Here on Stolen Lives, we discuss brutal and heartbreaking crimes against children.

Themes may include child murder, torture, and sexual domestic and child abuse.

I do try to my best to remain respectful for the babies in these stories

and leave out unnecessary details that honestly, none of us need to know to understand the

frustration of why and how this ever happened.

However, if you find any of these themes triggering this podcast may not be for you.

Listen, our discretion is advised.

May 2015, La Plata, Maryland. An innocent picture of a mother pushing her toddler son and some playground swings.

What should have been a beautiful moment between a mother and a son. But something more sinister was at play.

This isn't a story about a horrid monster, abusing and neglecting their child until

they could know more. This is a sad story of mental illness, and what happens when that

spirals out of control. This is Gieri's story. Gieri Donald Lee was born August 22, 2011, in, Maryland to parents Remekiah Sims and James Donald Lee.

Sims had lived in Maryland her whole life, and growing up her future was promising,

graduating from high school with good grades and attending Bella University, studying to be a secondary school teacher.

During this time, Sims was living with her mother, Von Tasha Sims.

And for all intents and purposes, they had a strange relationship at best.

Something that would be in contention for the mother and daughter was when at university,

Sims became pregnant

and dropped out of her studies to focus on her child. Sims was dating at the time James

Donnell Lee, who was working as construction worker living in Washington, D.C. The two

meeting at a basketball game in 2008. This relationship was over before Gieri was born. But that doesn't

mean that Donald wasn't dedicated to being an active father in his son's life. He'd promised

...