Six-month-old Wyllow Brewer spent the days leading up to her death in excruciating pain from a broken arm that had become infected due to lack of medical treatment.
The baby, who had lost her voice from a cold, was unable to cry out in pain or distress and doctors at the hospital where she was pronounced dead found multiple signs of chronic and severe child abuse.
Her nose was red, she had bruising on her gums, lips and throughout her body. Wyllow’s right arm was “grossly displaced” and infected, and she had a fractured left arm and fractures to both of her knees, according to the Sheriff’s Department’s interim complaint.
“I was told that the baby would have been in a lot of pain due to this trauma,” one detective wrote in a search-warrant request.
By the time she arrived at the hospital, doctors believed that Wyllow had been dead for some time and likely died in her sleep.
Four people are facing murder charges in connection with the case including Wyllow’s mother, Kylie Brewer; Brewer’s live in boyfriend, Jon-Paul Bogdanowich; and Kaylie Gossett and Brianna Raidy, friends of Brewer who witnesses say lived in the home and helped care for the baby.
Brewer, Bogdanowich and Gossett were indicted on first-degree murder charges and two felony counts of child abuse in March. Their indictments state that from Jan. 5 to Feb. 19, they either intentionally injured Wyllow or caused her to be placed in a situation where her safety was at risk, including exposure to illegal drugs.
Raidy, 26, who was arrested three weeks after the other three suspects, has been charged with second-degree murder and two felony counts of child abuse.
Wyllow’s preliminary autopsy results were inconclusive as to cause of death and results are pending. It typically takes about two months to be completed, said Pima County Medical Examiner, Dr. Greg Hess.
On Feb. 19, the day of Wyllow’s death, detectives conducted multiple interviews with suspects and witnesses, with everyone providing conflicting statements as to who hurt Wyllow and who was ultimately responsible for the baby’s death.
The following accounts are pulled from more than 250 pages of recently released Sheriff’s Department documents.
Kylie Brewer
Deputies detained Brewer, 20, at her home after Wyllow was taken to the hospital, and in the three hours they spent with her she never once asked about her daughter.
“Mom has no emotion, no remorse. Never once has asked to go (to the hospital,)” one deputy wrote in the report.
Brewer never said anything to the effect of, “can you stop asking these questions, can I go to the hospital,” which he thought was odd, given the circumstances, the deputy wrote.
During the interview, Brewer spent more time talking to and about her pets than she did about Wyllow, repeatedly avoiding questions by trying to wrangle the 14 cats and two dogs that lived in the house.
Brewer told detectives she had been hospitalized with pneumonia for four days and had just returned home the previous day, and that while she was hospitalized, Gossett was taking care of Wyllow.
She described Gossett and Raidy as friends who would show up needing a place to stay and that Gossett helped take care of Wyllow, but they didn’t live at the home.
She admitted to using meth, saying she started when she was 13, but never used it around her baby.
Brewer told deputies Wyllow was “a little bit behind for a baby her age” and wasn’t able to sit up on her own or roll from front to back completely.
She initially said Wyllow had no injuries, but when confronted with the broken arm, said the baby had dislocated her shoulder two weeks ago while trying to reach for something.
“It was on her right side and she was trying to reach over and grab it, but she was using her left. Instead of using her right. Like use common sense child,” Brewer told the deputy, who replied, “it’s a baby.”
Jon-Paul Bogdanowich
During Bogdanowich’s interview with deputies, he said that Wyllow’s shoulder was dislocated Feb. 14, differing from Brewer’s claim the injury was two weeks old. He told deputies they had planned to take her to urgent care the day she was discovered unresponsive in her crib.
Bogdanowich, 19, was unsure of Gossett’s name and said that he didn’t know her very well.
He later admitted that Gossett put Wyllow to bed every night because he and Brewer were usually at their jobs at Target, saying that Gossett doesn’t live with them but is at the house every day.
Bogdanowich, 19, said he’d previously seen Gossett scream in Wyllow’s face when she cried and that he told Brewer the week before that he was worried Gossett would hurt the baby.
