Episode 25: Alissa Guernsey Revisited
Suffer the Little Children
Suffer the Little Children Pod
4.6 • 993 Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2020
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In episode 8 of this podcast, I covered the tragic story of Alissa Guernsey, a 16-month-old girl who died in Topeka, Indiana in 2009 while in the care of her foster mother, Christy Shaffer. Christy was only charged with a single count of neglect of a dependent resulting in injury, and after only 77 days in jail, the judge in the case modified her sentence and released her on the spot. For years, the outcome of Alissa’s case has been surrounded by controversy, and most of the public’s outrage has been directed at two men: prosecutor Jeff Wible and Judge Scott Vanderbeck.
Jeff Wible recently granted me an unprecedented telephone interview, during which he clears up some misconceptions and provides answers to a lot of questions that have swirled around Alissa’s case in the eleven years since she died. On today’s episode, you’ll hear my recent conversation with the former LaGrange County prosecutor, whose side of this story has never been fully presented.
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Alissa’s story was originally featured on Suffer the Little Children Blog.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Oh, he's cute. Mr. I can never sleep when I'm traveling. He's hugging his pillow like a sloth on a branch. |
| 0:10.0 | He couldn't sleep before. Now listen to him. Sounds like an elephant with a chest infection. |
| 0:15.0 | Well, they call him a dreamer. And now they're right. |
| 0:19.0 | All aboard, Mr. I can never sleep when I'm travelling. Find all the comfort you need in the |
| 0:25.1 | quiet lounge. Pieno Ferries, there is another way. |
| 0:28.9 | This podcast contains descriptions of violence against children and adult language and is not intended for all audiences. |
| 0:37.0 | Listen or discretion is advised. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. |
| 0:45.0 | Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Hi guys and welcome to suffer the little children the, the True Crime Podcast, giving voices |
| 1:24.3 | back to the victims of child abuse and shining a harsh spotlight on the parents, |
| 1:28.0 | guardians and caretakers who silenced them. I'm your host Lane Lane, and this is episode 25, |
| 1:34.4 | Alyssa Guernsey, revisited. |
| 1:37.0 | I initially covered Alyssa's case on |
| 1:40.0 | Suffer the Little Children blog.com, as well as on episode 8 of this podcast. |
| 1:45.0 | I've been aware of a list's story for many years |
| 1:48.0 | and as I mentioned in the initial episode |
| 1:50.0 | she was one of the kids whose stories led me down this path and ultimately prompted |
| 1:54.5 | the creation of my blog and the podcast. |
| 1:58.3 | You may want to go back and listen to episode 8 to get the full scope of Alyssa's abuse, death, and legal case, the injustice of the sentence |
| 2:06.0 | given to her killer, and the controversy that has since surrounded Alyssa's story, which I'll recap |
| 2:11.2 | for you now. |
| 2:21.0 | Alyssa was born on November 2nd, 2007 in Columbia City, Indiana to her mother Kelly Spranger and her father Michael Guernsey. |
| 2:26.9 | Just after Alyssa turned one, her dad, Michael, was killed in a car accident. Her mom was devastated, descended into the depths of depression, and soon relapsed into drug addiction. |
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