The paramedics walked into the apartment and the smell hit them first—bleach, heavy and wrong. Then they found her. Four-year-old Annayia was lying on the floor under a running air conditioner, dressed in winter clothes on a cold March day. She was nowhere near the toilet her mother had said she fell from.
Rigor mortis had already set in. She had been dead for hours. Her lips were cracked. Her face was pale.
She was so emaciated that her vertebrae and hipbones pressed against the fabric of her tiny coat. A deep bruise had swollen one eye shut, and there was a laceration above it. Bedsores covered her knees and lower legs, proof that she had been left in one position for a long, long time. The call to 911 had come from Deonte Lewis, her mother’s boyfriend, at around noon.
He said Annayia had fallen off the toilet and was having trouble breathing. After nearly four minutes, Sierra Day, her mother, took the phone and told the operator she had put her hand under the child’s nose and there was no air coming out. When the dispatcher ordered CPR, neither of them followed the instructions. Both adults stayed strangely calm through the whole call.
The apartment told its own story. The mattress had been stripped of its bedding except for one small fleece blanket and smelled strongly of urine. Court papers related to the father’s custody battle were torn up and thrown in the trash. The only food anywhere was two half-eaten Chipotle bowls in the microwave.
Annayia Day Garrett was born on September 2, 2013, in Euclid, Ohio, to Sierra Day and Michael Garrett. Her parents never married and split before she turned two. Sierra got full custody. Michael fought to stay in his daughter’s life.
By all accounts, Annayia was an energetic, outgoing child. She loved to sing and dance. Her favorite color was pink. She was the kind of little girl who made people laugh just by being in the room.
But by 2016, something was wrong. During his visitations, Michael kept noticing injuries on his daughter. Bruises on her chest. Bruises on her back.
Sierra waved them off as accidents or minor mishaps. Michael grew more and more uneasy. Arguments between the two parents escalated, and Sierra responded by filing a restraining order against him. The court order claimed Michael was harassing Sierra and overstepping his role as a parent.
Michael fought for full custody, but instead he was barred from contacting Sierra directly and could only see Annayia under supervised visitation with a neutral third party present. Sierra began isolating herself and the children. She refused to let them visit relatives. Instead, she enrolled Annayia in daycare.
At Harbor Crest Daycare in Euclid, workers started documenting injuries that seemed to appear daily. Abrasions. Burns. Black eyes.
In total, staff filed eighteen observation reports with their supervisors. In one report, a worker noted that Sierra often brushed off concerns about her daughter, claiming Annayia was a liar. In May of 2017, Annayia arrived with bumps on her head and a scrape on her face. That day, she told a caretaker: “Mommy pushed me down the steps.
” Sierra insisted her daughter had simply fallen at a park. Days later, Annayia complained of a headache. Staff found blisters on her scalp and dried blood inside her ear. Sierra claimed it was an allergic reaction to Johnson and Johnson baby wash.
Then she changed her story, saying the injuries might have been caused by Annayia’s braid being wound too tight. When Annayia was pulled aside, she told a very different story: “Mommy hit me. Mommy hurt me. ”
The daycare owner notified police.
Annayia was taken to the hospital for an evaluation. Despite the injuries and her own statements, she was released back to her mother. Then, in July of 2017, Sierra started dating a man named Deonte Lewis. He was a 26-year-old security guard with no criminal record.
His family described him as controlling. When he entered the picture, the family dynamic got worse. Michael was still watching from a distance. During a supervised visit in September 2017, he found new bruises on Annayia’s chest and back.
He also noticed a rotting tooth that had gone untreated. He photographed everything and filed his own report with the Cleveland police. Nothing came of it. In December 2017, the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services received an emergency referral about violence and neglect involving Annayia.
A social worker visited Sierra’s apartment and saw more bruises and burns on the girl’s body. But she deemed the living conditions acceptable—the utilities worked, there was food, the basic necessities were met. The investigation never went further. Sierra realized she was under scrutiny, so she made a decision that would prove fatal.
She transferred Annayia out of Harbor Crest and enrolled her in Get Ready, Set, Grow Preschool—the same place where Sierra herself worked as a teacher. At the new preschool, staff noticed that Annayia looked malnourished, sickly, and emotionally withdrawn. When coworkers expressed concern that Annayia’s weight was too low, Sierra assured them she was fine and had always been skinny. But because Sierra was right there in the building, the violence was easier to hide.
Supervision of the child became even more minimal. In January 2018, Cleveland PD closed the investigation into Sierra Day altogether. Despite hospital visits, photographic evidence, witness accounts, and the child’s own statements, the case was deemed unsubstantiated. Four-year-old Annayia stayed in a dangerous home.
A social worker had scheduled a follow-up visit for March 9, 2018. Sierra postponed it to March 12. Annayia never made it to that date. On March 11, 2018, Deonte made that 911 call.
But the story did not end that day. The interrogation revealed the depths of what had been happening. Sierra admitted that Annayia had started showing flu-like symptoms on March 8 after a meal at Red Lobster. She said she and Deonte had tried feeding her soup and Tylenol, but her symptoms persisted.
Sierra admitted that even though Annayia couldn’t keep down a sip of ginger ale, she believed her daughter was faking her illness. She even told detectives that Annayia had “scared herself to the point of causing her own death. ”
She gave the girl a bath. Annayia said she was sleepy.
