S17 E4: Pure Evil
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Later in June, his ex-girlfriend, she wrote me, I saw the news. I am so sorry for what happened to baby Jace. If there is anything I can do, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm praying for your family and for justice to finally be served. They didn't do anything to him when he beat my daughter. So I am praying that they do it for your nephew. Again, my condolences to you and your family. Please keep me updated on the case. My prayers are with you. Stay strong. It's going to be hard, but with God on your side, you can do it.

Then I replied to her, "Thank you. I'm sure you know that Cody and his friends have been attacking me and my family since this happened. It's been hard to just miss Jace because of all that. When I asked you what happened, it was hard because it was exactly what Cody told Leslie you said happened, but it was still his word against yours." He offered to get proof from the police and DHS that he was innocent.

I'm supposedly in the process of doing that. I'm sure you know he is a convincing liar. I knew he was not a good person, but I did not imagine he would kill Jace. My biggest regret is not doing more. It's hard hearing now that it is my or my sister's fault for knowing there was something off about him, but still letting him be around Jace. I know you don't owe me anything, but if you talk to the press now, can you please keep the focus on Cody being the bad guy?

I really think he is a psychopath. That is the only way I can reason out how he told so many lies and got so many people to believe him. Anyway, I'm very glad that your daughter is okay, and I hope that there will finally be justice for her as well as Jay's.

And then she replied, "His family is going to give you all hell." A news reporter contacted me and I talked to them and told them what a terrible person Cody is. I will do whatever I can to make sure that he is punished for what he's done. I've been wondering about you and your sister ever since you contacted me. I just wish that there was more that could have been done. I blame myself for what happened to Jace.

I was terrified of him when he hurt my daughter and the threats and all of the things that he did. I wish I had stood up to him so he would have been put away. I wish I could have done more to get your sister away from him. I want you to know that I support you all 1000%. The reason I decided to talk to the news is because people need to know about him. And if there are other victims out there, maybe they'll come forward.

I know by doing this, it will help your sister and me and he will get put away. I have a feeling things are going to get bad for me for speaking out, but my family has been supportive. I haven't slept since I found out what happened,

but I feel like all of this will be worth the outcome of a monster being put in jail. I will tell you that when he hurt my daughter, I got a misdemeanor charge of failure to protect. So I hope that does not happen to your sister. If you need any help or need someone to listen, and then she gave her phone number.

We became what felt like really close with the prosecutors. They were a big support and it felt like they really wanted to honor Jace and wanted justice for him. The district attorneys were awesome. They were badasses and did a great job.

One thing that stays with me during this time of preparing for the trial is the conversation I had with the DA one day. She had always been very supportive of myself and my family, and this was the only time where I felt like I could sense her questioning my motives, and it really stuck with me all these years. It was the way that she was looking at me more than anything. It was just her and I in a room. She didn't understand why I took the time and printed out all the text messages I had had between Cody and I, and she asked me why I had done this.

I wanted to make sure they had everything in case there was anything they could use in the trial. It wasn't until recently that I was able to admit to myself that my real motive behind this was I needed them to see, not just by my own testimony, how he controlled me, the things he said, the way he used his words, etc.,

He was clearly a monster by his actions, but I needed to also somehow vindicate myself that that's not how he portrayed himself to me. He wasn't always this monster with me, and I wouldn't purposely choose to be with a monster. It was a way of trying to rid myself of the guilt at that time. The DA did her job well and treated everyone with respect. She never came at us with accusations. Sure, she thought I should have made better decisions, joined the club, but she knew who the guilty party was.

In a case like this, you're looking for jurors to understand the law. It's really not hard. When you think of murder, most people think of taking a gun and shooting somebody with the intent to kill them. It's that whole malice of forethought that is you have that intent to kill. With child abuse murder, the state doesn't have to prove that. We didn't have to prove that he had the intent to kill Jace.

only that he purposefully did the actions that he did. He purposely picked up Jace and shook him, whatever that blunt force trauma was. He hit him with enough force to cause those bruises. And so that's what we have to prove, that he intentionally did those acts or perpetrated those acts upon Jace, not that he had the intent to kill him. So when you're picking a jury, you want to find the ones that are

are able to understand that, but you're also at the same time, it's more of weeding out the ones that don't fit than trying to find the ones that do fit because you're talking to a group of, and I may mess up the numbers, but roughly they may have called up anywhere between 45 and 60 people into the courtroom itself. But then in front of us,

when we're picking that jury, if I'm remembering right, we only had maybe roughly 25 that we were talking to at one time. And so in that group of 25, the court's asking them, where do you work? Are you married? Do you have any kids? What do you do for a living? Those sort of things. And then from there, obviously the ones that have children are the ones that

would stand out to us as the ones that we would want on there because they're going to understand that bond and they're going to understand that is not okay. You don't hurt your children. The teachers are the ones that usually will understand and comprehend the complicated nature of a parent's love. And then when I say the flip side of that is you're kind of weeding out the ones that are

just so far out there. I mean, we have the ones that will tell us they don't believe that we've landed on the moon. I don't remember particularly in this case, but one case I've had, I had a guy tell me that he full on believed that there was an alien living in the cabinets in his kitchen.

