The Misery Machine - The Case of Caliyah Guyton

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kalea Jolin Guyton was born on July 9th, 2019 to parents Chelsea Guyton and Cody Buckingham. She had blonde hair with short bangs, apple cheeks, and a wide-toothy smile. Kalea had pierced ears and often wore pink earrings, as pink was her favorite color. Her grandmother said she had the biggest, brightest personality and a joyful spirit. She said, she was a bright light in a dark world, a bright, bright light. She really was. Everywhere she went, she just lit up a room. Her mother agreed saying that Kalia always brightened everyone's day.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Chelsea described her two-year-old daughter as amazing. She said, Kalia was very unique. She was smart. She knew her ABCs. She knew how to count. She knew her colors, her animals. Kalia loved Minnie Mouse, baby shark, and all kinds of animals. When she met her baby cousin, she said the infant was the cry baby because she was so little.

Starting point is 00:01:00 Kalea described herself as the boss baby because she was still a baby, but a little more grown up. In April of 2022, Kalea's grandparents, Jeannie Spanky, and Kevin Charlie Brown, as well as their dogs, were living at the Grand Prairie Hotel in Enid, Oklahoma. They were in between places and the hotel allowed pets to stay for free. Cody, Chelsea, and Kalea had been living out of town, but Cody wanted to see his mom and Jeannie wanted to spend time with her granddaughter, so they planned a visit to Enid. Both couples, the dogs, and the two-year-old stayed together in room 149. Now, it should be noted, the Grand Prairie Hotel had once been a nice place to stay. It had two floors and the balcony outside the second floor rooms looked out over the large heated indoor pool and hot tub. A Florida ceiling mural of trees and a waterfall covered the wall behind the pool, but according to local residents, it wasn't as nice anymore.

Starting point is 00:01:56 When it changed ownership, the new owners didn't even replace the sign out front. instead covering over the old name so it showed only the word hotel. Around 10 a.m. on April 27th, Jeannie took Kalia down to the lobby for breakfast. After they ate, she took the toddler back to the room and started getting ready for her afternoon shift at the warehouse of Atwood's Ranch and Home Goods. While Jeannie got ready for work, Grandfather Charlie watched Kalia. He took her with him to the ice machine. Kleea loved exploring and going down the long hallway to the big clanking machine that

Starting point is 00:02:30 spit out ice must have felt like an adventure to her. At the machine, they ran into another hotel guest, a tall, bald, and tattooed man that Charlie said looked to be 40 to 50 years old. The man asked Kalia if she wanted some chips or candy and Charlie told her it was okay. She could have some. During their short conversation, the man said the toddler was pretty and told Charlie, God bless you as he left to go back to his room upstairs. Leah and her grandfather took their bucket of ice back to room 149 where they spent more time with the family while Jeannie finished getting ready for work. A friend came to pick her up at around 2.30 that afternoon. Normally, she would have taken a hotel card key with her so she could get back in later that

Starting point is 00:03:11 night, but they'd only been issued two keys. Since the kids were visiting, she had given her key to Cody and left the other with Charlie since they needed to get in and out of the room while she was at work. And someone had to wake up and let her in when she got back, but they had all gotten used to that routine. A couple hours after Jeannie left, the family made a short trip to Walmart to pick up snacks and food for the room. They spent about a half an hour at the store and headed back to the hotel at around 4.30 p.m. On the way back, they realized they forgot milk and a few other things that they needed,

Starting point is 00:03:44 so they stopped at the nearby neighborhood market to finish shopping. Now, back at the hotel, they put away their groceries and got ready to go swimming. Cody, Chelsea, and Kalia went in the water, and Charlie sat nearby, chatting and watching Kalia swim. After visiting for a bit, he went back to the room to rest while the others continued to enjoy the pool. After Charlie left, the bald man they had met earlier stopped by the pool area and started talking to Cody and Chelsea. He told them his name was Michael Geiger and that he had just checked in that day and that he was staying in rooms 249 and 247 on the second floor. He said he had been hired by the hotel to do some plumbing work and they were allowing to use the two rooms as part of his compensation. He invited them to join him and hang out later that evening.

