Chicago girl writes 'I hate this life' days before death
An eight-year-old girl who was found dead in her Chicago home had written a diary entry stating, 'I hate this life', just two days before her grandmother fatally beat her, prosecutors said.
Helen Ford, 55, is on bench trial on six counts for the murder of her granddaughter Gizzell Ford who was killed in July 2013.
The child, who was also known as 'Gizzy,' was found beaten on the floor of her father's bedroom wearing only torn green underwear, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Gizzell Ford, 8, (left) was allegedly beaten to death by her grandmother, Helen Ford, 55, in their Chicago home in 2013
On July 11, 2013, two days before her murder, Gizzy had written a journal entry stating: 'I hate this life because now I'm in super big trouble.'
The body was discovered after a paramedic responded to a call of a girl who was having trouble breathing, the paper said.
When Ford blocked the woman from entering, the paramedic pushed through to find the Gizzell dead on the floor next to a bloody pillow.
Officials said the girl was found so badly beaten, most of the hair on the back of her head had been pulled out and medical examiners found maggots in a gaping head wound that had been left untreated.
Haunting diary entries were read for the first time in court today, uncovering a long history of abuse that the girl endured.
'I know if I be good and do everything I'm told I won't have to do punishments,' she wrote.
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The girl's father, Andre Ford, who died in jail in 2014, had been bedridden due to an autoimmune disease
Cook County prosecutors said Ford beat the 70lb girl from head to toe and even wore a belt around her neck to use for punishment.
The pages in the diary showed the girl had documented the times she was 'good' or bad-behaved.
Weeks before her death she wrote: 'I hope that I don't mess up today because I really want to be able to just sit down, watch TV, talk and play with everybody.
'I am going to be great all day.
'Love, G.F.,' she wrote.
She later wrote underneath the same entry: 'Not true. I failed.'
The child had also written about her excitement to start the fourth grade the next month, to escape her home.
Gizzell had been under the custody of her grandmother and lived in the apartment with her father as well. Andre Ford, who died in jail in 2014, had been bedridden due to an autoimmune disease.
Ford had been the girl's only caregiver after she told a judge that the mother was homeless and could not get her to school.
The apartment building where Gizzell lived with her grandmother and bedridden father
Prosecutors also used cellphone video footage as evidence, which showed the father and grandmother stuffing a rag or sock into the girl's mouth as they scolded her for breaking the rules.
'She's getting defiant,' Andre Ford is heard saying in the video.
'She says she wants me to kill her. She also says she wants to kill herself,' he says as the child kept her head down and swayed from side to side, the site reported.
Court testimonies also revealed that Gizzy was denied food and water and was sometimes tied to her father's bed for days. The girl was once punished for trying to sneak a cup of water from the toilet.
Gizzell's diary also revealed she was punished by having to do squats for 'an hour or two', The Chicago Tribune said.
The eight-year-old's younger half brother, now aged ten, testified in court and stated he was also abused by his grandmother as well. He said Ford would force him to do squats and hold a book above his head, but he said his father did not abuse him.
He also told the court he had witnessed Ford hit Gizzy with a spatula, force her to eat hot peppers, and make her stand on one foot. The grandmother would beat her with a belt when she began to complain or cry, the boy said.
The Chicago Tribune said an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigator had visited the home a month before her death. A child-abuse doctor examined the girl's body and found injuries on her buttocks, however the suspicious marks were not reported.
Gizzell's maternal aunt said she had not seen her niece in months because Ford would often make excuses that would not allow her to see the girl.
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