Photos bring tears to dead child’s mother

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By Dustin Lemmon | Thursday, September 28, 2006 12:56 AM CDT | () comments

Ryan Miller and Aalliyah Andrews’ mother both sobbed at different times Wednesday while looking at photographs of the dead 17-month-old girl.

Miller, 23, of East Moline, is on trial in Rock Island County Circuit Court, charged with the girl’s murder. She died Nov. 7 while he was watching her in an East Moline apartment.

Ashley Andrews, Aalliyah’s mother, testified Wednesday that she and Miller, who is not the girl’s father, were living together at the time. On the day of Aalliyah’s death, Andrews went to work about 3:30 p.m. and left her daughter in Miller’s care, as she had done many times before. Andrews said she trusted Miller and had never seen him abuse or punish Aalliyah.

“He was always kind to her,” Andrews said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Andrews cried several times during her testimony, but she struggled most on two occasions when attorneys showed her a photo of Aalliyah that was taken before the girl’s death.

“He watched her a lot,” Andrews said of Miller. “I worked a lot.”

Andrews recalled that she and her daughter often slept on the couch in the living room while Miller slept in the bedroom upstairs. She and Aalliyah liked to watch television together, she said.

During questioning by the defense, Andrews recalled an incident the morning of Aalliyah’s death in which the girl may have slipped while scooting down a flight of stairs. Andrews said her daughter was fine and uninjured afterward. She also testified that Aalliyah had been receiving medication for a slight ear infection shortly before her death.

Miller sobbed when the prosecution began showing photographs of Aalliyah taken after her death. The photos showed bruising to the child’s face, neck, abdomen and back. Miller’s attorney gave him some facial tissues and the defendant did not look up at any more pictures.

In his opening statement, Assistant Rock Island County State’s Attorney David Osborn said Aalliyah died of a lacerated liver caused by blunt-force injuries. He said Miller initially told police the girl had choked on milk and stopped breathing. After being pressed by a detective, Miller admitted spanking Aalliyah and shoving her about 10 times against a couch after she broke a television antenna, Osborn said. He added that the injuries showed the abuse went beyond being shoved or spanked.

Assistant Rock Island County Public Defender Baron Heintz asked jurors during his opening statement to listen closely to the testimony and told them they would be surprised by the evidence they receive.

“Why would Ryan Miller murder a child he loved?” he asked the jury.

According to testimony from police, Miller became concerned about Aalliyah after he left her sitting on the couch, then returned and found her not breathing. Since he had no telephone, Miller went to the next-door neighbor’s home. The neighbor testified that he came to the apartment and tapped the girl on the cheek, but she did not respond, so he called the 911 emergency number.

An East Moline paramedic said Aalliyah was not breathing when she arrived at the apartment at 5:37 p.m. She and other paramedics tried to revive the girl all the way to the hospital and were unsuccessful, she added.

Andrews said she was working at the Bishop’s restaurant at Southpark Mall in Moline when Andrews called and asked her what he should do because Aalliyah was not breathing. Andrews called her mother, a registered nurse, and asked her to go check on the child. A short time later, a friend of Andrews’ called and told her an ambulance was outside her apartment.

A little later, another person called and told Andrews her daughter had been taken to a local hospital. Andrews said she left work without permission from her supervisor and did not remember who took her to the hospital. The neighbor, whose fiancee worked with Andrews, said he drove her to work and later to the hospital.

Andrews said her mother, Miller, Aalliyah’s father, Blade Brown, and some relatives were at the hospital when she arrived. She said Miller questioned her after she hugged Brown. It was the last time she talked to Miller, who was arrested shortly thereafter.

At Miller’s first court appearance, a day after Aalliyah’s death, Brown and two of the girl’s uncles were arrested after they climbed over the courtroom railing in an alleged attempt to attack Miller. Brown and the two uncles, Earnest L. Andrews and Lowell Higgins-Bay, are scheduled for trial Oct. 30 on battery charges.

Jurors also heard testimony Wednesday from doctors who examined Aalliyah’s body. The trial is scheduled to resume with more testimony today.

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com.