Brewer and Bogdanowich also told detectives they’d previously seen Gossett smother Wyllow’s face onto her chest to make her stop crying.
Bogdanowich said Gossett was the last person with the baby and he believed she was the one who killed Wyllow.
Detectives confronted him with a text message he sent to Gossett that said, “I kind of feel like (Wyllow’s death) is my fault but I didn’t really do anything ’cause I wasn’t around her that much ... as much as I wanted to be ’cause I’ve been working.”
He also admitted to seeing bruises on the sides of Wyllow’s head, but said she was punching herself in the face after they put her to bed, to which the detective responded that there’s no way a baby could punch herself in the face and leave a bruise.
Bogdanowich told detectives Gossett and Raidy had been sleeping on the couch the morning Wyllow was found dead and he heard someone run out the door and leave when he yelled to Brewer to call 911.
Kaylie Gossett
When she spoke to detectives days after Wyllow’s death, Gossett, 22, denied every hurting the child.
She said that in the past several months, Wyllow’s demeanor changed and she stopped smiling. She also noticed the baby always had scratches on her body.
Gossett said that Brewer always seemed distant with her daughter, and mentioned that postpartum depression might have been an issue.
“She was more interested in the cats than the baby,” Gossett told detectives.
Gossett said she had seen the injured arm and told Brewer and Bogdanowich to take the baby to the hospital, but said they apparently never did.
Detectives asked her why she didn’t take the baby herself and Gossett told them that since she wasn’t a parent, it “wasn’t her place.”
Gossett said Wyllow was lethargic, feverish, her arm appeared completely limp, she had no appetite and her raspy voice wouldn’t allow her to cry the day before her death.
Gossett told detectives she sat in Wyllow’s room while the baby slept and left “pretty early in the morning.”
Said she wasn’t there when Bogdanowich called 911 but was there when he discovered Wyllow, after which he told Gossett and Raidy to leave the home.
Several questions later, Gossett changed her story, saying that she’d actually slept on the couch that night and had told Brewer and Bogdanowich that Wyllow needed to sleep with them, since she believed she might be ill and wouldn’t be able to cry out since she’s lost her voice.
Gossett denied living in the home but a relative of hers told investigators Gossett was taking care of Wyllow in exchange for room and board.
Wyllow’s biological father
Wyllow’s father told detectives during a phone interview he had requested a welfare check the previous week after Brewer posted photos on Facebook that showed fresh needle marks on her arm from drug use.
It’s the Star’s policy not to name people who haven’t been charged with a crime.
Sheriff’s deputies who performed the welfare check said Wyllow was clean and in good health with no signs of injury.
When Wyllow’s father visited the home the next day, he noticed the baby’s dislocated shoulder and saw blood inside her nose and on her fingers. He said that at the time, all four suspects were home.
He admitted to knowing Gossett and Raidy, saying they used and sold heroin and that he had been concerned because they were taking care of Wyllow.
He told deputies Brewer was emotionally unattached to the baby. “She would sit on the phone and ignore her while she screamed,” he said.
Several times during the interview, Wyllow’s father asked how his daughter was, not knowing that she had died. When he was notified during a later phone call, he became openly distraught and was too emotional to continue the phone call.
Family and friends
Brewer’s mother told detectives she offered to take Wyllow while Brewer was hospitalized earlier that week, but was told that the baby would be fine with Gossett and Raidy.
While Brewer’s father said he had no concerns about the couple, Brewer’s mother said she suspected the pair used drugs and felt like there was “something off” with them.
Brewer’s father told detectives that he hadn’t seen Wyllow in several weeks and that Brewer had just admitted to him that she used methamphetamine and heroin.
Wyllow’s paternal grandmother told detectives she was concerned that Wyllow was being neglected and knew there were drugs in the home.
The sheriff’s documents did not include any interviews with Raidy, who was arrested March 21 after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Brewer is being held without bond in the Pima County jail. Raidy has a $1 million bond and Gossett’s is set at $10,000, according to online records.
Bogdanowich was bonded out of jail on March 2.
All four suspects have a case management hearing in Pima County Superior Court on April 17.
