More from this morning's paper:
Midwest City 2-year-old’s drowning prompts investigation
Man is accused of holding girlfriend’s daughter underwater until she died
BY ROBERT MEDLEY AND JOHNNY JOHNSON
Published: June 20, 2009
Weeks before Donald Reeser was arrested on suspicion of drowning his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, neighbors said he apologized to them for any screams from the little girl or noises from his apartment that might have kept them awake in the middle of the night. His apologies did not raise their suspicion at the time, they said.
Allie Croom, who was looking forward to her third birthday party in September, drowned Thursday at Lake Stanley Draper.
Tommy Hays and other neighbors at Willow Creek Apartments in Midwest City said they were shocked to learn that the seemingly nice guy who moved in about a month ago was the same man police suspect of drowning the little girl he reportedly referred to as his daughter.
Reeser is being held without bail in the Oklahoma County jail on a complaint of first-degree murder.
What happened?
Police were notified about the drowning after Reeser, 29, and Allie’s mother, Amber Croom, took the girl to the Midwest Regional Medical Center emergency room, Oklahoma City police Master Sgt. Gary Knight said.
Detectives soon said that Reeser "had intentionally put the child in the water and had repeatedly dunked the child over and over until ultimately the child drowned,” Knight said.
The circumstances and the details of the drowning have not been released, but Knight said Allie’s mother was at the lake.
Allie’s biological father, Jonathan Croom, 24, was granted shared custody of his two daughters after his divorce from Amber Croom was finalized in March.
Jonathan Croom said Friday he does not know what happened Thursday at the lake, but he said that he does know his daughter, Ariana, 4, was traumatized by the death of her sister.
Jonathan Croom said he was given custody of Ariana on Thursday night, but she hasn’t told him what happened.
Croom said he’s not pushing her for details.
"I don’t know if she saw the drowning or not,” Croom said.
"I know she saw the blood and stuff, but they had a counselor that talked to her before I got her back and they won’t tell me what she told the counselor.”
The father said he’s hoping Reeser is convicted of his daughter’s death, and he hopes for punishment for his ex-wife, as well.
Amber Croom could not be reached for comment Friday.
No one answered the door at her apartment.
A family’s loss
Many of Allie’s extended family members said they wish they had tried to get the little girl from her mother and her mother’s boyfriend before she died.
Patricia Croom, Allie’s paternal grandmother, said Allie was "a gorgeous blonde who liked to sing and read.”
The grandmother said the little girl also had her share of hardships, as
she confided in her grandmother that her mom’s boyfriend "spanked me a lot.”
"I wish we would have done something sooner,” Patricia Croom said.
"It’s sad that you have to wait until something like this happens.”
Jonathan Croom said he didn’t know Reeser.
He said he is trying to get his ex-wife’s joint custody of Ariana revoked.
Family members spent most of Friday trying to make funeral arrangements and setting up a fund to help pay for it at Tinker Federal Credit Union.
Mood was ‘miserable’
At some point between taking Allie to the hospital and being arrested Thursday afternoon, Reeser went back to his E Reno apartment.
During that window of time a message was posted on his MySpace page that read, "My fiancee lost her baby girl today at the lake. Please pray for her.”
His MySpace "mood” was updated to "miserable.”
A neighbor who did not want to give his name said he saw Reeser pacing outside his apartment Thursday, telling people on the telephone that he didn’t understand what was happening and why they were blaming him.
Hays, who lives a couple doors down, said Reeser earlier had come to apologize for his daughter’s screaming.
"He confronted me, and he said basically, ‘I apologize for any screaming last night that you might have heard and kept you awake,’” Hays recalled.
"... He said him and his daughter had some issues that needed to be worked out and that they was going to get a handle on it, and then he apologized for the noise.”
Source:
NEWSOK.COM
**My comment--since when is there blood involved in a simple drowning. What else went on here?