You also weed out the ones that for whatever reason, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but for whatever reason, they have a moral or ethical dilemmas about passing judgment on others. There are some that just flat out say, I cannot and will not pass judgment. I don't care what the court orders me to do. I cannot do it. To put it black and white, that's what you're doing in a jury is you are deciding whether or not the state met its burden of proof.

And then you are passing judgment as to this person's, whether they're guilty or not guilty, and then handing down a recommendation for punishment. You also want to find out those that are not willing to do that for whatever reason, and

And so it's kind of a mixture of finding those that the state believe does fit this case and will be a good juror for this case versus the ones that it's not good for them to be a juror, period. Every juror brings their own personal opinions and their own life experiences. Here's Officer Kathy Still.

That honestly was the first time I'd ever seen the jury selection because typically as a police officer, when you're involved in a case, they sequester you, which means you can't see or be a part of any other part of the criminal case except your testimony because they don't want to sway your testimony based on something you might see or hear from other witnesses. So actually getting to sit in on that, one, it was tedious. It was so unbelievably tedious, but it's a very important, probably one of the

the most important parts of any jury trial because you're vetting out people. There were so many different things and questions that they would ask and I would be like, why are you asking that? The

The prosecutor wants to get people on the jury that are going to look at this with an open mind and listen to everything that all the witnesses, including the doctors, and sometimes the medical testimony can get pretty complicated and make a rational decision about it. Whereas the defense attorney, they're looking for people that are going to be empathetic to Cody and whatever his defense or his story that he had. It's kind of a game of cat and mouse in a weird sort of way.

Who can pick the most people that are going to be on their side or who they think are going to be on their side? But you really don't know because you have all these people sitting in this pool, men and women, all different ages, races, backgrounds, socioeconomic backgrounds, and

And you got to ask questions to figure out, have they had bad experiences with the police? Have they had bad medical experiences that would make them not want to believe doctors? Have they had something in their life that could affect them making a decision based on just this evidence of the case? During jury selection, they were asked about child abuse cases and if they thought they'd be willing to give a fair decision based on the evidence. So they knew ahead of time what kind of case it was.

A lot of the questions that I was asked as far as the jurors was if I knew or recognized any of them, knew them personally, because that could obviously have an impact.

The judge is always looking, they want to have a completely fair trial. The defendant deserves a fair trial. I mean, that is their constitutional right, obviously. During that selection, the defense and the prosecution each get to eliminate a certain amount. And then they come up with the final pool of the people that are left. It was an interesting experience for me seeing that side because I had never sat on a jury myself being a police officer. If we

We get called down for jury selection. They always just kick us out. It was definitely interesting to see that process. And to be honest, I don't ever want to sit through it again, though. February 2012, the murder trial for my son finally took place.

First of all, can I say how crazy it is to utter those words? This naive Christian girl that didn't have a whole lot of life experience is now going through a murder trial. I wasn't allowed to sit through the trial because I would be testifying and that was pretty hard for me. I wanted to know and hear everything. I need details, but I just had to be patient and wait. I was blessed to be able to get a copy of the trial transcript to read what happened during the trial.

I remember Sarah and I had talked about how we wanted to do it. And at this time, I guess it's probably prudent to know Ms. McCamus is hands down one of the best prosecutors in Primes Against Children. I mean, she taught at a national level. I credit everything that I know now to that woman. She was an amazing teacher to me that has allowed me to continue and do what I do now.

She and I had talked about, and I remember her saying in opening, there is no reason for us to hold anything back to this jury. There are some cases where maybe you have this little nugget of evidence that will get that jury to where they need to be to find that defendant guilty.

There was nothing that we needed to hang on to or some little nugget that we wanted to hold on to and not tell the jury right out of the gate. I remember Sarah said, we're just, we're going to tell the whole story. I mean, she laid it out. She started out saying that Jace was just this loving, happy person.

sweet little boy. I remember her calling him a miracle baby several times and laid down the groundwork of this day. He was just this beautiful, happy little boy. And then the next day he's in a hospital bed in critical condition. And I just remember her saying, if you want to know what happened to Jace, I'll tell you he was murdered. This defendant murdered him. And then she, she laid out the story of

what Cody had done before to what Leslie knew and didn't know. And the stuff that she looked past because he was able to manipulate her into thinking he was okay to this is what you're going to hear from these doctors. They are going to explain to you exactly what Jason's little body went through.

She laid it out and told that story to the jury of exactly what their week was going to entail. I remember looking at the jury and it was almost like some of them were already heartbroken after Sarah's opening statement. Here's Officer Kathy Still.

