When Kristen Gravitt closed her eyes, she used to see her 1-month-old daughter lying dead on the floor.
The 27-year-old from Dalton, Ga., said she was fearful she would relive the experience when she testified at her former husband’s trial on charges of killing the little girl.
“I used to lay in bed wondering what I would say,” she said. “Can I talk without crying about it?”
A week after Gravitt’s former husband, Nathaniel Hester, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Whitfield County Superior Court, she said she is beginning to find closure.
Hester, 30, was charged with killing Piper Hayden Hester while high on alcohol and drugs in the couple’s Dalton home last August. An autopsy revealed Piper had a large skull fracture, several broken ribs and a broken femur.
“It was one of the worst cases of child abuse I’d ever seen,” said Whitfield County Coroner Bobbie Dixon.
Hester was charged with felony murder, cruelty to children and obstruction to an officer, but he pleaded guilty to lesser charges, said Kermit McManus, Conasauga Judicial Circuit district attorney.
Hester was sentenced to 18 years in prison and two years on probation.
McManus said Gravitt reportedly was drinking with Hester the night Piper died, but she said she went to bed before anything happened. She woke up around 3 a.m., didn’t find the baby in her bed and began to search the house.
Gravitt said she found Piper lying on the floor and tried to revive her, not realizing the child was dead.
“After that night, I never saw either one of them again,” she said.
Her family members are grateful the trial no longer is hanging over everyone’s head, Gravitt said, but she wishes Hester had been given a longer sentence.
“I can’t do anything for her again. I hold on to the fact that at least I can get her justice,” she said. “I hope I did.”
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