The Misery Machine - The Case of Gracie Buss

Starting point is 00:00:00 Gracie Vernel Bus was born in Iowa on February 18, 2011 to Mother Christy Amber Bus. Her brother, Isaiah, was about seven years old when she was born. She had chubby cheeks, brown eyes, and long brown hair. According to neighbors, Gracie was a sweet, adorable, and funny little girl who loved playing on the swings. Her relatives didn't speak publicly about her, but pictures her mother posted to social media allow glimpses of her life. In one of the earliest photos, Gracie was still a baby, and she wore a pink dress embroidered with butterflies. Her cheeks and face were red, but it looked

Starting point is 00:00:39 like she was smiling at the camera. Now as she grew, her hair darkened and got long enough to pull into a ponytail, and her face was framed with straight brown bangs. The snapshot showed her having fun like little kids do, playing a toy guitar, cuddling a dog, dressing up as a princess in a teal and pink outfit complete with a plastic tiara and having a butterfly painted on her face. In pictures with her brother, they smile at each other and look happy. In one image, she posed with her little mermaid-themed cake on her third birthday. Traces of blue on her upper lip showed that she was sneaking a little frosting

Starting point is 00:01:16 before the cake was cut. Gracie's dad has never been named, and he didn't seem to be a part of her life, so Christy raised her as a single mom. She worked several jobs over the years, first at Burger King and Walmart, later at a daycare and a dollar general, and then a nursing home. May of 2014, she announced she was in love with a new boyfriend on social media, but just a couple months later, they had broken up. Month or so after that relationship, she started dating Chad Allen Little. In September, Christy moved her little family to a two-story duplex in the Downing Court apartment complex in Waterloo. Outside, a large tree shaded the driveway, and there were grassy areas where the kids could play.

Starting point is 00:01:54 Inside, a carpeted stairway led to the bedrooms on the second floor. Eight stairs up to a little landing, a little turn, and then eight more stairs. Later that month, Christie's relationship with her boyfriend Chad Little got more serious, so he moved into their home. Christy thought Chad was quite the prize. He was the kind of guy who liked to wear large, heavy rings and tried to look tough by throwing up gang signs despite having no gang affiliations. He had a son, but he wasn't active in his life.

Starting point is 00:02:24 would think that these would be red flags to Christy, but apparently to her it was not. Chad was a regular user of Crystal and had been arrested for theft, forgery, drugs, and associated probation violations involving those crimes. But on September 22nd, Christy proudly announced their engagement on social media and begun referring to him as her husband. Chad started referring to the kids as his son and daughter. When people question their relationship, Christy called them haters. She posted an incoherent rant that read, Okay, all this haters out there can back off.

Starting point is 00:03:03 Leave me alone. I am with Chad Little Now. So he's my boo for life. We are getting married. So whoever don't like that, oh well. Though Christy seemed happy to have Chad there. Her kids were not. Gracie was about three and a half years old when he moved in.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And Isaiah was 11. He said Chad started hitting both him and his sister, but that Gracie got the worst of it. He said Chad beat her a lot. According to the boy, Chad was hitting and pushing her at least once a week. A woman named Jennifer Ackerman

Starting point is 00:03:35 lived in the other half of the duplex and shared a wall with the family. She said Chad had a temper and that she regularly heard fighting, yelling, screaming, pounding, and banging after he moved in. She said his angry outbursts got more and more common starting in October.

Starting point is 00:03:53 Christmas Day of 24th, she heard yelling when she woke up in the morning, kept it up all that morning while she got ready to go visit family. It was yelling when she left and was still yelling when she got home that evening. The end of December, she said every day he was off the rails. Chad often hit Gracie in the face causing bruises and Chrissy would cover them with makeup. Isaiah would bring her ice packs for her face after the beatings and try to comfort her. He said sometimes he would try to stop Chad from hitting her, but he was just a child. so he was no match for a grown man.