I remember the opening statements. You get into the details of the case and you start seeing the pictures and you start putting a face to the names. The witnesses start testifying. It was difficult for a lot of the jurors. I can remember two or three at least crying on several occasions. Some even looking really angry. Some of the men I remember got just angry and they would watch Cody and his reactions. A lot of times they weren't even watching whoever was testifying. They were watching Cody.

Leslie and I were not allowed to be in the trial because we both were called to testify, which didn't feel great. But there were a lot of people that did go to the trial. We had a lot of family and a lot of friends that were at every day. They weren't allowed to tell us about it, but we knew generally like who had testified and things like that.

Here's Leslie's best friend and fellow NICU nurse, Lauren. The first day of court, when it all started, by the time you get there, it's long awaited. And you just want justice. I remember feeling anxious because you're about to have to hear a bunch of evidence and see pictures again. We're going to have to hear the 911 call, which I had heard, like,

like once or twice, it's awful. You're nervous about that. You so badly want him convicted and put away for life. And you're like, oh my God, what if something goes wrong? Or the what ifs and you're scared, like what if he didn't get convicted? There's so many emotions and you just want justice so bad.

This is very emotional, of course, you know, watching Leslie be scared and have emotions. And she's scared too for her life at this point. Very heightened emotions. I do remember this. Leslie's attorney, I really enjoyed her, but she came out. I don't remember what she said, but I remember feeling like, wow, it felt so powerful.

In the opening statements of Jace's trial, District Attorney McCamus explained the charges. Count 1 Cody Keith Sarton, between June 12, 2010 and June 13, 2010, in Tulsa County, state of Oklahoma, and within the jurisdiction of this court, did commit the crime of child abuse murder in the first degree.

a felony by unlawfully, feloniously, and willfully using unreasonable force upon Jace Burgess, who was born on June 5, 2007, and who was three years old at the time, thereby causing a subdural hematoma, which ultimately caused Jace Burgess to languish and die on June 16,

2010. Contrary to the form of the statutes in such cases made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the state, to this charge the defendant has pled not guilty and places the burden of proof upon the state of Oklahoma. And that's the burden of proof which we gladly accept.

On June 12, 2010, Jace Burgess was a happy, healthy, normal three-year-old boy. He had just turned three seven days before, and he did all the things that three-year-old boys do. He loved to laugh, he loved to jump, he loved to run, and he loved to play. Every day was a new adventure for him.

On June 13, 2010, Jace Burgess was at St. Francis Hospital in critical, critical condition. Jace Burgess' brain was so badly injured that it was bleeding and swelling. He could not breathe on his own, and doctors had to put him on a ventilator. The doctors had to rush him to emergency brain surgery. Jace Burgess was covered in bruises.

He had a huge bruise on the front of his head, a huge bruise on the back of his neck. His ears were covered in bruises. His face had bruising. His shoulder had bruising. His chest had bruising. His legs had bruising. The doctors did everything that they could for Jace, but he was too badly hurt. He was too badly injured, and there wasn't anything more that they could do. On June 16, 2010, Jace was declared dead.

So what happened to Jace? How did he go from a laughing, happy, healthy three-year-old little boy to so badly injured and covered in bruises that he died?

Jace Burgess was murdered. He was murdered by the defendant. The defendant was a man who was supposed to love Jace and supposed to protect Jace and supposed to be taking care of Jace. But instead, the defendant abused him so bad that he killed him. To understand what happened to Jace, we have to go back in time and we have to talk about his short life.

Jace was a miracle baby. When he was first born, he was born very prematurely at 25 weeks. He was only a pound and a half. And even though it may not sound like it, given his start in the world, Jace really was a lucky little baby because the neonatal intensive care unit, the NICU that he was born into,

and that he would spend months at because he was so little and so early, had some really good doctors, and had some really good nurses. One of those nurses was Leslie Burgess. As a NICU nurse, it is Leslie's job to take care of these tiny little fragile babies. So day after day, Leslie took care of Jace. And day after day after day after day, Leslie saw that Jace had no one.

Jace had no family. And day after day after day after day of taking care of this tiny, really sick little baby, Leslie began to develop a bond with him. And she began to fall in love with him. And she wanted to give this little boy, who had no one, she wanted to give him a family. Leslie took him home and she became his mother. And she loved him. And that little boy flourished.

That little boy went from a little baby that nobody gave a chance to, to a happy, healthy, three-year-old little boy. And when Leslie adopted Jace and she became his mother, she was in her late 20s and was single, and so she became a single parent to him. She wanted a family, and she wanted to give Jace a father.

Leslie will tell you that the defendant said all the right things and did all the right things. And she really thought he was the man for her. And she really thought he was going to be a father for Jace. But in that four-month time period, Jace went from having a happy, healthy, loving, safe home to a home where he was repeatedly abused.

But every time he convinced her, every time he explained it away, he'd never had any injuries that were big until the defendant became involved in his life. And on that day of June 12th, it was a normal day. It was a family day. It was a happy day. Leslie will tell you that they woke up that morning and Jace crawled into bed with her and snuggled. They all went that day to the animal shelter. They were looking at puppies and everything was great.