Starting point is 00:04:30 During the conversation, he mentioned to Cody that his daughter was cute, but in his words, too young. An alarming comment made even more disturbing because he was talking about a two-year-old. The family went back to their room to join Charlie. He said they looked tired from swimming and they got into the other bed and he thought they were all going to sleep. He drifted off sometime between 8.30 and 9 p.m. and said they were all there when he fell asleep. However, Cody and Chelsea had other plans. After Charlie and Kalia had fallen asleep, they decided to join Michael in his rooms on the second floor to hang out.

Starting point is 00:05:09 In addition to the red flag comment Michael had made about his daughter being too young, Cody also recognized prison tattoos on the bald man's arms, but the lure of a good time was more powerful than any worry about the kind of man Michael was. But he should have been worried because Michael was a monster. He had been accused of repeatedly essaying a 13-year-old over the course of seven months between August of 92 and March of 1993. He was charged with a variety of. counts related to the horrific acts, but he was somehow eventually acquitted. On June 16th,

Starting point is 00:05:47 1994, he and a friend invaded the home of Blake Edward Morris and robbed him at gunpoint and forced him to help them escape in his car. Michael was charged and convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, an authorized use of a vehicle, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. While in prison, he joined a dangerous gang and was so violent that prison administrators filled out paperwork allowing them to place him in a higher security unit because of his history of extreme violence. At one point, an 11-inch-long homemade knife and a 16-inch length of metal pipe were confiscated from his cell. In 2009, he assaulted a female medical director. Later, he beat a fellow inmate with a sock full of batteries until his

Starting point is 00:06:33 head split open. In 2010, he threatened officers saying, one of these days, you're going to to get what's coming to you. In 2014, he attacked an officer through the food port in his door. When the officer tried to place Michael in handcuffs, he grabbed the officer's hands and yanked them through the port. His axe, while in prison, added time to a stay, and he wasn't released from the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayer until March 9th, 2022. He first stayed with relatives in Oklahoma City, but was unhappy there because at his aunt and uncle's home, he wasn't allowed to do anything in his own words. In early April, he contacted his adult daughter Tiffany, who lived in Enid.

Starting point is 00:07:13 She had never met him and hadn't even known he was her father until he contacted her, but she wanted to help him. He worked for the Grand Prairie Hotel and helped him get a job in a place to stay there. She and a friend drove 100 miles to Oklahoma City, picked him up, and brought him back to Enid on April 27th. The same day, he met Cody and his family. When he first saw Kalia, Michael had been out of prison for less than a month. and had only been an Enid for a few hours.

Starting point is 00:07:40 Unaware of his history, Cody and Chelsea joined Michael in room 247, where they hung out, had a few drinks, and smoked some crystal. While they were hanging out, Michael told him that he would pay the couple $5,000 if Chelsea would spend 24 hours with him. She refused his offer, but Cody thought he knew a local woman who might be interested. While Cody called the woman to ask, Michael left room 247 and went into the adjacent. room and close the door. Cody's friend agreed to the arrangement, but she needed the couple to pick

Starting point is 00:08:12 her up at home and give her a ride to the hotel. Cody knocked to let Michael know that they were leaving to get the woman, and Michael opened the door, revealing that he had stripped nude. Timeline of events over the next hour is confusing, but we're going to report the times given by witnesses. Cody and Chelsea were both under the influence, so they could be confused about the time, or it might be a sign that something more nefarious happened. Let us not. what you think seems most likely. Cody said he and Chelsea left the hotel between 11.30 p.m. and midnight. When they left, he swore the door to the room was locked tight and Kalia was sleeping safely inside. In Chelsea drove to his female friend's home and the friend said they arrived at around 1154.

Starting point is 00:08:56 Couple spent about an hour there, then returned to the hotel along with the woman willing to entertain Michael. Jeannie said her shift at the warehouse ended between 11 and 11.10. Her friends stopped and put $5 worth of gas in the car on the way home. Even with the stop, she said she got back to the hotel around 1130 and went right to room 149. She got there, she found the door unlocked and slightly ajar. Charlie and the dogs were inside, sound asleep. There was no sign of Cody, Chelsea, or baby Kalia. Concerned, she loudly asked, where is the baby?

