Savon Edwards -- Deceased 12/27/10

I received notification that Savon, who has been on life support for 2 years, has passed away. For those who don't know this precious little boy's story, you can view my post on him and the subsequent comments here:

http://www.flutterbyewings.com/?tag=savon-edwards

Please remember Savon and those who loved him in your prayers.

Oh my, I am so sorry for this baby. Why, why, why....

This is a very sad story. I'm sorry to hear that Savon passed away. It's a shame Savon's father only got eight and a half years in prison for what he did to him.

This is heartbreaking, it seems the mother supported the father.

Bless your little precious heart, Savon.

Oh flutter1, I am so sad after reading the above link. Savon was a precious tiny baby and I can't believe the monsters who did this/and allowed it to happen, are not being punished as they deserve.

But as the comments on the board said, they will be dealt with by the Supreme Judge, and we can all be thankful for that.

Hi, flutter1 . . . .

Thank you for starting a thread here for Savon. What a precious child!

I am so sorry to hear that he passed away but he had no quality of life based on the article on your site.

I want to believe that Savon flew up to Heaven on angels' wings. He is now in the loving care of God where no one will ever hurt him again.

I will remember little Savon in my prayers.

~ ~ ~ Rest in Peace, precious Savon! ~ ~ ~

OH Crime Cincinnati.Com » OH Crime
Updated: 1:01 am | December 28, 2010
Cincinnati, OH

Boy dies 2 years after shaking
Case exposed child welfare weaknesses

The machines have been unhooked and his body moved from a respiratory center in rural Kentucky to a funeral home.

Savon Edwards, who lived in a persistent vegetative state for two years and one day after being shaken so violently his brain filled with blood, was pronounced dead Monday.

The death could mean more charges for Savon's father, Ricky Edwards.

Edwards, 32, is serving the maximum eight-year prison sentence at the London Correctional Institution after being found guilty of child endangering nearly 11 months ago.

At the time he was injured, Savon became a poster child for a child welfare system that failed to protect him and let him live with a man with a history of hurting children and domestic violence.

After Savon was injured, one of his caseworkers was fired, two resigned and a fourth was suspended for 20 days.

Cincinnati Police Sgt. Robert Liston would like to see more charges leveled against Edwards.

Much will have to be decided in the upcoming days and weeks.