Hours passed. Sierra finally called a 24-hour health hotline, but she never once sought medical attention for her daughter, who was slowly dying in the apartment. During the interrogation, Sierra tried to blame Deonte. She claimed he was the one responsible for feeding the child, that he had beaten Annayia on several occasions, that he used a belt.
Surveillance footage from local businesses told another part of the story. The night before Annayia died, Sierra and Deonte were seen dining at Chipotle, enjoying burrito bowls. Then they went to Walmart. They bought snacks, household items, and cleaning supplies while their four-year-old lay gravely ill at home.
The autopsy by Cuyahoga County Chief Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Joseph Felo confirmed it all. Annayia weighed just 26 pounds at death, putting her in the third percentile for her age. The bruise on the right side of her forehead was about a week old.
Her black eye had been sustained roughly two days before she died. Petechiae around her eyes proved prolonged suffering. The cause of death was a cerebral infarction caused by a subdural hematoma—consistent with blunt force trauma to the head. That hematoma had developed over weeks, causing extensive brain damage and a stroke that affected the left side of her brain, which controls the right side of the body.
It caused paralysis, impaired speech, and a decline in motor function. Dr. Felo also found signs of starvation. Her body had begun to consume itself.
Her stomach lining had ulcers from prolonged acid exposure. Her pancreas was inflamed. Her lungs showed signs of collapse. He ruled her death a homicide.
There was one more disturbing detail recovered from the suspects’ cell phones: a sex tape of Sierra and Deonte, recorded at 3:28 p. m. on March 10, 2018—the day before Annayia died. The little girl was nearing her final moments, lying helpless in another room.
Trial began on February 28, 2019. The defense tried to claim Annayia’s injuries were accidental or caused by external factors. But the medical evidence and 37 testimonies—from daycare workers, first responders, social workers, and family members—contradicted every excuse. The paramedics described Annayia’s emaciated state.
The surveillance footage of Sierra and Deonte casually eating out and buying bleach was shown in court. People in the courtroom noted that Sierra showed little emotion throughout the entire trial, even when graphic photos of her daughter’s body were projected on the screen. The most impactful testimony came from Annayia’s father, Michael Garrett. He described his love for his daughter and his relentless, fruitless efforts to protect her.
He spoke about the last time he saw her alive during a supervised visit—how frail and withdrawn she was, a stark contrast to the bright, energetic little girl he knew. He testified that her demeanor had changed drastically under her mother’s custody, and even more so when Deonte came into her life. He also spoke about the restraining order Sierra had filed against him, which legally limited his access to Annayia during the period when her life was clearly in danger. He expressed his frustration with the state system that was supposed to protect children.
In the end, both Sierra Day and Deonte Lewis were convicted on all charges. The judge described their actions as “inhumane and unfathomable” and emphasized that Annayia’s death was entirely preventable. Sierra Day, 24, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Deonte Lewis, 27, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
He appealed, but the Ohio Court of Appeals denied it in 2022. Annayia’s death forced the state of Ohio to confront its own negligence. Michael Garrett filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, alleging gross negligence and failure to protect Annayia despite repeated reports of violence and neglect. He argued that if the state had followed through on its duty to investigate and intervene, his daughter would still be alive.
The internal investigation into the agency revealed gross lapses in oversight and protocol. Caseworkers had repeatedly failed to follow up on allegations of violence, never performed thorough investigations, and didn’t document key findings. The multiple reports from Harbor Crest Daycare detailing visible injuries on Annayia had been dismissed without proper investigation. There had been little to no collaboration between caseworkers, police, medical personnel, and daycare staff.
Supervisors failed to ensure their teams followed protocols for handling suspected child abuse cases. Multiple employees were disciplined. Others were terminated. CPS was forced to implement significant policy changes to prevent similar tragedies.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services also took action against both daycare centers connected to Annayia’s death: Harbor Crest Childcare and Get Ready, Set, Grow Preschool both closed their doors. In June of 2020, Michael Garrett was awarded $3 million in damages—a decision that underscored the state’s accountability and its failure to protect four-year-old Annayia Day Garrett. Annayia’s farewell spanned two days. On Friday, March 16, 2018, a viewing was held at River of Life Ministries in Euclid, Ohio.
Michael Garrett tearfully reflected on his daughter’s joy and innocence, describing her as “a light in this world whose story must never be forgotten. ”
The next day, her funeral took place. Attendees watched as her tiny pink casket, adorned with a tiara, traveled through the streets of Euclid in a horse-drawn carriage. It was a celebration of her short life and a heartbreaking reminder of her tragic death.
Annayia Day Garrett, at only four years old, found the courage to speak up for herself again and again. She bravely told the adults in her life that she was in danger. From daycare workers to her father, she voiced the harm she experienced at home, pointing to her injuries and naming the source of her pain. Her cries for help were overlooked, ignored, and dismissed entirely.
The system set in place to protect her failed her completely. She knew she was in danger. She knew what her mother and her mother’s boyfriend were doing to her was wrong. But even when a child does try to seek help, too many people do not take it seriously—especially those whose responsibility is to protect children in need.
By the time anybody listened, it was too late. The vibrant little girl who fought so hard to be heard was silenced forever.