Starting point is 00:04:27 Once, Chad even threatened to kill him. There's no evidence that Christy ever interfered to protect either of her children. She also let Chad watch them by himself when she wasn't home. At one point, Gracie's bedroom was moved downstairs. Isaiah asked why Chad told him there were ghosts in the upstairs bedroom

Starting point is 00:04:44 that would beat Gracie when she was sleeping. It is unclear whether the toddler's bedroom was ever moved back upstairs. In February of 2015, a week before Gracie's fourth birthday, Christy posted online about how much she loved Chad, saying in her characteristic run-on style with no punctuation, and I quote, Feeling so lucky in my life just being with my sexy man, the love of my life, soon-to-be husband, love you always forever. Later that month, she told a doctor that she sometimes saw Gracie's legs and arms shaking, in, she thought the toddler might be having seizures. The doctor told her to bring Gracie to the ER

Starting point is 00:05:24 the next time she saw anything like that. Now, in March 11th, police showed up and escorted Chad off the Downing Court property. They told him he'd been banned by the landlord and was consequently trespassing by being there. He didn't stay away for long, however. Two days later, Christy posted about spending time as a family saying, So nice out today, me and kids and lie lovin husband needs to go have some fun outside in the sun. Later that same day, she wrote, Well, I had a great day with kids and husband. I love you guys, good fresh air.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Hell yeah, lull, love my life. One of Chad's friends, Frank Perrin, was a frequent visitor hanging out at the duplex two or three times a week. He said the kids were always there when he stopped by and sometimes Chad would be in charge of watching them. He visited the two would smoke crystal together, but Frank always left with him. than an hour or so because after smoking, Chad would become a little off the wall.

Starting point is 00:06:23 He said that Chad would get extremely paranoid, yell, and act radically. Frank would leave, but the kids were stuck there and had to deal with Chad in this condition. During his visits, Frank said he thought he saw Gracie have seizures on a few occasions, but he was not sure. Once her behavior was very noticeable to him, he said, she was laying down at the time and actually ended up rolling off the couch. Chrisi should have taken Gracie to the ER when she had these seizures, but she never did. Around this time, Frank also remembered seeing Chad hit Gracie. He said Chad snatched the girl by her arm and slapped her in the torso area. Now, despite the way he was treating her children,

Starting point is 00:07:02 Christy was still telling the world that she was deeply in love and that the kids loved having him as a dad too. On April 8th, she forwarded an image with a text that said, sometimes people with the worst pass end up creating the best futures. Above the image, she wrote, that's so true, I found my loving husband couldn't ask any better to have a great husband, great dad, to the kids love you, babe, always forever. Four days later on April 12th, the landlord noticed that Chad was on the property again and called the police.

Starting point is 00:07:35 Chad was arrested for misdemeanor trespass. He pled guilty to the charge and paid $260 in fines and court costs. Despite his band, he kept returning to the Downing Court duplex. Late in April, a woman named to Shea Cook was visiting her mother who lived nearby when she saw Chad and Gracie outside. Gracie was pedaling around on her bike and fell off, and this fall sent Chad into a rage. Shea said that he picked Gracie up by her hair and screamed, get up, Bich. He then picked the bike up with his other hand and proceeded to drag both the toddler and the bike into the house. On May 29th, Frank and another friend stopped by the Duplex,

Starting point is 00:08:11 by the duplex around 10 p.m. They usually did. Frank made sure to leave in about an hour and the friend left with him. Around midnight, another friend named Todd Hanson stopped by to help Chad and Chrissy move a couch. That friend left a little while later and said both of the children were in their bedrooms when he left.

Starting point is 00:08:28 When asked how Gracie seemed when he saw her, Todd said, fine, she was just sitting there. In the early morning hours of May 30th, Todd said Chad sent him several text messages, one of which was bizarre and disturbing. One of the messages said Chad was with his son and daughter. Another text arrived at 356 a.m. It read,

Starting point is 00:08:50 Call ASAP, outriding bikes, going to kill somebody. At 8.45 a.m., Chad used Chrissy's cell phone to call the Ask a Nurse hotline at the Covenant Medical Center. Told the triage nurse Susan Doyle that his name was Adam Merrick. Susan said the caller sounded very nervous and upset. Chad told her that his daughter had bruises on her face and knees, and he thought she had fallen down the stairs overnight. He said she was unresponsive, that her stomach was bloated and hard, and she might have had a seizure. When asked for the address, he told the nurse he didn't know it. He said he had already called 911 and told the nurse the 911 dispatcher hadn't helped him,

Starting point is 00:09:28 but instead told him to call back if it was really an emergency. Concerned Susan contacted 911 and explained the situation as she understood it. She said the caller had been told to call back if it was an actual emergency. The dispatcher said no, we would have never told somebody that if their child was unconscious. Susan told them, I just want to make sure they get the help they need. Somehow, using the information Susan provided, dispatchers were able to send paramedics and police to the Downing Court duplex. After placing the call to the nurse, Chad woke up Gracie's brother, screaming that she had a seizure and fell down the stairs.