Leslie will tell you that that evening at dinnertime, she took Jace over to her sister Stacy's house for a little dinner party. And you will hear from the people who were there at that dinner party. They will tell you that Jace was fine. No bruises, no injuries. He was eating, he was smiling. He was laughing, and he was playing with the other kids.

Leslie was going to work that night, the night shift at the NICU. It would be the first time that she was ever going to leave Jace alone with the defendant for the entire night. And as it turned out, it was the last time.

So they get ready to leave the dinner party and Jace says goodbye to his Aunt Stacy and Leslie takes him back home. She gives him a bath. She puts his PJs on. They say their prayers. And Leslie tucks her son into bed. It would be the very last time that she ever saw him awake and alive. Leslie will tell you that when she went to work and that while she was at work, the defendant tells her Jace fell out of bed.

She wasn't worried about it because he had fallen out of bed before. But then at one o'clock in the morning, Leslie got the call that would forever change her life. Hurry home. Something's happened to Jace.

In the meantime, the defendant had called 911. You will hear that 911 call. You will hear on that call, as the defendant tells 911, Jace isn't breathing. The first responder on the scene, a fireman from the Tulsa Fire Department, has responded to all kinds of 911 calls, all kinds of emergency situations. He's very experienced at this type of thing, and he will tell you that as soon as he walked into that residence, he

He knew it was bad. And he will tell you that as soon as he walked in, he knew something wasn't right. And he will tell you that when he walked in, the defendant was fully dressed, the lights were on, and the defendant was telling him he fell out of his toddler bed. And that's not where Jace was. Jace was in the defendant's bed.

As soon as Jay shows up at the hospital with his massive brain injury and covered in bruises, of course, law enforcement is called. But there is so much more to this case, because it turns out that this is not the first child to have suffered a brain injury and an eye injury and bruising all over their body while in the care of the defendant. This is the second case.

Because back in 2002, the defendant was involved in a relationship with a woman. She had a daughter. When she started dating the defendant, they very quickly became serious. They only dated for a few months. And he moved in right before her baby ended up in the hospital in critical condition. From there, her condition is so serious that she's metaflighted to the children's hospital in Oklahoma City.

For whatever reason, the Payne County District Attorney's Office did not file charges against the defendant in 2002. You will see pictures in this case. You will hear about this baby's brain injury and Jace's brain injury. You will hear about the other baby's eye injury and Jace's eye injury. You will hear about the bruises on Cody's ex's baby's face and the bruises on Jace's face.

and you will see pictures of her ears and Jace's ears.

The evidence, however, that you're going to be hearing relating to this former event is allowed by the court not for the purpose of demonstrating the guilt or innocence of the defendant for the specific charges in the information, but this evidence is being received by you solely on the issue of the defendant's alleged common scheme or plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or absence of accident."

The evidence should be considered by you only for that limited purpose or for those limited purposes. I anticipate that the defense in this case will be that the defendant is wrongfully accused and he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Twice. If you count the first time Jace's ears were bruised, three times. Count the times Jace's arms were hurt, four times.

It's a long trial. It's a difficult trial. There's a lot for you to hear. I simply ask that you listen carefully to all the evidence that's presented, all of the testimony that's presented, and to look at all the pictures that you're going to have to look at.

At the end of this trial, I'm going to come back to you and I'm going to ask you to find the defendant guilty for murdering Jace Alexander Burgess. And you are going to have all of the evidence that you need to do just that. Thank you.

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I kind of felt like I almost relaxed a little bit more after that as far as just being scared of the unknown, because I'd never been in a trial like that before. That was my first one. So I didn't know what to expect. But I remember thinking it felt, her words felt very powerful.

At times it was so emotional in that courtroom. Of course, anytime you're talking about a kid and you just look at Cody and he's just so empty. The only time he showed emotions was when he was pretending he was sick. Other than that, it was just like, you're reliving all this stuff and he's over there. I wouldn't say it looks like he didn't care, but it was almost like there was no life in him. Almost like, are we done with this yet? Yeah.

I really feel like it sealed the deal whenever his ex got on the stand and talked about her story. Because you're just like, I mean, there's just not coincidences like that. Leslie's attorney had me very impressed. I really felt like she was able to relate on an emotional level and not like just do her job. But she very much cared for who Jace was and the boy he was. And you could feel that. You could feel that in everything she said personally.

In this particular case, we didn't have a confession from Cody. So it was very important for the prosecutors to establish that through the medical examiner and through the doctors that treated Jace. His injury was so significant that it had to have happened within a certain very short period of time before he showed up at the hospital. And part of my involvement and probably one of the most crucial things during my investigation and interviews with Cody was that he was the only one with Jace from about,

7 p.m. that the night on the 12th until 1.30 in the morning on the 13th when 911 was called. By his own statements, nobody else was there. It was just he and Jace. It made that part, as far as narrowing down the timeline, a very crucial part of the investigation since we didn't have a confession. But the trial itself, it's so stressful and so exhausting, but so oddly rewarding. Basically, it's kind of like a puzzle. The

The prosecutor's putting together this puzzle and they want to do it as fluidly as possible and as chronologically as possible to where everybody can understand the timeline of events. Here's DA Callie Strain.

