeral in cremation. Please stop CA. The campaign raised $3,492 towards expenses. Callie was cremated and her family held a small private ceremony to say goodbye to her.

Starting point is 00:47:45 CPS in Washoe County said they have never received any reports about the family, but because there's no national CA database, they had no way of knowing that Avriana and Tyler had been investigated in California. The case had been closed, so no one was checking up on her, since Callie wasn't enrolled in school and was never allowed outside the bathroom, let alone the apartment. No one ever saw her to make a report. Many would argue that Tyler never should have had custody in the first place. Family court advocate in Solano said, handing over custody to someone who just got out of prison or rehab is insane. Their organization tried to gather support for a Callie's law that would change the laws governing family court to make it harder for judges to award custody of very, very, young children to parents just out of jail or rehab. But it failed to gain widespread support and

Starting point is 00:48:32 it was never enacted. On April 27th, 2019, Liani posted the following heartbreaking message on her social media page. A message we wish no other mother would have to post again. It reads, I hate the fact that I can say my child's father really starved my baby to death, his baby, his blood, his first child. Man, help me through the day because I'm not feeling it today at all. I can never trust a man the same. Callie's mother will never be the same. Her daughter's death has left her aching and angry. If she had been awarded custody, she said, I would have made sure she had clothes on her back and food in her belly at all times. And Callie could still be alive, still smiling, and growing up with her siblings.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Cali Anderson

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.