Disabled teenage daughter found in soiled nappy dies in house smelling of 'rotten food, human waste and death

The week before Brianna Gussert died, her mother called the local middle school to say her daughter would not be in class for the next five days. A week later, Nicole Hussert walked into her daughter’s room – allegedly for the first time in days – and found her dead.

Ms Gussert now faces 25 years in prison for the death of her 13-year-old daughter, who suffered from a chromosomal condition that required constant care. She was charged on Monday with one count of neglect resulting in death, and three counts of possession with intent to deliver amphetamine. She has yet to enter a plea.

Authorities who responded to Ms Gussert’s 911 call in May of 2017 said they found her daughter curled up in a bedroom upstairs, her head facing the foot of the bed. According to a criminal complaint, the house smelled of “rotten food, human waste and death”. It was filled with piles of clothes, garbage, and dirty dishes.

Brianna’s feeding tube was nearly empty, the complaint alleges, and her diaper had not been changed in days. Melinda Tempelis, the Outagamie County district attorney prosecuting the case, said Brianna's diaper weighed 1.25 pounds at the time she was found.

The teenager died primarily of sepsis – a complication of infections that can result in multiple organ failure, according to the complaint.

"[Ms Gussert] does not recall the last time she fed her. She does not recall the last time she changed her diaper,” Ms Tempelis said in court, according to local news station WLUK. “She had not been bathed in over a week. She had not been cared for or checked on.”

"It is completely unfit for habitation for anyone and over the course of that weekend,” she said.

Ms Gussert’s attorney, Robert Welygan, said in court that the criminal behaviour had not been proven by the state.

According to her father, Greg Gussert, Brianna was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, which can cause delayed development and intellectual disability.

Brianna couldn't speak, walk, or eat on her own, her father told the Appleton Post-Crescent. When she was born, doctors said she likely wouldn’t live past 18 months. The circumstances of his daughter's death, Mr Gussert said, was "some of the worst news I've ever heard".

“It's unbelievable what she had to go through," he told Fox News 11.

Mr and Ms Gussert are divorced, and – according to Mr Gussert – Brianna was living with her mother at the time of her death. Mr Gussert and his fiancée lived in an apartment blocks away, with Mr Gussert’s third daughter. Ms Gussert cared for Brianna and the couple’s second daughter because she had more space in her house, her ex-husband said.

"We're all heartbroken and it’s just like a wound that's being reopened,” he told Fox 11 of the charges.

According to the complaint, Brianna missed 162 days of school in her final year. Her mother allegedly told police the absences occurred, in part, because she did not want to deal with getting her daughter ready for school in the morning. She allegedly told officers her daughter had not been to school in “a couple of months,” aside from one day in February or March.

"We are all deeply saddened by Brianna’s death and express our deepest sympathies to all," her school district said in a statement. "The school district is required to follow the laws governing student confidentiality and student records. We cannot comment on any specific student and respect the privacy rights related to every student’s pupil record information."

Ms Gussert is being held on a $300,000 bond, pending her 19 June preliminary hearing. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for the neglect charge, and 12.5 years each for the drug charges. Her attorney did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

Brianna was remembered in her obituary as a “beautiful, bright, and charismatic young lady” who loved watching football and spending time with her family.

“Brianna had a smile that could brighten the darkest room,” the obituary read.

Sports Eagles running back Jay Ajayi reportedly sued for trashing mansion, shoving owner days after Super Bowl

Philadelphia Eagles running back Jay Ajayi is being sued by the owner of a Los Angeles mansion who claims he trashed the place, according to a TMZ report on Monday.

Ajayi is being charged $25,000 by the owner for damages to the 6,000-square-foot house where he and a friend stayed for five days shortly after the Eagles won the Super Bowl last season.

The 24-year-old allegedly had at least three parties while staying at the house, even though the owner specially told them not to throw any parties. The owner claims that Ajayi broke a table, scratched floors, violated the no-smoking policy, and failed to pay a $5,000 fee for each party.

When the owner confronted Ajayi about the penalty fees on Feb. 18, Ajayi allegedly “pushed [him] on [his] chest in a menacing and threatening manner,” according to TMZ. The owner also said he had to “call local security” to get Ajayi off his property.

The player’s rep denies the allegations.

Ajayi was traded to Philadelphia from Miami in the middle of last season. He ran for 408 yards on 70 carries for the Eagles in seven games, and scored two touchdowns. In the Eagles’ 41-33 Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, Ajayi ran for 57 yards on nine carries.

Jessica Simpson flaunts bikini bod and her husband's abs in vacation photos

Except for the occasional department store appearance to promote her billion-dollar clothing and shoe line, Jessica Simpson‘s life seems like one big vacation. Or maybe that’s just her “Instagram Life.” Either way, our favorite tuna queen has been on an actual vacation for the last week, with hubby Eric Johnson sans kids, and it’s been a sexy affair.

Maybe because TMZ posted some photos of her Bahamas vacay that weren’t superflattering (though they weren’t unflattering either — she’s a gorgeous girl), she’s been posting up a storm on social media. So we rounded up all of the photos in one spot for an Instacram viewing experience.

