After the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Macy, Jeanne Ditty’s life fell apart. The young mother’s world came crashing down after the calamity. Although she continued to work as a soldier in the United States Army at Fort Bragg, Jeanie Ditty missed her daughter horribly. That is why, in order to remember her child and pay tribute to her by depicting her as an “angel,” she created a photoshoot with the girl in the photographs.
The photoshoot occurred at the same cemetery where Macy was interred. She engaged a photographer a month after the tiny girl was buried. Ditty was an example of a grief-stricken mother while at the cemetery, kneeling on a blanket and “interacting” with the angel of her dead child.
Ditty had claimed that Macy perished by mistake. She wrote in her statement that Macy choked on her own vomit after eating rotten bananas, causing her death. Ditty’s life tumbled into the gutter when she lost her tiny “angel.”The fact that the pictures, which were produced by a photographer in Pennsylvania, featured a spectral image of Macy, added to the tale’s poignancy. Donations and other forms of help arrived as well.
The authorities gradually became more suspicious of Ditty as their investigation progressed, and eventually, they discovered that she had murdered the little girl. The angel photos which initially seemed sweet and innocent now appeared to be manipulative attempts by Ditty to absolve herself of guilt.
Ditty was a young soldier when the girl, Macy, died in December 2015. Ditty waited for paramedics at her apartment in Fayetteville, North Carolina to see if they could revive Macy before she died. The paramedics were unable to do so after arriving at the scene of the incident and brought Macy to the hospital where she later passed away.
The little girl’s document showed that she was covered in bruises and had suffered from multiple head injuries. Also, her liver had been lacerated.
“This is a horrible case all the way around,” Ditty’s attorney, Bernard Condlin, stated. The girl’s death was unquestionably the result of severe child abuse. Ditty and her boyfriend, Zachary Keefer, a member of the United States Army Special Forces, were charged and detained.
“Ms. Ditty left during that time frame to go to a doctor’s appointment,” Condlin stated. “When she left, the baby was fine. When she came home, the baby wasn’t.”
Nonetheless, Keefer was released from jail. Ditty is now the only one who must face the consequences of her daughter’s death.
The charges against Keefer were dropped by Prosecutor Julia Wolf Hejazi because: “New medical information provides a clearer timeline of events and contradicts previous medical information…in the interest of justice, the state is dismissing these charges.”
On Monday, March 28, 2016, attorney Bernard Condlin appeared with Jeanie Ditty of Spring Lake, N.C., during a first appearance hearing at the Cumberland County Detention Center in Fayetteville, N.C. Ditty’s boyfriend Zachary Earl Keefer is already facing charges in relation to the death of her 2-year-old daughter and has turned himself in. “She’s very upset the case didn’t go to trial as scheduled,” Condlin stated.
