Left: Melissa Bilby and her daughter (GoFundMe). Right: Amanda L. Greger (Clermont County Jail).
A 37-year-old babysitter in Ohio is accused of nearly beating an infant in her care to death while the mother was at work, then attempting to cover up her crime by laundering the blood-stained evidence.
Amanda L. Greger was taken into custody and charged with two counts of endangering a child and one count of tampering with evidence, records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, staff at Cincinnati Children's Hospital on Nov. 10 contacted the Goshen Township Police Department regarding a suspected case of child abuse. The abuse allegedly took place earlier that day or the previous evening at a residence on Woodville Pike and the victim was a 1-year-old girl.
The medical staff told authorities that the infant presented with an "altered mental status" and had suffered multiple visible injuries, including blood that was "seeping from [the] right eye." Doctors also diagnosed the infant with a brain bleed.
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Investigators quickly homed in on Greger as the primary suspect in the case. Greger had been babysitting the victim overnight while the victim's mom was at work on the evening of Nov. 9.
The mom told investigators that when she returned home from work on the morning of Nov. 10, she found the baby asleep. However, upon closer inspection, the mother said she noticed "abrasions" on the infant's lip and described the child as being "lethargic." The mother said she was "unable to wake" the girl.
Greger was asleep in the room with the baby when the mother discovered her daughter's injuries. She was allegedly wearing a hooded sweatshirt that was "covered in what appeared to be blood and vomit."
Investigators soon obtained and executed a search warrant at the Woodville Pike home.
"During the search, bloodstains were located throughout the room," police wrote in the affidavit. "The clothing [the victim] had been wearing was found in the washing machine, washed but still visibly stained."
The victim's mother confirmed that the stained clothing found in the washing machine was the same clothing that her daughter had been wearing when she left for work the previous evening and before she suffered the injuries.
Lindsay Bilby, the victim's aunt, started a GoFundMe page for the victim and her family. The page identified the mother as Melissa Bilby and described Greger as being a "lifetime friend" of Bilby's whom she "trusted to protect and keep her kids safe while she worked to provide for them."
The page also provided additional details about the victim's injuries and prognosis.
"[The victim] was admitted to PICU [pediatric intensive care unit] with a brain bleed, bruised lungs, fluid along her spine, and fluid around her heart," the fundraising page says. "She was intubated, then placed on a ventilator, and she is being kept heavily sedated to help her heal."
Greger appeared in court on Thursday for a bond hearing where a judge ordered her to remain in detention in lieu of $500,000 cash bond. Should she be released, Greger may not have contact with the victim or any other children. She is currently scheduled to return to court on Dec. 1.
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