Starting point is 00:09:32 The question didn't wake Charlie up. She said he was a very deep sleeper. but it did wake the dogs up and they started barking. This commotion finally woke Charlie and once he had woken up enough to answer, he told Jeannie that they had all been there when he fell asleep. Jeannie poured a bowl of cereal and she and Charlie talked about where they could be while she ate. He figured that Cody and Chelsea must have taken Kalia somewhere, but found it unsettling because the couple didn't usually take her out so late

Starting point is 00:10:00 and Leah was also a pretty heavy sleeper. It's often hard to wake her up and more difficult to get her. moving. Also, they didn't know why the door had been left open. Maybe the couple hadn't gone far or were worried Jeannie wouldn't be able to get in. Meanwhile on the second floor, a maintenance worker saw Michael leaving the area of his rooms, running through the upstairs hallway carrying what looked like a baby doll. At 1147 p.m., the front desk clerk saw Michael quickly rushing out the front door of the hotel headed north. He looked panicked and was wearing gloves and holding a pillowcase. The clerk found it odd and mentioned it to the maintenance worker who reported his

Starting point is 00:10:37 own odd observation. They were puzzled by his behavior but had no idea that Kalia was missing and didn't actually realize that baby doll was a young girl. Based on their statements that they spent an hour at the friend's house and drove straight back to the hotel, it would have been a little after 1 a.m. when Cody, Chelsea, and the unnamed woman got to the hotel. They discussed stopping by room 149, but decided not to because they didn't want to wake up the sleeping toddler. They went to room 249 looking for Michael. When they knocked, the unlatched door opened, but there was no one inside. They also knocked on the door to Michael's other room, 247, but they also got no answer there.

Starting point is 00:11:19 At this point, the witness statements don't make a very cohesive story. According to the unnamed woman, she asked Cody and Chelsea if they thought Michael could have headed to the pool, and all three of them went there looking for him. However, back in room 149, Jeannie was just getting ready to jump in the shower and asked Charlie to stay up in case the kids came back. Where she got in the shower, she heard pounding at the door and heard Cody screaming, where is my daughter? He ran away before she could open the door. Sometimes witnesses make mistakes, but why would Cody be asking where Kalia was before he even checked to see if she was there? Maybe Jeannie misremembered or misheard him.

Starting point is 00:11:57 Maybe Cody had seen inside room 249 and that information hasn't been made. public yet. There was plenty of disturbing evidence inside that room, more than enough to send any parent into a panic. Whether they stopped at room 149 on their way or not, the three continued on to the indoor pool area, allegedly still looking for Michael. Instead, they found Kalia. She was floating face down in the water. Her skin was blue, and a cord, still attached to a pair of orange men's swimming shorts, was tied around her throat. She was dressed only from the waist up, and one of the earrings had been ripped from her pierced ear. Cody dove into the pool, hold her out, and attempted to perform CPR.

Starting point is 00:12:41 When he pushed on her chest, the woman said she noticed blood coming from the area of her privates. Chelsea screamed, attracting the attention of a hotel employee who called 911. Is that her baby? Somebody, please come. Somebody come now. Please. Okay, where are you at?

Starting point is 00:13:05 Oh my god, I'm at the Grand Prairie Hotel and it's a little girl that is in the pool. She's drowned. This lady and these two people just came down looking for her. And she was in the pool and she's drowned. Please send somebody right now. Oh, God, she's blue. Oh, God, please send somebody right now, ma'am. Well, I hope this is going to lead to you.

Starting point is 00:13:39 I'm going to give you instructions on how to do CPR. But I got to tell you, I think this baby's gone because the face is blue. The extremities is blue. The baby was not moving. Officers responded at 1.47 a.m. and took over the CPR, but Kalia remained unresponsive. EMS arrived a few minutes later and rushed her to Integris Bass Hospital, but it was too late. Kalia was pronounced dead on arrival. Doctors told officers they had reason to believe.