Cody Sarton was, I remember through the whole trial, he didn't even figure out how to describe him. He was just so partly arrogant, but fake at the same time. He would fake seizures, telling the court that he had seizures. And so the trial would get pushed off for an hour or so. And he would fake other little illnesses to try and push stuff off. And

He was just so manipulative, I guess is the right word. He was able to manipulate the mother, his first victim, getting her to believe that nothing was wrong for a long time. With the help of Detective Still, we're all able to find that

He had abused a child previously. The bruisings to the ears were looking on the outside in, obviously a red flag. Babies don't get bruises on their ears like that. That is almost every single time indicative of abuse.

matching up the bruises that he had placed on that previous baby to the bruises he had put on Jace's ears. Case-wise and evidentiary-wise, we were able to put forth to the jury, this is not an accident. This is who he is. He abuses children. He abuses babies.

Being able to match up his pattern of abuse over and over again was just a great evidentiary path that we had and were able to lay out for that jury to see and fully understand who Cody Sarton is. He is just a...

arrogant, manipulative, selfish human being that tragically Jace came in contact with. And that first baby came in contact with and the worst possible outcome happened to Jace. What breaks my heart more than anything about this case is thinking about what was going through Jace's mind when Cody was hurting him like that.

What look on Cody's face did Jace see? What did he have to hear Cody telling him? That's the part that breaks my heart more than anything is what did poor Jace have to see and have to hear? And how terrified did that little boy have to be in those moments?

And that lays out who Cody Sarton is. Anybody that abuses a baby or a child is just hands down, not a good person. These babies, these children, they're so, they're so innocent. I mean, Jason just turned three. This whole world at this point is,

Hearing mommy say, I love you and trying to learn ABCs and maybe learning that his name starts with a J and learning colors, wanting to see a proving loving smile from his mother. That's what these kids are about. This is their world to go from that little miracle baby to being in that moment of literally his whole world, his whole life is crashing down.

That's what terrifies me and that's what breaks my heart more than anything is thinking about those last moments. And I'm sure that Leslie has probably thought about that over and over and again. That's what I remember about Cody Sarton. I will never forget the look he had on his face during trial.

It was just a look of arrogance and no remorse, none. And it just was almost pure evil that we were looking at. Here's Lauren. I attended the trial every single day. To go through all the evidence and it was so hard and so painful to sit there and have to hear that. Leslie's having to relive that. The whole family, her sister, her mom, she had a bunch of us there to support her as far as friends.

And Cody, of course, being the selfish person he is, was doing like these theatrical shows in court to basically stall it or have it canceled for the day.

It was so ridiculous. He would pretend he was sick to the point where the judge was like, the trial is going to continue with or without you. He had the nurse, I guess the nurse from the jail assess him every morning. And she was like, yeah, he's fine to go. And of course, he'd still try to like act like he was sick when he was in there and he would make these loud noises. It was just so attention seeking and mind fuckery is what he was trying to do, but it didn't work.

It was just so evident and all the evidence was pointing to him and he just kept trying to distract the court. It was ridiculous. He really didn't have a leg to stand on. Here's Leslie and Stephanie's aunt, Dominique.

Cody coming in the courtroom in a wheelchair, trying to get sympathy from the jurors. That was disgusting. And these little coughing fits or fits where he was passing out or something and had to be escorted from the courtroom and taken care of. It was just gross, all of it.

At some point, I had spoken with somebody, it must have been a witness, who was in the back with Cody and the judge and whoever else that said as soon as he'd get back there, he'd get out of his wheelchair. And then at one point when court was about to start again, he was standing up just fine and walking just fine and looking at himself in the mirror to make sure he looked okay and then sat in his wheelchair to get wheeled into the courtroom. I don't understand how that can even take place.

I remember the DA telling me he is one of the most manipulative people she has ever encountered. First of all, he came into the courtroom in a wheelchair. He had never needed a wheelchair and could walk just fine. This was a ploy by the defense to gain sympathy from the jury and make him look like a weak man.

They started the trial by discussing what happened to the baby of the ex-girlfriend he was involved with previously. You know, the baby he heroically saved, whose mother was an abuser and incapable of being a mother. It makes me so sick to think how he twisted this and used this to reel me in and was one of the reasons I was even with him. The true story of what happened to this baby is eerily almost identical to mine.

The investigator testified that both Cody and his ex-girlfriend were at the hospital. Neither of them went in the ambulance. Not even the baby went in an ambulance. They did not call 911. They got a ride from a neighbor and took the baby to the hospital. Cody was interviewed at the hospital and the sheriff's office. The investigator testified that Cody said he was playing some kind of video game and he had tried to give the baby some milk or juice, trying to keep her quiet, but the baby started gagging and coughing like she didn't want it. So he stopped trying.