Read more: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20101228/NEWS010701/12290361/
~~~~~~~~

Very informative article! Includes picture of Savon. Also a pic of Ricky Edwards.

Savon's funeral was today. One of his maternal relatives left her thoughts on the event at my blog. It appears that the two families have not been brought closer together by the shared tragedy.http://www.flutterbyewings.com/?tag=savon-edwards

Hi, flutter1!

Thank you for letting us know that precious Savon's funeral was today. I went to your site and read the comment Gries left.

How sad that she did not attend the funeral due to a verbal attack by the father's aunt. It is unfortunate that the aunt could not put her differences aside for one day . . . . just for Savon!

~ ~ ~ Rest in Peace, Savon! ~ ~ ~

Imprisoned Father May Face More Charges After Son Dies
Boy Disabled By Father In 2008

POSTED: 7:14 pm EST January 1, 2011
UPDATED: 4:48 pm EST January 3, 2011
WLWT- Cincinnati, OH

CINCINNATI -- London Correctional Institution inmate Ricky Edwards could be facing more charges since his 2-year-old son died earlier this week.

Doctors and nurses unhooked the machines to which the boy was hooked up, and his body was taken to a rural Kentucky funeral home.

Savon Edwards had lived in a persistent vegetative state for two years and one day after being shaken so violently his brain filled with blood.

He was pronounced dead Monday.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/r/26340898/detail.html

Little one, now you are free to experience some relief from the body that kept you entrapped here on earth.
Now your spirit can soar with the angels.

Shaken boy's father indicted on murder charges

12:38 PM, Mar. 17, 2011


Nick Myers of Spring Grove Cemetery buries the body of Savon Edwards at Spring Grove Cemetery. Savon died Dec. 27 after living in a persistent vegetative state for two years and one day.


A 32-year-old man sent to prison after his infant child was shaken so severely in December 2008 that the boy never came out of a coma has been indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on murder charges.

Savon Edwards was 3 months old when he was shaken violently. He died Dec. 27, 2010 at the age of 27 months.

The boy had been living in a persistent vegetative state in a nursing facility in rural Kentucky. He was transferred there from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, after doctors said they couldn't do anything more for him.
Before the baby's death, Savon’s father, Ricky Edwards, went to trial on felonious assault and child endangering charges. He was acquitted last year of felonious assault but convicted of child endangering. A judge sentenced Edwards to the maximum penalty – eight years in prison.

Read more:
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110317/NEWS010702/303170042?odyssey=mod|lateststories

This photo of Savon Edwards was taken in Dec. 2008, days before he was shaken violently




Ricky Edwards was indicted Thursday on murder charges

So glad to see this news. This monster should never be allowed to breathe free air again.

flutter1 wrote:So glad to see this news. This monster should never be allowed to breathe free air again.

Ditto

~Snipped~
He was just 3 months old when he arrived at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Now, he's close to 6 months old and not expected to recover, family members and police say.
...
Savon's case led to an investigation and the resignation of his caseworker. One other Hamilton County Job and Family Services worker was fired, and two others face disciplinary action.

They placed the baby in the home of a great-aunt where his father - who wasn't supposed to be alone with him because of his violent past - also lived.
...
Relatives say Savon will never recover.

Tammy Gries refuses to believe that. "He's all right. He's doing better and I don't want to talk about it," she said last week.

Tammy Gries' mother and sister Liz, as well as Asher, all say Tammy Gries has serious emotional issues. Court records show she was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment. Records show she also served two years in prison for burglary.

"She thinks if she pulls the plug she will kill him," Jerry Gries said.

That's the dark cloud that hangs over Savon's case. Only his mother can authorize doctors to remove him from life support.

Yet family members say she won't do that because she doesn't want Edwards to face homicide charges.
...
Savon was Tammy Gries' fifth child, but her first son. Her first four children were taken away because she couldn't care for them. Tammy Gries left the oldest, now 13 and born premature, at the hospital, Jerry Gries said.

Tammy Gries, her mother said, was more interested in the baby's father than her newborn. She didn't have enough room in her life for both.

Jerry Gries and others in the family say Tammy Gries cannot take care of herself, let alone a child.
...
Savon was placed in the home of Edwards' aunt, Vivian Lumpkin. The household included Lumpkin; her boyfriend; her daughter, Fatimah Lumpkin, a mother herself with two children; as well as Savon and Edwards.

The safety plan called for Vivian Lumpkin to be the primary caregiver, with Fatimah filling in as a backup.
...
But the workers failed to document that and did not develop a plan to protect Savon, Gregg said. Edwards' aunt went to work, and his cousin, Fatimah Lumpkin, went to school. That left Edwards and - at times - Tammy Gries alone with Savon for hours.
...
Doctors have told the family his condition is deteriorating.