Starting point is 00:10:04 He told Isaiah they had to leave her right away. On their way out, he saw his sister on the floor. Her eyes were rolled back and her teeth clenched tight. He heard Chad tell Christy to call 911, but they left before he could see if she made the call. She did not. Neither she nor Chad ever called 911 that morning. Chad and the boy jumped a fence in the backyard that separated the duplexes from the neighboring trailer park. They stopped at one of the trailers and Chad asked the woman who lived there if he could use her phone to call an ambulance for his dog.

Starting point is 00:10:37 She didn't think Chad was telling the truth and refused to let him in. At 907, paramedics arrived and found Christy waiting outside. Isaiah and Chad hid behind the fence and watched them enter the duplex. Once they were inside, Chad and Isaiah walked a short distance to the miracle car wash, where they could be seen on surveillance footage. Chad's two large rings can be seen in the recordings. The women who worked there also noticed them. He asked to use the phone and was overheard telling someone that his daughter had

Starting point is 00:11:05 falling down the stairs and was on her way to the hospital. He also said that she might be dying. At another point, he was heard asking someone if they took her. Meanwhile, paramedic Kyle Fuller was back at the duplex with Christy. She led him to an upstairs bedroom where Gracie was unconscious, pale, covered in bruises, and breathing irregularly. Officers on the scene said Christy seemed nonchalant about her daughter's injuries as if she didn't care at all. At first, Chrissy said Gracie suffered a seizure and fell down the stairs the night before. Then she changed her story and said Gracie had gotten up a couple hours earlier to get a drink of water and that was when she fell down the stairs. She also told Paramedic Fuller that Gracie had a history of seizures and that it was typical for her

Starting point is 00:11:45 to be unresponsive or sleepy after she suffered one. But her explanations didn't make any sense. Usually someone who fell down the stairs would have injuries on just one side of the body, but the paramedic noted Gracie had injuries all over her body. He said the position she was in suggested a severe brain injury. When he assessed her, top of her head felt soft and movable, indicating that she had a skull fracture. Gracie was rushed to the Covenant Medical Center, where she was examined by Dr. James Puck. Dr. Puck noticed bruising to both her temples, but the bruise on her left temple looked

Starting point is 00:12:21 to be relatively recent and more distinct. She also had many other bruises all over, and they were in different stages of healing. He tested her reaction to pain stimuli. and diagnosed her with a traumatic brain injury, skull fracture, and bleeding in the brain. He was quite certain that something terrible had happened to her, and it did. He said, in my opinion, Gracie's injuries weren't consistent with a fall down the stairs. In my 35-plus years of being a paramedic and a physician, I have seen multiple children fall downstairs, and I've seen multiple children who have been abused.

Starting point is 00:12:59 and these injuries are more consistent with those that have been abused than those who've fallen downstairs. Gracie's injuries were so extensive that he transferred her to the pediatric intensive care unit at the University of Iowa hospitals and clinics where she was placed on life support. Her doctors also notified the Iowa Department of Human Services, and Christy lost custody of both of her kids. Isaiah was placed with a relative and wasn't allowed back inside the duplex because of the investment. A fundraiser was started to raise money for Gracie's medical bills, clothes, and other items Isaiah needed right away. Gracie's extended family wasn't told much except police suspected her injuries were intentional.

Starting point is 00:13:43 She remained unresponsive and her aunt said doctors didn't think the little girl would recover. She told reporters, the prognosis is grim and we are faced with a difficult decision as to when to let her go be with God. Her organs will be donated to precious children in need of the gift of life. Three days after she arrived at the ICU, Gracie was taken off life support and passed away. Officer John Gergen conducted a videotape interview with Chad on May 30th. The camera started recording a few minutes before the officer entered the room. At first, Chad denied everything. He said he hadn't been to the duplex for the last week and said that he never had disciplined Gracie.

Starting point is 00:14:24 He said he had no idea what had happened to the girl, but said she had been falling down the stairs a lot. Later, he said he had been out riding bikes with Isaiah, but instead of going to the duplex, he stayed at a mobile home nearby. Then he said he was at the house, but only that evening from around 7 to 10 p.m. And he didn't spend the night. Stop by early the next morning, but left before 8.30 a.m. Meaning, he denied being there when the call to the nurse was placed. Eventually, he admitted he sometimes spank Gracie.

