Would you like a morbid and horrible story to start the day? Here, have this one about a North Carolina mother who, weeks before she and her boyfriend were arrested on murder and child abuse charges in the death of 2-year-old Macy Grace, commissioned a set of photoshopped photos of her and her ethereal daughter in a cemetery.
Macy was rushed to the hospital on Dec. 2, and according to police records was unresponsive and had bruises all over her body. Those bruises were consistent with child abuse, a Fayetteville PD search warrant said. The medical examiner last week ruled the child’s death a homicide, and her mother Jeanie Ditty, an active-duty soldier at Fort Bragg, and boyfriend Zachary Keefer were arrested and charged the next day.
In between, Ditty sought out the services of Sunny Jo, a Pennsylvania-based photographer who specializes in photoshopped portraits with deceased family members. Ditty told Jo that her daughter had choked to death on a banana.
“I felt so bad for the grieving mother that I decided to do $500 worth of work for free because of the situation,” Jo told WNCN-TV.
The result: images of Ditty reading with Macy, walking through the cemetery, even standing by Macy’s grave.
Jo says he was flooded with abusive and hateful messages after Ditty was charged. “I regret that I’m attached to a situation that is so evil, and is so vile,” he told Fox News.
“I find out that she wanted these photos just to lie to the public,” Jo told WNCN, “to cover up what she did so she can look like the grieving mother.”
Ditty, 23, and Keefer, 32, are each charged with first-degree murder and negligent child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury. Both are being held without bond.