"That poor baby, that poor baby," Asher said, crying. "I don't think Tammy truly understands what's going on. I think she is so wrapped up in the fantasy world with Ricky Edwards, I don't think she can fathom all of this."

From: http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-14750.html

This original article from cinci news is no longer available. Edwards has a long criminal history and yet Tammy Gries, Savon's mother, continued to support and protect Ricky Edwards.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/pdf/OH_CE_291210.pdf

~Snipped~
"There is so much that is unknown," said Jerry Gries, Savon's grandmother.

But this much is known: The short, sad life of Savon has fractured a family and called into question whether Tammy Gries, Savon's biological mother, withheld permission for tests that medical professionals at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center wanted to do because she worried that her boyfriend, Edwards, would face tougher charges.

The case also showed how badly the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services handled it before Savon was injured.

Jerry Gries, who has been raising Tammy Gries' three eldest children since they were born, has been outspoken about her daughter's actions since Savon was hospitalized Dec. 26, 2008, after he stopped breathing.

"Tammy Gries' continued refusal to cooperate in Savon's management prevents proper evaluation of Savon's medical status," Juvenile Court records state.

Liston has called Tammy Gries' behavior shameful.

Saying it could do no more for Savon, the children's hospital asked that Savon be moved to Mount Vernon a year ago.

Savon could be moved only after a judge severed Tammy Gries' legal rights to Savon and made him a ward of the Department of Job and Family Services.

After he was moved, a Juvenile Court judge said he would not authorize the additional test that could have declared the infant dead, something the hospital and Savon's grandmother wanted.

"I feel Savon was done wrong," Jerry Gries said. "The fact that he laid there that long. He never should have laid there that long. Never."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101228/NEWS010701/12290361/Boy-dies-2-years-after-shaking

~Snipped~
Savon was never supposed to be left alone with his father, who has a long criminal record that includes a conviction for shaking another child and several domestic violence arrests, the child welfare agency determined shortly after Savon was born.

He was also not supposed to be left alone with his biological mother, who also has a criminal record, is considered mentally ill and has since lost custody of all five of her children.

As it turned out, Savon and his father shared a room and were often left alone when Edwards' aunt was at work and his cousin was in school. One woman, an acquaintance of Tammy Gries, called the child welfare department in 2008 telling them they she was under the impression that Edwards was being too rough with Savon.

"He didn't die on his own," Jerry Gries said. "What else can I say? Someone else killed that baby."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101228/NEWS010701/12290361/Boy-dies-2-years-after-shaking

Jerry Gries holds her grandson, Savon Edwards. This photo was taken on Dec. 14, 2008, when Savon was just three months old. On Dec. 26, 2008, Savon stopped breathing after police say he was shaken by his father, Ricky Edwards


Tiny abuse victim remains in limbo

9:30 PM, Feb. 12, 2010

He's cut a tooth. He weighs about 30 pounds.

But Savon Edwards isn't like most 17-month-old babies. He doesn't cry. He doesn't toddle on still unsure legs.

He doesn't even fidget.

Instead, Savon languishes in a coma.

Tests done a year ago revealed neuroelectric silence - indicative that Savon is brain dead.

Savon got to this place of round-the-clock care, first at a Cincinnati hospital and now at a rural hospital in south central Kentucky, after being shaken so violently he stopped breathing on Christmas night 2008, prosecutors say.

His mother's boyfriend, Ricky Edwards, now 31, was arrested on felonious assault and child endangering charges. He faces 16 years in prison if convicted of both charges. The trial, which starts Tuesday, is expected to take a week.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center doctors wanted to do more evaluations and tests which would have meant unhooking Savon's ventilator for up to 10 minutes to determine if he could breathe on his own. Such tests are a measure of the life Savon could possibly have.

Or not have.

If he did not take a breath on his own, he would have eventually been pronounced dead, family members say.

For now, it appears there never will be such tests or evaluations.

As they have for the past 14 months, tubes snake from Savon's body delivering oxygen and nutrients; machines take his temperature, record his vital signs.

The visits he had from family early on are now rare.

Read more of this story here:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100212/NEWS01/2130358/Tiny-abuse-victim-remains-limbo

flutter1 wrote:So glad to see this news. This monster should never be allowed to breathe free air again.

Hello flutter1...........let's hope he never sees the light of day again.

RIP Savon

'The only place she can see her child is in the cemetery'
Savon's dad/killer cuts plea deal
2:54 PM, Oct. 9, 2012

Three years after he was convicted of shaking his infant son into a living death and two years after the child died, Ricky Edwards admitted his crime Tuesday and will spend 13 years in prison for it.

Read more:  http://www.cincinnati.com/article/20121009/NEWS0107/310090069/Savon-s-dad-killer-cuts-plea-deal