Starting point is 00:14:09 that the girl had been essayed shortly before her death. Back at the hotel, officers discovered two hotel key cards in the pocket of the shorts tied around Kalia's neck. Those cards opened rooms 247 and 249, the rooms where Michael had been staying in. A great deal of disturbing evidence was found when they opened room 247. Gummy worm candy had been placed on the bed. Officers noted this placement did not look like an accidental spill. Instead, it looked deliberately.

Starting point is 00:14:39 placed as if to possibly entice a child onto the bed. The TV was off when investigators entered, but when they turned it on, they noted it was tuned to the Nicktoon's cartoon station, which they noted was geared towards a younger audience. We found a bottle of juice that matched a multi-pack of bottles in Kalia's parents' hotel room. They concluded that the room clearly had been staged to lure Kalia in. Officers also found a noticeable amount of blood on the bed, the floor, on other items in the room. They found a pair of girls capri pants and a headband were the right size to fit Kalia.

Starting point is 00:15:15 They also found a pair of girls underpants with blood inside them on the floor and her missing pink earring on the bed. They also found a pair of men's underwear and a sock that matched the size and brand of underwear and socks Michael had in the other room with the rest of his clothes. The sock found in room 247 had blood and fluid consistent with male DNA inside it. The report noted that the sock had been used as part of a homemade adult. While some officers were investigating the room, others were trying to find Michael. They tracked his cell phone number and tried to locate him by pinging the phone, but the location shown was inside of the hotel's lobby. Officers searched the hotel from top to bottom.

Starting point is 00:15:55 They found no sign of him. Eventually, his cell phone was found inside of a purse on a couch in the lobby. Other officers looked through available surveillance video and were able to verify that he had left the hotel before midnight carrying a white pillowcase, which, match what the clerk had witnessed. A canine officer was called to the scene and the dog started following Michael's scent but the weather didn't cooperate.

Starting point is 00:16:18 It started to rain and eventually the dog lost the trail near Richland Road a few miles away from the hotel. Finally, after seven hours of searching, they found Michael hiding on top of a building about a block away from the hotel. When he realized he'd been cited, he came down voluntarily.

Starting point is 00:16:36 He was arrested at 9.13 a.m. on April 28. officers reported that his hands and body were bloody when he was taken into custody a hat gloves and a pillowcase speckled with blood were found near the spot where he'd been hiding police questioned michael but he did not confess during his interview however officers said he made statements that matched the evidence officers collected at the hotel he admitted that he was staying in the two hotel rooms but also claimed other occupants were staying there as well though no other witnesses saw these alleged other occupants. He denied attacking and assaulting Collea, but did admit he spoke with her and gave

Starting point is 00:17:15 her chips and candy earlier in the day. When asked if the shorts found with her belonged to him, he wouldn't answer, instead saying he had multiple pairs of shorts. On April 29th, Michael was charged with felony counts of first-degree murder, first-degree essay, kidnapping and first-degree burglary, though the burglary charge was later dropped. He appeared before Special District Judge Brian Lovell and prosecutors filed a motion to hold him without bond. He was denied bond and his next hearing date was set. Are you remorseful? It's back to court for the man charged in the vicious killing of a two-year-old girl. And the crime dates back to the spring. And before we go any further here, we should tell you the details here are very graphic. So if you have children who might be

Starting point is 00:18:03 watching, you may have them leave the room. It was April when Enid police found two-year-old Halea Guyton's body in a hotel pool. After a lengthy manhunt they found the suspect Michael Giger covered in blood. Today he went before a judge yet again. Newsforce Caitlin Ogle was in the courtroom. This is the ramp Michael Geiger walked down to go into the courthouse. Once inside, he was able to meet with his attorney before they set a date for his preliminary hearing. Are you remorseful? Michael Geiger silently walking into the Garfield County Courts, The court house Wednesday. The 51-year-old faces first-degree murder, kidnapping, and burglary charges. Back in April, In Ed police say they found

Starting point is 00:18:48 Kalea Geithen in the pool of the Grand Prairie Motel. The two-year-old was unresponsive with orange shorts wrapped around her neck. The nature of a call was a girl had drowned in the motel pool. The medical examiner said she'd been raped and later died at the hospital. After an hour's long suspect search, police found Geiger on top of a nearby roof. His hands and clothes bloody. It was right next door, so panic all day, every scenario that you can think of. Just a month before, Geiger had been released from prison after serving a 10-year kidnapping sentence.

