A North Carolina mother asked a photographer for “after life” pictures with her dead toddler—just one month after the little girl died from what doctors say were dozens of violent blows.
Jeanie Kassandra Ditty, 33, was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder and felonious child 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮 in the 2015 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Macy Grace Ditty, according to the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys.
A judge immediately sentenced her to life in prison without the chance of parole.
The case dates back to December 2015, when paramedics rushed Macy to Cape Fear Valley Regional Medical Center. The child was unresponsive and covered in bruises. Doctors soon discovered severe brain injuries that were not survivable.
Macy died two days later at UNC-Chapel Hill’s hospital.
At the time, both Ditty and Macy’s father were active-duty U. S. Army soldiers.
The father was called back from overseas to decide whether to take his daughter off life support, according to The Fayetteville Observer.
One month after Macy’s death, Ditty contacted Pennsylvania photographer Sunny Jo and asked for “after life” photos of herself with the toddler, CBS News reported.
Jo later told WRAL that Ditty claimed her daughter had choked on a banana, which caused seizures and oxygen loss. The photographer passed that information to law enforcement.
In March 2016, the state medical examiner ruled Macy’s death a homicide. Ditty turned herself in the next day.
Her then-boyfriend, Zachary Earl Keefer, was initially charged alongside her, but all charges against him were dismissed in 2020 after investigators determined he wasn’t present when the injuries happened.
This was Ditty’s second trial. The first ended in 2020 with a hung jury—10 jurors voted guilty, 2 voted not guilty.
During the latest trial, 16 witnesses testified. A forensic pathologist said Macy suffered at least 40 separate physical blows. The jury deliberated less than three hours before reaching a guilty verdict.
“Macy was a precious toddler who was loved by so many people,” Special Prosecutor Lisa Coltrain said in a statement.
What could drive a parent to cause such harm—and then pose for photos with the child they lost?