He said he checked on the baby and she was still fussy, but it was okay. And he went back to playing his video games. The mother came out of the bathroom to see if everything was okay. And they discovered the child was unresponsive.

Both he and the mother were interviewed at the sheriff's office, and both of them provided written statements regarding the events of the day. It was staffed with the DA's office, but because they couldn't determine which one did it, no charges were filed. The prosecution also submitted text messages from my phone, where he told me he had come home from work and found the baby unresponsive. Cody was not working. He had no job. That was another lie they proved.

Cody's ex-girlfriend, who we will be calling Samantha for the purposes of this podcast, testified on the first day of Cody's trial.

In the beginning, she's asked if she had ever seen Cody in a wheelchair, to which she replied no.

She goes on to testify that the day of her daughter's trauma, only she, Cody, and her daughter were at home. Her six-month-old daughter was in generally good spirits and was sitting in a baby bouncer watching Cody play a racing video game. Samantha went into the bathroom and while she was there, she heard her daughter, quote, start coughing like she was getting choked on something. So she went to check on her and Cody was holding her, trailing

trying to give her a bottle of milk or juice or something, and apparently she didn't want it, so she didn't think anything of it because that was common, end quote. When Samantha came out of the bathroom, her daughter was, quote, back in her little seat, and she was laying there, wasn't moving or anything. She looked like her eyes were rolling back, her breathing was really shallow, so I picked her up, and she was just non-responsive.

She picked her up and, quote, ran out the front door and got help from the neighbor, end quote. The defendant remained in the living room the whole time. Neither the defendant or Samantha called 911. An ambulance never responded to their apartment because they had not been called. The next-door neighbor drove them to the hospital.

According to Samantha, after hospital staff saw and diagnosed the six-month-old's injuries, the Department of Human Services, quote, had taken her into custody when I took her to the hospital. I had to go to court before she was released from the hospital. I went to court several times for failure to protect. I had to do a treatment plan, end quote.

When DA McCamus asked Samantha why she didn't end her relationship with Cody, she replied, "...because when they kept saying that she was hurt like that, I just thought, you're wrong. There's no way. I'm always around her. I've never seen anybody hurt her. This is my kid. This doesn't happen to her. And I just kept thinking that they're wrong. There's got to be some other reason why this happened."

Samantha goes on that she went to court on November 12th of 2003 and the judge said that her daughter could come home and that following Monday, Samantha picked her up.

Then in May of 2004, the case was closed and dismissed. According to court documents, Samantha soon after left Cody, and after that she sought an emergency protective order which was granted. Then she was granted a final protective order. Eventually, Samantha received custody of her daughter again.

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An expert pediatrician at the Children's Hospital, who is also a full-time faculty member at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, testified in Cody's trial. He stated that the symptoms of shaken baby syndrome are never caused by normal parameters of parenting. And if they were, quote, "...none of us would ever have survived to adulthood. We would all be dead." End quote.

He also testified that injuries were consistent with an abusive head trauma that would never result from a fall from a bed. According to this pediatrician, they wouldn't even generally result from a two- or three-story fall. The same physician had the chance to review Samantha's daughter's injuries at the hospital.

When reviewing her injuries, he could see that she had both, quote, an old subdural bleed in her brain and a new subdural bleed in her brain. She also had retinal hemorrhages in her eyes, as well as damage to her skull consistent with an impact.

She also had bruising along the angle of her jaw and bruising on both of her cheeks, the external parts of her ears, her abdomen, her knee, and her left shoulder. They had officially diagnosed her with abusive head trauma.

The testifying doctor was handed images of Jace's injuries, which he had also reviewed prior to the legal proceedings. Then, DA McCamus asked, "When you reviewed these photographs of particular injuries to Jace Burgess, are they significant when you compare them to the particular injuries you saw in Samantha's daughter?" The physician replied, "Absolutely. They're the same."

DA McCamus replied, The physician goes on to state that most of both children's injuries are caused by abuse in 95% of cases. The DA then asks whether perpetrators often use similar means or patterns of abuse against different victims. The

The expert physician replies, yes, we certainly have known over the years that any given individual that may abuse a child, that whatever it is about that child that sets them off is going to set off different people in different manners. However, that one individual responding to other kids is going to respond to other kids in a similar manner.

The medical examiner testified that with a severe injury that causes this amount of brain swelling, there would be an almost immediate loss of consciousness. The body begins to shut down as the brain swells. They would not be acting normally. And the part that haunts me is he reported that ear bruising, as in these cases, is a well-recognized pattern of abuse. And 95% of the ear bruising he sees in kids this age have been physically abused. So it's a big marker for child abuse.