Starting point is 00:14:54 He had heard from Christy that she had a seizure that night. He also admitted that on one occasion when he was arguing with Christy, he tried to throw something at her and it hit Gracie instead. When Officer Gergen re-watched the video to write his report, he noticed an additional detail that happened before he entered the room. Chad removed a heavy ring from his right hand and moved it over to his left hand. He also removed a second large ring and put it in his pocket. This, along with his ever-changing stories,

Starting point is 00:15:22 made officers suspect that he was trying to hide the truth. Police tracked down Adam Merrick. He was actually a real person that knew Chad from elementary school. They were able to verify that he was not even in Waterloo the night Gracie had been hurt, and he certainly didn't make the phone call to the nurse hotline. Investigators from the crime lab executed a search warrant at the duplex. They found at least two suspicious looking holes in the drywall. They also found spots of blood in several areas of the house.

Starting point is 00:15:49 Blood was found on a small mattress propped up against the wall in the kitchen, on a silver spoon, and on a white washcloth. In the laundry room, they found spots of blood on a yellow pillowcase decorated with butterflies, on a blue striped comforter, and on several towels. They also found blood on clothes that belonged to Christy and Isaiah. In Gracie's bedroom, they found a larger quantity of blood. One spot, it had soaked through the carpet and stained the padding below. They didn't find any blood on either short staircase, even though the carpet was

Starting point is 00:16:19 would have easily shown any trace of it. In addition to the blood evidence, officers also found and collected a glass pipe used for smoking crystal and an undated handwritten note from Christy's bedroom. The note read, Hey you, I'm very sorry for snapping on Gracie. I lost my temper, no joke. I leave the room for 10 seconds to shower and come out to her plane. I won't do that again. I'm a leave for a little bit, clear my mind, love Chad Little. Though they couldn't prove when the note was written, it was a clear sign of trouble. Police didn't yet have enough evidence to arrest the couple, so they kept the investigation open. Meanwhile, Chad moved back home with his mother and sister than Christy moved into.

Starting point is 00:17:03 During the next 18 months, she posted selfies, lovie-dovey pictures with Chad and old pictures of the kids on Facebook. Though she sometimes seemed to Miss Gracie, more often her post seemed delusional at best. Now, it should be noted that Christy has two Facebooks, one before Gracie died, and then she made a whole new one after Gracie died. On December 12, 2015, Chad and an accomplice were seen running from a home in Waterloo. Chad was wearing a leather coat that he had stolen from the residence. They also had stolen a charging pad, cash, and tools from a truck parked outside. Lease found and arrested him in his mother's house. In the arrest, they found weed, panazepam, and Alprazol.

Starting point is 00:17:45 laminous possession. He was charged with possession, second-degree burglary, and third-degree theft, and held on a $40,000 bond. Two days later, on December 14th, Christy posted an image of a thin diamond band and commented, here's my pretty ring from my loving husband, Chad Little Love You. She said all of this while her love and husband was still locked up in jail. The next day she wrote in all caps, I really wish things get better in life. Live, laugh, and love, and always smile, even though you're down at this point. It get better hope and pray every day, every night to take all the wrongs and make it better in life to change all the wrongs to write. It's unclear how hoping and praying could ever change Gracie's senseless death and a wrong to write, but Christy seemed to think it was possible.

Starting point is 00:18:38 On January 5, 2016, she posted an old picture of Gracie with her brother and captioned it, these two write here the love of my life love you guys miss you baby girl on february 14th a few days before gracie's birthday she posted an image with text that read someday everything will make perfect sense so for now laugh at the confusion smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason christie should have stuck to posting these images as her own writing is painful to read out loud On April 13th, she posted two selfies along with a caption, Me All Smiles Today Feeling Great Today, Law. At the end of May, near the anniversary of Gracie's death,

Starting point is 00:19:23 she posted several pictures of Gracie and Isaiah posing together and smiling. Now, by this time, she was pregnant again and had moved out of Chad's house and in with her own parents in Holland, Iowa. Finally, in July, she admitted to police that Gracie never fell down the stairs. Christy was arrested on September 29th, 2016, and was charged with child endangerment causing death for doing nothing to stop Chad. Since she was pregnant, her attorney argued that she was not a flight risk and should be given a low bond or released altogether. The judge disagreed, citing reports that Christy seemed indifferent about her daughter's death. He said her attitude in the possible 50-year sentence she could face if found guilty made her a flight risk.