If we were captioning these ourselves, we’d go with “wowza” for this shot of the couple, who have been together for eight years and are still superhot for each other. For a photo inside a closet, we see very little clothing and a lot of skin, especially his abs.

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Kanye West sounds off on Trump, Obama and Kim Kardashian West

 LESLEY MESSER,Good Morning America 5 hours ago 

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Kanye West sounds off on Trump, Obama and Kim Kardashian West (ABC News)

Kanye West is back to being himself.

In a nearly two-hour interview posted to his YouTube page, the rapper and fashion designer sounded off on everything from his 2016 breakdown to his feelings about politics to his feud with longtime friend Jay-Z.

In his conversation with media personality Charlamagne tha God, the 40-year-old said that he is stronger than ever before and in a place to affect real change.

CIU EVENT ON 24TH APRIL 2018

This woman says she stopped aging when she was 20-years-old

A single mother says she is often mistaken as her 20-year-old son’s girlfriend or sister despite being in her 40s. 

Shimmi Munshi recently spoke to The Daily Mail about how she’s been seemingly gifted with eternal youth, and the pitfalls that come with it.

“As an adult, I’ve always looked young,” Munshi said. “As my friends began aging, I seemed to go in the opposite direction, but I’ve no idea why.”

When she was 20, Munshi gave birth to her son, Ameen. Although there were many pressures and responsibilities that came from being a young mother, Munshi says she somehow maintained her youthful appearance.

Alabama man, 83, executed for judge's 1989 mail-bomb slaying

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate convicted of the mail-bomb slaying of a federal judge during a wave of Southern terror in 1989 was executed by lethal injection Thursday, becoming the oldest prisoner put to death in the U.S. in modern times.

Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83, was pronounced dead at 8:42 p.m. following an injection at the Alabama prison at Atmore. He had no last statement and did not respond when an official asked if he had any last words shortly before the chemicals began flowing.

Authorities said Moody sent out four mail bombs in December of 1989, killing Judge Robert S. Vance, a member of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Alabama and Robert E. Robinson, a black civil rights attorney from Savannah, Georgia. Two other bombs, including one mailed to the NAACP office in Jacksonville, Florida, were intercepted and did not explode.

At his 1996 trial, prosecutors described Moody as a meticulous coward who killed Vance with murder by mail because of his obsession with getting revenge on the legal system, and then committed additional package bombings to make it look like the Ku Klux Klan was behind the judge's murder.

Moody became the oldest U.S. inmate put to death since executions resumed in the U.S. in the 1970s, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center. His attorneys argued in court filings and a clemency petition to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey that his age and vein condition would make lethal injection more difficult.

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stayed execution plans Thursday evening to consider Moody's late appeals, but later lifted the stay without comment, allowing the execution to go forward.

Vance was at his kitchen table in Mountain Brook, Alabama, on Dec. 16, 1989, when he opened a package after a morning of errands and yard work.

The explosion ripped through the home near Birmingham, killing Vance instantly and severely injuring his wife, Helen. Prosecutors said Moody, who had attended law school, had a grudge against the legal system because the 11th Circuit refused to overturn a 1972 pipe-bomb possession conviction that prevented him from practicing law.

Moody was first convicted in 1991 in federal court and sentenced to seven life terms plus 400 years. He was later convicted in state court in 1996 and sentenced to death for Vance's murder.

Vance's son, Robert Vance Jr., now a circuit judge in Jefferson County and Democratic candidate for chief justice in Alabama, said it's important that people remember how his father lived, not just how he died.

"He was a great judge, a great lawyer before that, and a great father," he said earlier as the execution loomed. As chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party in the 1960s and 1970s, Vance worked to bring African Americans into the party and often "butted heads" with segregationist Gov. George Wallace, his son said.

Friends said the senior Vance quietly fought for the rights of underprivileged as both a jurist and a politician.

Moody had always maintained his innocence.

In recent weeks, Moody had sent a letter to the younger Vance claiming he was the innocent victim of a government conspiracy. "Had my Dad been murdered, I would want to know who had done it," Moody wrote. The younger Vance said he put the letter in the trash.

Vance said he had to make peace with his father's death, but said he has no doubt that Moody is guilty. He did not witness the execution.

The lethal injection procedure began at 8:16 p.m. Moody did not open his eyes or respond as the warden read his death warrant and asked him if he had any last words.

Moody's attorney, Spencer Hahn, said he wanted to know what the prison system "gave him before to knock him out and prevent him from getting to give his last words. There was no dignity in that room. This dishonored the memory of Judge Vance and Mr. Robinson," Hahn said.

Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said Moody was not given any sedatives.

In last-hour appeals, Moody's attorneys had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution in order to review whether his federal sentence, which was handed down first, could be interrupted. They also argued that the aggravating factors used to impose a death sentence were improper. The nation's high court had no comment on those last-minute appeals Thursday.

Moody's attorneys, in their unsuccessful clemency petition argued that his victim was opposed to the death penalty, and halting the execution would honor Vance's beliefs. Vance's son said his father opposed the death penalty personally, but also believed in following the law.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Thursday night that after nearly 30 years, "Tonight, Mr. Moody's appeals finally came to a rightful end. Justice has been served."