Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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Three detectives from the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office traveled to Georgia Tuesday night to serve extradition papers for a felony child abuse charge on the mother, Nancy A. Kasera, 38, of National Highway. Kasera waived extradition to go back to Davidson County Wednesday morning.
According to a Troup County press release, at 9:16 p.m. on Sunday night, deputies responded to the LaGrange Travel Center in response to a call from the mother who stated one of her two children in her Nissan Altima was in medical distress. The mother said to the 911 telecommunicator that her daughter wasn’t breathing, and she was currently giving CPR to her 11 year old, whose name is Nicole.
“The deputy checked the neck of the young girl and he did not get a pulse,” Turner said. “At that time, he was going to turn her face so he could look at her face. She was stiff and he knew she had been dead for some time. He asked the mother to have a seat in his patrol car.”
Turner said the girl was wearing a big jacket, and after another deputy arrived, his officers looked at the girl’s wrist “and saw old and new injuries around her wrist on both arms.
“It appeared she had been bound and tied up before,” the Troup County sheriff said. “At that point, the first flag went up that something was completely wrong.”
The girl was taken to LaGrange’s local hospital, where the coroner and an investigator found numerous abuse marks on the child, Turner said. Troup County authorities believe the young girl might have been dead for 12 to 24 hours from the time they received the call.
The other daughter, 8-year-old Natalie, who has been placed with the Troup County Division of Family and Children’s Services, had no injuries, Turner said.
When asked why the mother might have possibly treated one of her daughters one way and the other differently, the Troup County Sheriff said, “She wouldn’t tell us anything and wanted a lawyer.”
At 3 a.m. Monday morning, Troup County authorities contacted the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office to do a search of the residents at 1532 National Highway. According to Grice, at 4 p.m. on Monday, his deputies conducted a search that ended at 5 a.m. the following morning.
Due to the ongoing investigation, Grice would not comment any further on the search of the house. He did say that officers are interviewing the owner of the Nissan Altima because it was a borrowed vehicle.
A search warrant, including photos of the autopsy, has been sealed from public view, Clerk of Davidson County Superior Court Brian Shipwash said. Superior Court Judge Mark Klass signed an order to seal the document.
This isn’t the first time Kasera has been in trouble with the law.
According to Davidson County records, Kasera was charged on April 15, 2006, with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse for leaving her two daughters home alone. At that time her daughters where age 9 and 6. Shipwash confirmed the children were found naked and wandering the neighborhood as the court record reads.
Thomasville attorney Michael D. Lea was Kasera’s attorney in a case where Judge Jimmy Myers gave Kasera a prayer for judgment, requiring that she pay court fines and stay out of trouble with the law for six months, Shipwash said. An attempt to reach Lea was unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon.
In November 2006, Kasera had to go back to court because she did not pay her court fine on time. She did, however, pay the fine and stayed out of trouble for six months. In March 2007, Lea requested the charges of misdemeanor child abuse be dismissed against his client. His argument was that she had paid the court cost and not committed a criminal violation. Shipwash said Judge Wayne Michael signed for the dismissal to be approved.
While Georgia authorities have ruled the death to be a homicide, Grice said Davidson County officials are not ready to draw homicide warrants yet because they have to prove it in court. Turner said all of the evidence has been turned over to Davidson County authorities.
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.