Starting point is 00:20:06 He set her bond at $75,000. Chad was arrested the next day and charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment. His bond was set for $1.1 million. Unable to make it, he remained in jail. A joint trial was scheduled for November of 2017, then rescheduled for October of 2018. It was delayed again because Christie had an undisclosed medical issue and also needed a new attorney. In the meantime, Chad moved to have his case severed from Christie's. His motion succeeded and after a few more motions, his trial,

Starting point is 00:20:38 was finally scheduled for May 1st, 2019, with Judge Joel Del Ripple presiding. That day, Chad limped into the courtroom holding his stomach. His attorney told the judge that his client was suffering from flu-like symptoms. Judge adjourned for the day and ordered jail officials to keep Chad on bed rest overnight. Trial began the next day on May 2nd. During opening arguments, Chad's attorney said the child endangerment charge was inappropriate because Chad was not a member of Gracie's household. Chad claimed that he never lived at the duplex, that he never planned to marry Christy,

Starting point is 00:21:11 and never referred to the kids as his son and daughter. The attorney also argued that no one was to blame for Gracie's death because she just accidentally fell down the stairs. Chad's mother and sister testified in his defense, claiming he always lived with them and not at the duplex. However, they also admitted that they let Christy move in after Gracie's death, which they found hard to explain without acknowledging the couple's relationship. Prosecutor Brian Williams asked them if they let Christy move in to help keep her

Starting point is 00:21:41 quiet and prevent her from telling the police what Chad did. But they said that wasn't the reason. Now Isaiah, now 15 years old at the time of the trial, testified about the CA he and Gracie experienced. He told the jury that Chad hit Gracie at least once a week hard enough to make her cry. He said Chad had told him that Gracie had fallen down the stairs that day, but the teen never saw her fall. Medical examiner Dr. Dennis Verchow performed Gracie's autopsy. He testified that her cause of death was blunt force injuries of the head. He said her injuries were consistent with CA, but he concluded her manner of death was undetermined because he was unable to definitively rule out an accident. During his testimony, Prosecutor Williams showed pictures of Gracie's injuries. She had bruises on her

Starting point is 00:22:30 face, chin, and deep scalp tissues along with fractured teeth. He had additional bruises. on her arms, legs, chest, back, and on our flanks. That is the sides of her belly between the ribs and hips. The bruises were all in various stages of healing, indicating they had occurred over weeks or even months. She had a subdural hematoma, soft tissue damage in her chest and neck, and bleeding in her mouth and in her eyes.

Starting point is 00:22:55 He also testified that she had a hippocampal sclerosis, which is a type of scar tissue or lesion in the brain that is often present with seizure disorders. He said, it would not surprise me if Gracie indeed had a seizure disorder. He pointed out that such a lesion could have been caused by repeated head trauma. Dr. Richard Olson, a pediatric optometrist, did an in-depth examination of the bleeding in Gracie's eyes. In her retinas, he found dozens, maybe 30 to 100, layers of small hemorrhages along with macular folds. In an accidental injury, he would expect to see no more than two or maybe,

Starting point is 00:23:34 four layers at the most. Categorized these findings as very rare and said they both suggested severe CA trauma and were not consistent with just a simple fall down the stairs. The defense's forensic pathologist Dr. Amy Grosjecki called Gracie's injuries mostly small little contusions that were not uncommon for four-year-old girls. She said that these retinal hemorrhages did not definitively indicate trauma. She said she couldn't rule out. an accidental fall. The most damning testimony came from Dr. Resmaye Oral who examined Gracie while she was in intensive care at University of Iowa Hospital. In addition to examining Gracie shortly after her injuries, she was also the director of the Child Protection Program at the hospital.

Starting point is 00:24:22 She noted the severe external injuries as well as deep, soft tissue injuries that Gracie suffered, and said those were not commonly seen in accidental falls. In particular, she said it would be very rare, to see a depressed skull fracture caused accidentally. It was much more likely the injuries occurred when her head was violently struck, causing forces to act upon her brain as well as multiple impact injuries to soft tissues. She said, I have never seen a four-year-old competent child injuring herself accidentally with the severity, this number and the size of the injuries that are seen on all planes of her body.