We saw multiple healthcare professionals looking at Jace's ears and no one took action. I attribute that to a lack of training within the pediatric healthcare professions regarding child abuse and specifically what to look out for and the stigma or fear of reporting. One of the main reasons why no one called DHS or I wasn't investigated is

was because of how much I took him to the doctor. And no healthcare professional ever brought up concerns of abuse. Except for the ER physician, when I took Jace to the ER that night and I noticed the bruising on his ears. He wrote in his notes, in the official medical record, it would appear like the patient was slapped simultaneously on bilateral sides of the head.

No bruising other than that to the auricles, no petechiae or purple to the body. He said he was confident that I would take him to the physician's office the next day and at 1.30 a.m. it's difficult to engage the Department of Human Services.

I find this mind-boggling. Anyone who works in a hospital knows that a social worker is on call 24/7 for these types of situations. He knows how to call a DHS hotline to report abuse. We literally have yearly training on this that every employee in the hospital has to do. I would think an ER physician is especially familiar with this because of the number of cases of child abuse and domestic abuse that comes through the ER. What it boils down to is he was lazy and didn't want to deal with it. Unacceptable.

I did ask the DA if they thought I should pursue legal action against him, and she said that because I had taken Jace to the doctor so much and no one suspected or reported anything that she didn't think they would find him liable. The fact that he also worked at the same hospital as I did added another layer, so I decided not to pursue that. I took him to the doctor over every illness or injury I was concerned about. I had taken him to three physicians over the years.

We were at doctor's offices regularly just due to his prematurity and chronic health problems. I even asked the pediatrician's office if I should be concerned about Jace's love-hate relationship with Cody because I didn't want to cause Jace any issues with this new relationship.

I can only hope there's been a change in this since 2010 with more education. Now, don't get me wrong. I would have been mortified to be reported to social services considering my background and profession and the opinion people had of me. But if only someone would have. There is no way I would have stayed with him over losing my child. I would have given my life to keep Jace. There are so many times when I should have left. It shouldn't have had to come to a report to social services. But I can't go back and change any of that now.

After the physician's testimony, the prosecution called to the stand Peggy Burgess, Stacey and Leslie's mother. Peggy speaks to the joy of being Jace's grandma, as well as the effort it took to care for him before Cody entered his life.

in terms of medication, therapy, and more. She explained Jace as, quote, determined. He conquered everything he needed to conquer just in his own time. And it was amazing to watch it happen. She goes on to state that in regards to Cody, quote, there were things I was hearing from Leslie that I didn't like, and I didn't feel like he was right for her. I just had an intuition. I tried and tried to like him, but every time I would be around him,

Peggy goes on to testify about the day Jace was admitted to the hospital and endures a light cross-examination with only a few simple questions.

Next, it was Leslie's sister, Stacey's turn. Stacey began by speaking on her relationship with Jace. She shared that he, quote, got confused by, I love you too, and I love you so much, and changed it to, I love you too much. So that was their little thing that they said to each other. She also speaks to Jace's injuries that she saw developing over the months during her sister's relationship with Cody.

Stacey goes on to state that she had never seen Cody hurt Jace, but she had seen Jace, quote, acting afraid of Cody, end quote, and crying as a reaction to Cody's presence.

On cross-examination, Stacey is asked if she has ever witnessed Cody abuse Jace, to which she replied no. When prodded about regrets, Stacey said, quote, I wish I had called DHS. I wish I had laid down in front of the door and not let Cody back in. I wish I had let Jace spend the night at my house that night. I wish I had done things different, end quote.

His attorney, I'm pretty sure I could have done a better job than she did. We had assumed their defense the whole time would be to point fingers at me and say that I was the lonely spinster who wanted revenge on her sister for being happy. That's what I was expecting them to ask me about. But they didn't. His attorney didn't ask me anything. The most important testimony was by the physician who was with the child abuse pediatric team that worked with the Justice Center.

Imagining the terror Jace went through that night is unbearable and breaks me into a million pieces. I can only pray he lost consciousness immediately and didn't feel any more pain. But again, I'll never know.

The defense attorney, when she asked this physician what happened to Jace, he said, Jace's injuries, including the swelling, the bleeding in the brain, this type of injury is secondary to blunt head trauma. So something striking the head, causing again that primary injury of contact and then inertial injury with the secondary injuries of the neurons dying, the brain swelling and brain death.

His head was struck by an object. He suffered from abusive head trauma, and that was the cause of his death. I imagine the courtroom was silent. The lead detective on the case was next.

So much of the trial was just a blur. I was so focused on my part in it, even though I was sitting in there and I was listening. I remember it being really emotional, especially for Leslie. Obviously, there were a few times I teared up. The judge had warned us, we can't do these things. But it's hard not to get emotional when you're hearing and seeing some of the stuff that they're presenting, especially on this case, that it was just difficult. I knew this case forward, backwards. I

I knew parts of the case that I thought the defense might question why I did this instead of this or why didn't you do that? And so I thought I was prepared for all of it. I was on the stand for hours. I want to say probably four or five hours I was on the stand, but not that entire time I was talking or answering questions. Having interviewed all the people that I had interviewed, those interviews were recorded. So they were memorialized.

