Three people were arrested Friday morning in the “horrifying” child abuse case of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead from starvation, neglect, and pneumonia in her home last month.
Geanna Bradley’s parents, Brandy and Thomas Blasse and and her grandmother, Debra Geron, were charged with second degree murder, kidnapping, and unlawful imprisonment, Hawaii News Now reported.
The Blasses were the girl’s legal guardians but not her biological parents, police said. Geanna had been in the home since she was 2.
“It’s horrifying that this would happen to a 10-year-old or any child,” Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan said at a news conference. “This is not what we want our communities to raise children as.”
According to Hawaii News Now, police were called to the home on January 18. Geanna’s death was initially classified as unattended. She was found with injuries to her face and head, including her ears, eyes, forehead, cheeks, and lips. She had a road-rash-type injury on her chin, and part of the bridge of her nose was missing.
The Blasses and Geron told investigators that her injuries were the result of the girl’s tantrums, in which she threw herself on the floor. The nose injury, they said, came from a fall from a bicycle.
A pediatrician who examined the girl, however, said the injuries were “not expected in accidental trauma and are very likely from repeated abusive trauma,” according to KHON.
Police said they found photos on the suspects’ phones that appeared to show Geanna on an enclosed porch, her arms duct taped to her body and with duct tape on her eyes and forehead. Injuries on the lower part of her face and shoulder were visible, they said. Investigators also learned that Geanna had not attended school since October 2022.
According to KITV, investigators also found several videos on the phones showing the parents physically abusing the girl. One of them was taken on January 16, two days before her death.
An autopsy determined that Geanna died from starvation, blunt force injury from an assault, prolonged immobilization and physical restraint, medical neglect, and pneumonia.
The Blasses have four biological and another adopted child, a 4-year-old boy. A pediatrician who examined the boy said he was suffering from failure to thrive, caused by “calorie and psycho-social deprivation.” and that he showed signs of abuse. The four biological children showed no signs of abuse, but all five of the children are now in state custody, Hawaii News Now said.
The charges against the Blasses and Geron also relate to the 4-year-old boy.
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[Featured image: Geanna Bradley/Honolulu Police Department]