Starting point is 00:24:58 When asked if the numerous injuries could have been caused by an unbrace fall down the stairs, she replied, no, all those injuries didn't occur in one incident. The doctor agreed that repeated beatings to the head could have led to Gracie's seizure disorder. Although children could be born with epilepsy and other seizure disorders, it is not clear in this case whether she would have developed one

Starting point is 00:25:18 if Chad had not repeatedly hit her in the head and temple over the course of roughly eight months. During her testimony, Dr. Oral pointed out the old brown and yellow bruises on the toddler's right temple and compared them to the fresh injuries on her left temple. The fresher injuries were done. deep red and square shaped. When asked if the square mark could have been made by Chad's large ring, the one he slipped off and slid into his pocket, she said the ring did appear consistent with injury

Starting point is 00:25:42 on Gracie's temple. She also said that with timely medical intervention, Gracie could have survived. While prosecutor Williams said the ring evidence wasn't the end-all be-all of the case, he said Chad's evasive gesture was something jurors should consider when weighing the evidence. In May, Chad was found guilty of first-degree murder in child-endan The two charges were rolled together. In June, he was sentenced to life in prison. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Dalrymple said he was certain that Chad had murdered the little girl. He spoke of the many injuries Gracie suffered, and especially the square bruise on her temple saying, which I have no doubt as the judge who sat through this trial was inflicted by you

Starting point is 00:26:26 with the use of a ring I saw on your hand in two different bits of evidence. Chad never admitted that he hurt Gracie, but did offer the following half-baked apology, saying, I'm sorry for the family. It didn't just affect them. It affected the community. It affected my family. And I hope that someday the truth will come out

Starting point is 00:26:46 and the real person will get found with whatever they deserve. But I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart. During his hearing, he asked the judge to order the prison to continue administering Clinazepam for. for anxiety. He said that the last time he went to prison, they weaned him off his medication, causing him to get sick and putting him at risk for seizures. This request was denied. Gracie's brother wrote an impact statement addressed to Chad. Prosecutors read it on June 18th, 2019 at his sentencing hearing. In it, the teenager stood up

Starting point is 00:27:21 to the man who hurt him and took Gracie's life. It read, You have no control over me or power over me anymore. I've taken back all the ways you tried to control me. You can't use me anymore. You can't scare me anymore. And you can't hurt me anymore. I hate what you put me through. You did kill my sister.

Starting point is 00:27:44 But somehow, I found the courage in my heart to forgive you because it is the right thing to do, even if it hurts me a lot. Chad filed an appeal on April 14, 2021, but it was not successful, and the court affirmed his conviction. He was sent to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa. Since he was given a life sentence, he has no release date or parole hearing listed. On August 9, 2019, Christie pled guilty the reduced felony charges of CA resulting in severe injury, neglecting a dependent person and involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutor Williams considered a number of factors when negotiating the plea bargain.

Starting point is 00:28:23 He said, We believe that this is a reasonable resolution with a strong consideration of avoiding her biological son from the requirement that he testify, for lack of criminal history, the prospect of now the family, putting this behind them after what is just over four years. She was sentenced to 10 years for the CA, 10 years for neglect, and 5 years for manslaughter. She also agreed to pay $150,000 in restitution to her. daughter's estate. She was sentenced to a total of 25 years, and none of that time was to be served concurrently. Judge Dalrymple had harsh words for her, saying that when he heard what Chad had done to Gracie, she said, the whole time I'm thinking, where was the mom, what was going on, to say that

Starting point is 00:29:06 your behavior and lack of action was egregious as an understatement. I think the consecutive sentences are appropriate. Chrissy was sent to the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville, Iowa. She was not released. at her last parole hearing on July 5th, 2023. Her tentative release date is set for February 9th, 2028, if she is not paroled sooner. Despite the judge's intentions, it seems she will serve less than 10 years behind bars for her part in her daughter's death. Despite searching, you could not find any information about Chrissy's pregnancy while in jail. If she did carry the baby to term, at least we know she doesn't have custody of it since she's still incarcerated.

Starting point is 00:29:46 The money raised for Gracie's medical bills was used for her funeral. Her family held a small private ceremony, and she was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Waterloo. Her grave is decorated with the image of a teddy bear on a swing, under the phrase, playing in God's Garden. At the bottom of the plaque, it simply reads, daughter of Christy, sister of Isaiah.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Gracie Buss

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