Melissa Alexander Beat Up BFs 2yo In Nov,Now Charged With Murder After Baby Dies

**Whisper** · December 12th, 2011, 09:51 PM

Melissa Alexander

Woman arrested after boyfriend's daughter is critically injured
November 11, 2011

27-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on suspicion of abusing her boyfriend’s 1-year-old daughter while he was away at Army training, Colorado Springs police said Friday.
Melissa Alexander was booked into the El Paso County jail on suspicion of child abuse, a class 3 felony, after the toddler was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Officers were notified shortly before 1 p.m. on Wednesday that the toddler was unconscious and not breathing, police said. She was taken to the hospital, where she remained in critical condition Friday, police said.
Alexander had been caring for the girl since October, when her boyfriend, Matt Strickland, left for a month-long training exercise in Louisiana to prepare him for overseas deployment, family friends said Friday evening.
Alexander, who has a 2-year-old boy, met Strickland in June and the couple moved in together a few months ago at an apartment on Zamora Circle, northwest of Fountain and Academy boulevards, said Christine Taylor, the boy’s godmother.
Standing outside Strickland’s apartment, one of the Strickland’s friends asked for privacy and said the soldier did not want to talk about the incident.
The arrest shocked Taylor, who had known Alexander for several years and watched Alexander’s son and then Strickland’s daughter growing.
[...]
Taylor said. “She (the toddler) is amazing. She was inches away from walking

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/poli...#ixzz1gNJjDy15
Dec 12 2011

THE GAZETTE
A 1-year-old girl who had been hospitalized in critical condition since early November died Friday and her death has been ruled a homicide.
Police have not released the name of the girl or said how she was killed.

The girl’s caretaker, 27-year-old Melissa Alexander, had been arrested on suspicion of child abuse and now faces a possible first-degree murder charge. She is being held without bond at the El Paso County jail and will be advised of the possible charges in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

On Nov. 9, police went to the girl’s home on the 900 block of Zamora Circle and found her with “life-threatening” and “abusive” injuries, according to the online police blotter. The girl was unconscious and not breathing, officers said. She was taken to the hospital and Alexander was arrested the next day.

Family and friends told The Gazette that Alexander had been caring for the girl since October when her boyfriend, Matt Strickland, left for a month-long training exercise in Louisiana to prepare him for overseas deployment.

Alexander, who has a 2-year-old son, met Strickland a couple of months before and they had moved into the Zamora Circle apartment together.
The girl died from her injuries Friday and an autopsy by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office on Saturday ruled her death a homicide – the 30th this year in Colorado Springs.
[...]

http://www.gazette.com/articles/girl...#ixzz1gNJAINMr

**ineedanap** · December 12th, 2011, 10:51 PM

I think I am a broken record.

Where was MOM??????

**Nell** · December 12th, 2011, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by ineedanap

I think I am a broken record.

Where was MOM??????

A little bit. Maybe she died. Better to ask why Melissa Alexander had such a fatal lack of control with a baby at the advanced age of 27. She is the one that killed the baby.

**startheory** · December 13th, 2011, 01:31 AM

Ugly mousy looking b*tch. Texas is the place to commit murders since they dont show much mercy. I hope she rots for hurting that poor little girl!

**nopatience** · December 13th, 2011, 11:16 AM

When will people learn that a few months does not constitute knowing someone well enough to move in together and leave your children with someone you just met?!!! Certainly there was family willing to watch this little girl while he was away at training. Fucking bitch.

**sleepinwithangels** · December 13th, 2011, 11:37 AM

I wouldn't assume he had family in the area, simply for the fact that he was a soldier. It's likely even that his family lived in another state. That being said, 3 months is NOT long enough to know someone before allowing them to care for your child(ren). I've had boyfriends longer than 3 months that I didn't allow to MEET my children, much less care for them for an extended period of time. He made a terrible mistake. Unfortunately, his daughter paid for that mistake...and he will have to live with that mistake for the rest of his life.

**TKaz** · December 13th, 2011, 12:09 PM

WHY were there 30 homicides in Colorado Springs in a year!?!!?!?!?!? WHAT is it about that place that makes people homicidal?

WARNING - I'm getting analytical!
I think there is a very deep seated reason for boy/girlfriends killing their significant others children. I mean, sure they're evil & lack control but BESIDES that...I think there is a "switch" when it comes to your DNA. Lions kill other males cubs...I think it's the same idea. Maybe the killers just aren't as evolved as the rest of us. They're essentially cavemen.
So we should figure out who they are & let them live in a cave far from society....

**Dakota Valkyrie** · May 25th, 2012, 05:46 PM

A Colorado Springs woman pleaded guilty Friday to child abuse resulting in the death of a 1-year-old girl.