Starting point is 00:19:20 We were told that he had been in the Enid area for some work and had recently come up and stayed at the motel. Inside his motel room, investigators finding a, quote, very bloody scene that had been, quote, staged to lure Kalia because they found gummy bears, juice boxes and cartoons on the TV. Monday inside Judge Lovell's courtroom, Geiger sat silent. Attorneys and the judge setting a date for his preliminary hearing, November 16th at 9 a.m. In November of 2022, the district attorney for Garfield County, Michael J. Fields, filed a special bill indicating that he was seeking the death penalty for the first-degree murder charge due to the aggravating circumstances. He argued that the death penalty was warranted because Michael had previously been convicted of a felony. The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel.

Starting point is 00:20:11 He also argued that Michael was likely to commit criminal acts of violence, making him a continued threat to society based on his extensive past history of violence and how quickly he reoffended after being released. In his special bill, prosecutor fields included information the chief medical examiner discovered while conducting Kalea's autopsy. Her injuries are deeply, deeply disturbing. They found extensive bruising on her neck. as well as bruises on her face, mouth, chest, and other areas.

Starting point is 00:20:42 She had underlying muscle and soft tissue damage, especially around her neck and burst blood vessels throughout her face, head, chest, and vital organs. The damaged blood vessels meant she had been strangled to the point that she was unable to breathe. The increased pressure and lack of oxygen caused her brain to swell. The blood evidence present on her body and in the hotel room showed her injuries had caused copious bleeding and trauma. According to the report, she suffered extensive damage to her privates, including abrasions and serious tears to both exterior and interior areas. Her DNA was found in a swab collected from Michael. This meant that, though she was only two years old, she had been violently essayed while she was still alive.

Starting point is 00:21:30 The Emmy also found that her lungs were swollen and there was a white, frothy fluid in her airway, indicating that she was still struggling. to breathe when Michael threw her over a balcony railing into the pool below. Even after she hit the water, she was still fighting to take a breath. Her cause of death was lack of oxygen because of strangulation and drowning. Her manner of death was a homicide. Though the Emmy was able to explain what happened during her final moments, there are still lingering questions about how she got into Michael's room. Did he have access to a special key card that opened her?

Starting point is 00:22:07 her room as part of his job at the hotel. Did he somehow knock loud enough to wake her, but not loud enough to wake Charlie and the dogs? Was the door to 149 lock that night? Was she really there? We know the police think he lured her from the room, but none of the evidence that they have released so far explains how he did it. On December 12th, Michael had another hearing, this time in front of district judge Tom Newby. He pled not guilty to all of his charges. Judge Newby wanted to schedule his trial for May of 2023 but was unable to do so because of motions questioning his competency to stand trial. In July of 2023, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health submitted a report that stated

Starting point is 00:22:52 they found that Michael was not competent to stand trial. No details were revealed because the report and all future reports about Michael's mental health were sealed by Judge Newby. Though they provided the expert opinion in Oklahoma, the defendant can choose to have their competency determined by a judge or a jury. On August 4th, he waived his right to a jury trial, leaving his decision in the hands of the judge. On November 1st, Judge Newby found Michael incompetent because he was suffering from a delusional disorder that made him unable to understand the charges against him and prevented him from rationally assisting in his own defense.

Starting point is 00:23:30 Michael also objected to the use of psychotropic drugs to help stabilize him. Judge Newby ordered the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Venita, an inpatient behavioral health hospital to develop a treatment plan for him. He will remain confined, but not imprisoned during his hospitalization. With treatment, the judge believes that restoration of competency within a reasonable time is likely. If and when his condition improves, the facility is 30 days to notify the court. Until then, there will be no trial and no justice for Kalia. 24th, 2022, a change.org petition was started, encouraging the Enid police to arrest Cody and Chelsea for their daughter's death. As of this recording, it has garnered a little over 4,000 signatures.

