The case involving the death of a two-year-old Altha toddler just over a year ago has finally been closed with the sentencing of the little girl’s mother.
Toddler’s mom sentenced to 6 years for neglecting child
Jessica Dziura, 26, pled no contest to charges of child neglect causing great harm and an additional count of child neglect. Judge Allen Register sentenced Dziura Friday to six years in prison on the first count with credit for 420 days time served. On the second count, she was sentenced to five years in prison with the same credit for 420 days. The sentences will run concurrently.
Dziura’s live-in boyfriend, Stephen Aaron Young, 28, went before Judge Register back in March and was sentenced to 20 years for aggravated manslaughter.
As previously reported, two-year-old Anya Dziura passed away April 3, 2015, after spending over a day on life support. The investigation began around 11 a.m. April 2 when Jessica Leigh Dziura, 26, pulled into a gas station at the corner of Hwy. 71 and 275, then called the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) to report her daughter was unresponsive. Calhoun EMS paramedics, first responders and a nurse who happened to be passing by attempted CPR. The child was taken to Calhoun-Liberty Hospital then airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital where she later died.
The CCSO reports Anya had extensive injuries including fractures to the skull. After conducting an autopsy, the medical examiner determined Anya’s cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head. Anya had been in Young’s care on April 2 after her mother left for work earlier that morning.
One of the therapy rooms at the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center was recently dedicated in memory of Anya by her brave older brother, six-year-old Damian, Jr. A representative from the center commented, “No child should ever hurt, but all too often it happens. Anya left this world too early at the hands of her caregiver. Anya will never be forgotten and her memory will continue to live on as we continue to heal survivors of child abuse.”
Dziura’s live-in boyfriend, Stephen Aaron Young, 28, went before Judge Register back in March and was sentenced to 20 years for aggravated manslaughter.
As previously reported, two-year-old Anya Dziura passed away April 3, 2015, after spending over a day on life support. The investigation began around 11 a.m. April 2 when Jessica Leigh Dziura, 26, pulled into a gas station at the corner of Hwy. 71 and 275, then called the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) to report her daughter was unresponsive. Calhoun EMS paramedics, first responders and a nurse who happened to be passing by attempted CPR. The child was taken to Calhoun-Liberty Hospital then airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital where she later died.
The CCSO reports Anya had extensive injuries including fractures to the skull. After conducting an autopsy, the medical examiner determined Anya’s cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head. Anya had been in Young’s care on April 2 after her mother left for work earlier that morning.
One of the therapy rooms at the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center was recently dedicated in memory of Anya by her brave older brother, six-year-old Damian, Jr. A representative from the center commented, “No child should ever hurt, but all too often it happens. Anya left this world too early at the hands of her caregiver. Anya will never be forgotten and her memory will continue to live on as we continue to heal survivors of child abuse.”
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