At 5:54 a. m. on March 18th, 2020, Amber Fischer walked through the door of her Bakersfield apartment after an overnight shift as a caregiver. She expected to find her eight-year-old daughter, Jeremiah—known to everyone as Maya—sleeping.
Instead, she found her unresponsive. Not breathing. Amber called 911 in a panic. Emergency crews arrived at apartment number five on Sand Dema Street to find the little girl covered head to toe in bruises and other signs of trauma.
She was rushed to Dignity Health Memorial Hospital where doctors fought to save her life. It was too late. Jeremiah Alexander was pronounced dead that same day. Because of pandemic restrictions, her extended family wasn’t even allowed to say goodbye.
Amber had left Maya in the care of her boyfriend, 37-year-old Clint Damon Mason. The couple had been together for five years. Clint was also the father of Amber’s youngest son. Their relationship had been described as volatile, with police called to the home before, though no charges for family violence had ever been filed by either party.
But when Amber arrived home that morning and found her daughter, Clint wasn’t there. He had already fled on foot. A be-on-the-lookout order was issued describing him as a Black male, 6’2″ and 235 pounds, wearing a black hoodie, walking with a slight limp. Police noted he might be heading south to Los Angeles, where he was from and still had family.
Before that morning, Clint had kept a fairly clean record—minor charges dating back to 2001, including possession with intent to sell. Nothing that suggested he could do something like this. The police’s hunch was right. Clint was arrested the next day at a Motel 6 in Englewood, near Los Angeles.
Officers took him into custody without incident and brought him back to Bakersfield, where he was held without bail. He faced three felony counts: first-degree murder, torture, and willful cruelty to a child. He was arraigned on March 22nd and faced a possible life sentence. But what exactly had happened to Maya?
Thankfully for investigators, Amber had video cameras all over the apartment. She had originally installed them to monitor one of her sons who had a skin condition, so she could see if he was scratching himself when she wasn’t around. She turned the footage over to police. What they saw was horrifying.
At 9:30 p. m. on March 17th, the camera captured Clint looming over Maya as she bent over a stool. He held a metal rod.
She screamed, cried, and begged him to stop. He brought the rod down on her backside again and again, using a two-handed overhead swing. “I don’t give a damn. This is what you wanted, and this is not going to end well for you.
Trust me when I tell you that,” he told her. As the little girl writhed in pain and yelled no, he shouted, “Want me to put my leg in your neck? ”
At one point, Clint realized he’d been caught on camera. He tried to point the device away from him.
But the camera was motion-activated and on a swivel. Every time he turned it, it swung right back and kept filming. Clint later admitted that Maya was unable to get up and walk after the beating, so he carried her upstairs to her bedroom. She said she felt sick and was having trouble breathing.
He didn’t get her medical help. He didn’t take her to a hospital. Around 5:00 a. m.
, he leaned over to check on her and found her unresponsive. He called Amber at work, in tears. “You need to come home. Something’s wrong with Maya.
I don’t think she’s breathing. Something’s wrong with her. ”
He later told police he had beaten the little girl to motivate her to do her household chores and homework. The autopsy revealed the cause of death was multifaceted.
Hypoxic respiratory failure, brought on by a combination of acute bronchopneumonia and sickle cell trait. But also, multiple blunt force trauma. Experts say the pneumonia could easily have been caused by the blunt force to her chest. When energy is transferred to the lungs, it can cause bruising to the airways, leading to an inflammatory response.
The trauma to her chest could have caused the very pneumonia that killed her. The manner of death was ruled a homicide. Jeremiah’s story moved slowly through the court system. Because of pandemic restrictions, cases lagged, and district attorneys were cutting deals to clear the backlog.
Some family members saw this as a way to avoid the agony of reliving the horror at trial. Others saw it as a system failing to hold the accused fully responsible. On February 22nd, 2022, Clint Damon Mason—now 39—pled no contest to first-degree murder. In exchange, the charges of torture and willful cruelty to a child were dropped.
One month later, on March 22nd, 2022, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Clint will be eligible for a parole suitability hearing in January of 2032. He is currently serving his sentence at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in State Prison at Corcoran. Maya was just eight years old when she died.
She was a smart, supportive, hardworking little girl who earned the outstanding achievement award at school. Her teacher, Ms. Kennedy, said she performed good work in all academic areas, even though she’d occasionally get in trouble for talking too much in class. She had big brown eyes and dark hair often styled in braids with colorful clips.
As she got older, she wore a pair of purple eyeglasses. She was spiritual and full of life. She loved going to church and never forgot her prayers. She loved her little brothers and was a good big sister who kept the peace.
Her cousin Demand described her as smart, supportive, hard-working, and very understanding. She was especially close with her cousin Allayia, who called her “my baby. ”
There are countless pictures of Maya smiling. In one, she cradles a green sippy cup while wearing teal Dora the Explorer footie pajamas.
In another, she smiles at the camera with her daddy while wearing a purple princess crown. In another, she carries a handful of birthday balloons and a card full of cash. Every picture captures a happy, healthy little girl who was clearly adored. Her cousin Dean Coleman started a GoFundMe on her behalf.
“On March 18th, 2020, the family of 8-year-old Jeremiah’s lives were changed forever,” he wrote. “Jeremiah was such a beautiful, smart, sweet little girl. She had the brightest smile, supportive, hardworking, and very understanding. She always made those around her smile.
At such a young age and so full of life, she made a difference in everyone and cared deeply about the people she crossed. She was always a big help to her little brothers who will miss her dearly. She always wanted peace and never no negativity. Maya was also such a spiritual little girl, always wanted to pray to God.
”
By December 2024, the fundraiser had collected just over $4,000. Because of pandemic restrictions, her family could only hold a small private gathering to honor her. But for a small ceremony, it was still pretty special. Maya was laid to rest in a fluffy white casket with a flower pattern, transported in a motorcycle-drawn carriage.
Her final resting place is Union Cemetery in Bakersfield, California, buried next to her first cousin once removed, Christy Allen, who had passed away just a month earlier. She lies beneath a simple granite headstone decorated with etchings of a crown and a unicorn, and a picture of the smiling eight-year-old in happier times. Beneath her birth and death dates, it reads: “Your wings were ready, but our hearts were not. ”
News coverage of Maya’s story was sparse.
That’s the case for a lot of children who lost their lives at the hands of caretakers during the pandemic. It’s easy to forget about injustices when no one is talking about them. But one thing stands out in her story. Clint was apprehended quickly because a concerned citizen saw the BOLO and said something.
He only made it 116 miles before he was caught. When it comes to the health and safety of those most vulnerable, we all have a responsibility to act.