Melissa Alexander, 27, admitted that she shook Jocilynn Graham in a Colorado Springs apartment last November before placing the girl in a precarious position on a couch, which led to a fall.
[...]

At the time, Alexander was a live-in nanny while the girl's father, Fort Carson soldier Matthew Strickland, was in Louisiana training for an upcoming deployment. Alexander also looked after her own child and sometimes babysat for a neighbor, authorities said.

She faces 30 to 40 years in prison at her July 23 sentencing. A first-degree murder charge was dropped as a result of the plea agreement. She remains in the El Paso County jail.
[...]

During an emotional address to the court, Alexander said she "wasn't thinking clearly" when she shook Jocilynn and placed her on the edge of a couch before leaving the room to get ready to go out for the day.

While in the bathroom, Alexander said she heard the girl fall to the floor.

Alexander said the girl was "gasping for breath" and unresponsive, so she took her to a neighboring apartment to be seen by a neighbor with a medical background. That woman called 911.

Police said in arrest documents that Alexander repeatedly changed her account of how the child came to be injured, and that she admitted to previous acts of child abuse, including throwing a sippy cup at the girl's head.

Lead prosecutor David Kalicki said after the hearing that a murder charge would have been a tough sell under the circumstances.

"On these child abuse cases, especially ones involving shaking, it can be difficult to prove the 'knowingly' element that's required in a first-degree murder case," Kalicki said, adding the deal would ensure an appropriate penalty.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/alex...hild-girl.html

**DamagedGoods** · May 25th, 2012, 06:48 PM

She reminds me Charlize Theron done up to look like Aileen Wuornos

**Bohring** · May 25th, 2012, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by DamagedGoods

She reminds me Charlize Theron done up to look like Aileen Wuornos

She reminds me of Sloth, from Goonies.

HEY YOU GUYS!!!

**Jerri Blank** · July 27th, 2012, 04:03 AM

Woman gets 36 years in prison for girl's shaking death

A Colorado Springs nanny who pleaded guilty in a 1-year-old girl's apparent shaking death last year was sentenced Monday to 36 years in prison.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas L. Kennedy imposed the penalty after 28-year-old Melissa Alexander tearfully told the court she would "give anything" to relive the day Jocilynn Graham was injured last November.

"I will forever carry what I did in my heart and my mind," she said, without specifying how the child was harmed. "I wish I had just walked away."

The girl lapsed into a coma Nov. 9 and was pronounced dead Dec. 9, when she was removed from life-support. She had bruises on her face and arms, fractured ribs and severe brain injuries, authorities said.

Colorado Springs police alleged the baby was repeatedly shaken by Alexander and allowed to fall from a couch onto a carpeted floor. The woman's attorneys downplayed the shaking and said Alexander was guilty of leaving the girl on a couch unattended while she showered.

Alexander pleaded guilty in May to child abuse resulting in death and had faced up to 40 years under a plea deal that allowed her to avoid trial on first-degree murder charges.

In requesting the maximum, lead prosecutor David Kalicki emphasized allegations that Alexander shook the child once, left the room, and then returned to shake the girl again. "She did walk away," Kalicki told the judge. [...]

http://www.gazette.com/articles/alex...eath-dabb.html

[Side note - The Legacy Obituary website has the child's name written as 'Jocylynn S. Graham' however that didn't help me find a picture of her.]

**Marv** · July 27th, 2012, 04:36 AM

The woman's attorneys downplayed the shaking and said Alexander was guilty of leaving the girl on a couch unattended

She had bruises on her face and arms, fractured ribs and severe brain injuries,

Jeez, all that from a fall onto a carpeted floor? How high was that fucking couch?

I hope the nasty bitch does the full 36yrs.

**Tundratot** · July 28th, 2012, 02:43 AM

36 years!!!! Yay!!!

**BreakTheSilence** · July 28th, 2012, 11:28 PM

Hopefully this garbage gets put in with other women who love their children and are missing them. May she face beatings every day her miserable self breathes my air. 36 years while a lengthy sentence IF she actually has to do the full sentence is not nearly enough for what she did to this precious angel. She should pay with her life. May she hear baby girl crying in her waking moments as well as her sleeping moments. May that sweet little angel's voice haunt her til the day she dies.

Rip precious angel!

**BreakTheSilence** · July 28th, 2012, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by ineedanap

I think I am a broken record.

Where was MOM??????

The baby was placed with Strickland after prior abuse allegations while in her mother's care, said Colorado Springs police detective Kory Dabb. Dabb told the court "numerous detectives" from his unit spent time at the child's bedside.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/alex...eath-dabb.html