Photo: Nate Liedl/Facebook
“I did want her to see me, I did want her to realize these are the people you are hurting,” Nate Liedl tells PEOPLE.
The girl allegedly told investigators she accidentally dropped the 6-month-old, Jaxon, causing him to hit his head on a stool. After Jaxon started crying, investigators allege the girl panicked that she’d get in trouble and then stomped his head to make him go quiet.
Jaxon died from multiple skull fractures on Nov. 1. Less than a week later, the girl — who has not been publicly identified because of her age — appeared in court, charged as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide.
“This is real, this actually happened,” Liedl says. “I hope that she understands what she did caused this outcome.”
Jaxon.Courtesy Nate Liedl
The girl’s case will most likely move to juvenile court, but because she is at least 10 years old her case was required to begin in adult court,according to theMinneapolis Star-Tribune. Liedl says he wants the girl to be tried as an adult.
“With her being so young I don’t think the punishment is going to be enough for what it should be,” Liedl says. “I have to deal with this for the rest of my life and Jaxon isn’t going to have a life, and to think that eventually she might or she could, it’s hard for me.”
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When he learned he was going to become a father at 37, Liedl says he was bowled over with gratitude.
“After so long, you kind of think maybe, ‘I’m not going to have children,’ ” he recalls. “When I found out I was having a little boy — I think a lot of guys always want a little boy to play football or watch football and all that, and I was really excited.”
Jaxon was “such a happy boy,” Liedl says, adding that he seldom cried, slept soundly and always smiled.
Nate Liedl (left) and his son, Jaxon.Nate Liedl/Facebook
“His mom would drop him off in [Green Bay] Packers clothes and as soon as she’d leave I’d change him into another little outfit. It was just always so much fun with him,” he says.
Awful Memories of Fateful Day
On the day Jaxon was mortally wounded, Liedl says he arrived at his son’s day care and saw an ambulance in the driveway. The day care operator was running towards him.
“She’s pointing at the ambulance and telling me, ‘It’s Jaxon! It’s Jaxon! It’s Jaxon! Go! Go! Go!’ ” he says.
Two days later, Jaxon succumbed to his injuries.
In an interview with police, the woman who runs the day care said she had been watching six children, including the 10-year-old girl and the infant.
The girl was living in foster care with the day care operator, who is a foster mom. Liedl says he does not blame the day care operator for the 10-year-old’s alleged actions.
The day care operator, through her husband, declined to comment to PEOPLE, citing the ongoing investigation. The girl’s attorney did not return a call.
Meanwhile, Liedl is left with his grief over losing his beloved son. He says he frequently looks at photos and videos of him, which bring a torrent of emotions.
“Pictures are nice,” he says, “but the video puts life into it. And that helps but makes me cry the same time.”
source: people.com