And once I introduced those interviews, the jury got to hear those interviews. I was sitting there while they played my hours of communication with Cody and Leslie and the interviews that they needed to hear. It was exhausting. And then you're ready for the defense and to be cross-examined.

I didn't get asked as many questions as I thought. So I was in a way a little disappointed, to be honest, like I prepared for this. I studied for this great big exam and you know all the answers and then you're only asked like two questions. But I was glad because it worked out in our favor.

The prosecution in Jace's case called a total of 18 witnesses. These people included, but are not limited to, two of Leslie and Stacey's friends, medical experts, the firefighter that arrived at Leslie's house to care for Jace, and the emergency operator who answered Cody's 911 call the night of Jace's murder.

They also played the 911 call for the jury. The 911 operator walks Cody through CPR while he waited for the ambulance. While Leslie is being questioned on the stand, the DA enters Cody's dating profile page as evidence. The DA explains that they are entering it as evidence to set the stage for this relationship and because, quote,

The defendant appears in front of the jury on a daily basis in a wheelchair with no explanation whatsoever, but on his profile he clearly indicates the physical activities he enjoys and participates in. Leslie's time on the stand was lengthy. She discusses all facets of her relationship with Cody, the warnings her family had given her, all she had heard and come to know about Samantha. The

The DA entered text messages about protective orders and Jace's injuries as evidence. Leslie emotionally discusses the phone call she received at work from Cody about the developing severity of Jace's injuries. The DA goes on to enter text messages that Cody sent Leslie while they waited for the news on Jace's progress in the hospital as they sat with Leslie's family.

In the messages, Cody asked what the Justice Center is and why they were getting involved. Leslie responded that child abuse is suspected at that point. The text messages between Cody and Leslie are entered as evidence. They're from the week following Jace's traumatic brain injury before he died. In them, Cody asked Leslie if she wanted to know how he was doing and that he felt like taking his own life.

Next, a note Cody left Leslie when he vacated her house was entered as evidence. In it, he writes that she can have her TV back when he gets his other stuff. Shortly after that, the defense cross-examined Leslie. During my testimony, we had to take an unexpected recess because Cody all of a sudden got sick and had to go throw up. One of the deputies told the judge that while Cody was in the bathroom throwing up, he asked the deputy if he thought his diabetes could result in a mistrial.

He did this a lot during the trial. He tried to manipulate the jury and the judge constantly. He was attempting to look weak, so there was no way he could do something so forceful. The judge had to put a stop to this. He called the medical director of the jail to ask about his medical condition.

From Cody's conversation with the deputy, the judge and the medical director thought Cody's goal was to induce a diabetic seizure or something to induce a mistrial. The medical director said Cody's diabetes is strictly controlled by insulin and his diet, and he's a patient he worries the least about. So, for the rest of the trial, he had to see the medical director and be checked before he ever came over to the courthouse to ensure Cody would quit trying to play these games.

The next day of the trial, the judge informed Cody that this trial would go on with or without his presence. And what do you know? That same day, he still plays an I'm sick card, like his blood sugar is low. So he had to go through all this again. Even though he's been cleared by the medical director that day, he's now sick and they had to stop the trial and bring the nurse over from jail to assess him. The prosecution made a formal complaint regarding these continued manipulation tactics.

He was doing whatever it was to delay the inevitable. I was composed. I answered all the questions thoroughly and with confidence. All the emotional stuff with Jason and hearing the 911 call, it goes and said that that was just so emotionally exhausting. The whole experience was really traumatic. I've never been a juror or anything like that and God forbid never have had to be in a courtroom for any reason. I'll

I'll tell you what made me just as sick as anything was the legal process and watching the defense attorneys and all their antics in terms of their questioning right off the bat, making it sound like the prosecutors had done something wrong. Basically,

It sounded to me like gearing up for a mistrial from the beginning. You know, it had nothing to do with Cody's guilt or innocence or any compassion towards Jace or anything. It was all just this legal gymnastics, for lack of a better word. And it just made me sick.

As far as Cody's attorney, I just remember thinking, this is who they picked? And maybe it was that he didn't have enough to really make a good case, but I wasn't impressed at all. And it's like they didn't have a leg to stand on as far as argument. Next time on Something Was Wrong. Cody's defense team weren't the greatest, and they never seemed prepared, even though they delayed the trial multiple times in order to prepare.

She cut everything through the whole week of all the testimony all together and sum it up. When she was finished, I was like, there is no way this jury cannot convict him. There's just no way. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, stay safe, friends.

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I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York. I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad. I'm like, stop f***ing around. She's like, I can't. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls. With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low. Everybody thought I was holding something back. Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah.

No, it's hysteria. It's all in your head. It's not physical. Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating. Is this the largest mass hysteria since The Witches of Salem? Or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder. A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Hysterical.

Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+.