A $2million trust fund awarded to a severely disabled girl is set to be inherited by her mother and new husband following the child's death from suspected neglect.
Alayah-Rose Savarese, who had cerebral palsy and could not speak, walk or eat, was found dead on June 25 last year in her mother Nicole Diggs'
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with a ruptured stomach.
A criminal probe continues into the death of the eight-year-old but no charges have been filed and it unclear if her death was an accident or homicide.
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have revealed that $2.1million dollars awarded to the little girl following a medical malpractice suit will now go to Ms Diggs and her husband Oscar Thomas - whom the mother married three weeks after her daughter's death.
Ms Diggs, a
Cornell University graduate and special education teacher in New York City, won a 2006 medical malpractice lawsuit against Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, where Alayah was born.
The trust fund was supposed to help provide for the little girl’s substantial physical needs but Alayah was mostly cared for by Mr Thomas.
He admitted during a subsequent investigation into her death that he was not comfortable feeding, bathing or diapering the child.
A week prior to Alayah’s death, Westchester County Department of Social Services workers had visited their apartment after reports that the girl had missed half the school year and had unexplained bruises.
At that time, a caseworker suggested Ms Diggs hire a health aide, but the mother said, ‘she did not want the government to try to recoup any
money from the settlement,’ a state child fatality report revealed.
On June 25, Mr Thomas and a friend had visits with their probation officers and so had left the child in the care of another man - a 32-year-old friend who didn’t know how to feed her and ‘would not be able to recognize a medical crisis or seizure,’
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The man was also left to watch Mr Thomas’ and Ms Diggs’ 16-month-old twin sons.
The little girl had been dead for up to six hours before EMS officials arrived at the apartment despite the friend's claim that he checked on her twice that morning.
A blunt - a cigar rolled with marijuana - was found in the apartment. Mr Thomas and two of his friends tested positive that day for marijuana.
Prior to Alayah's death, six other complaints had been made with the state regarding her care, including that she was filthy, underfed, missed school and physical therapy,
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Medical records showed that between ages 5 and 6, Alayah ‘had dropped off the growth chart substantially'.
A doctor who specializes in child abuse consulted after her death said her growth trend would be classified as ‘failure to thrive,’ a condition that means a child is not getting enough calories to grow, the report says.
Three weeks after her daughter's death, Ms Diggs married Mr Thomas,
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‘There are a lot of allegations that are not true and I’d prefer not to talk about it because I took care of my daughter all her life and I did everything I could for her,’ Diggs told
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in November.
The Social Services investigation into the death substantiated allegations of lack of medical care, inadequate guardianship and educational neglect against Diggs and allegations of inadequate guardianship and drug use against Thomas.
Alayah’s father Anthony Savarese is demanding answers. ‘I have no closure. My baby girl is gone and I still don’t know what happened,’ he told
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in November.
Hudson Valley Bank, which handled the trust, was appointed administrator of the estate in November 2012, records show, and has not yet distributed the vast majority of the funds.