Starting point is 00:24:17 It read in part, we want justice as a community for this sweet little girl. Her parents need to be charged as well. Police sign our petition. The public wants to know that no one is getting away with the negligence of Kalia. The public wants police to charge the parents with negligence of Kalia. The public wants police to charge the parents with negligence or child endangerment at the least. The woman who posted the petition also accused the couple of harassing employees at the hotel and behaving badly at a public vigil for Kalia, but that hasn't been confirmed in any other sources. Chelsea remains adamant that she and Cody had nothing to do with their daughter's death. On June 8, 2022, she posted the following statement to social media, and it read,

Starting point is 00:24:59 There's absolutely no reason as to why this happened to my baby. It's definitely the most horrible thing to be going through. Thanks for family and some friends for all the supportive messages. And for everyone else who's in my inbox being hateful, know that I would never allow anything like this to happen or even allow anyone to harm my baby in any way, shape, or form. The next month on what would have been Callia's third birthday, July 9th, 2022, Cody posted.

Starting point is 00:25:29 Today is going to be a very hard day. I miss her so much and I wish I could have woken her up with kisses and hugs just to give her whatever she would want today. I love you so much, Kalia. Happy birthday. Wish you was here. I'm going to try and do something special for you today, baby girl. On August 8, 2022, Chelsea posted a picture taken from inside a car parked in front of what appear to be a rehab facility. Beneath the image, she wrote,

Starting point is 00:25:58 If it's any of y'all hating assho's business, yes, I am checking in. Yes, I am doing what I got to do to get off parole. Fuck all y'all hating asses in Oklahoma. Go ahead and talk about that. Hashtag retweet. On March 8th, 2023, both Cody and Chelsea filed a personal injury lawsuit against Grand Prairie Inn in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The case appears to be ongoing.

Starting point is 00:26:25 Now, based on photos posted online sometime in June of 2023, Chelsea had a baby boy, a little brother for Kalia, and she even takes him to visit her grave. Unfortunately, Chelsea was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and her mugshot was posted online in July of 2023. Kalia's family had a private service to mourn her short life. They bought her a beautiful and elaborate headstone that is several feet tall at its highest point. The center is a black marble heart with a picture of her smiling affixed above her name. The heart is cradled by a large carved angel and rests on a bed of carved roses. Matching vases sit to the right and left, bases that her family fills with flowers to match the holiday season. Red, white and blue for summer, it was forest golds and oranges for autumn and Halloween.

Starting point is 00:27:18 The day after her murder on April 29, 2022, the city of Enid held a vigil for the toddler in the downtown square. Hundreds of people attended, many wearing pink because it was her favorite color. Locals Aaron Forrest, Taylor Gordon, Brittany Lee met on social media and were so moved by the story of Sweet Baby Kalia that they worked together to organize the event. At dusk, attendees held up candles and lit screens of their cell phones. After a moment of silence, members of local biker, car, and truck clubs revved their engines to honor Kalia's life. During the event, organizer Aaron said, this is about Kalia. We need to keep this peaceful and truly about the little girl's life. Nothing else. But we may never get to see this beautiful face again. We can surely make it known

Starting point is 00:28:05 that Enid will not stand for this type of thing in our community. We love our children and we protect our children. Cody, Chelsea, Jeannie, and other members of Kalia's family attended the vigil. Chelsea didn't speak during the service, but spoke off camera with a reporter afterwards. She said, I'm going to miss everything about her. I'm going to miss her. I'm going to miss her telling me she loves me more. Cody spoke briefly after lighting a candle saying, I love you, baby girl. The most heartbreaking message came from the most innocent of attendees. One of Kalia's young cousins explained how he felt, saying, never we heard the news, we just bust down. This is just a farewell, not a goodbye to Kalia.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Caliyah Guyton

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