Aleyah McIntyre was supposed to come home to her father in Millville this week. A long-fought custody battle finally came to an end Sept. 3 when a judge ordered her mother to return Aleyah to the custody of her father, Kevin Maddox.
Now, Aleyah's family is at a loss for words — what they thought would be a celebratory and joyous reunion resulted in an irreversible tragedy.
Aleyah, 9, was found dead along with her half-sister, Royal, 4, in their bedroom at their mother’s home in Phoenix on Sept. 8, according to Phoenix police.
The girls' mother, Retta Cruse, 35, of Pleasantville, has been charged in Arizona with two counts of murder in the deaths of her daughters, police said.
“Instead of my brother going out there this week to bring his daughter home, he’s trying to find a way to bring her home in a casket,” said Terence Ridgeway, Aleyah's uncle.
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Just before 6 p.m. Sept. 8, police responded to a call of an adult male outside his residence pleading for help, Sgt. Andy Williams of the Phoenix Police Department said in a statement Sept. 9.
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Upon arrival, officers found the two girls dead on a bed and Cruse suffering from what were believed to be multiple self-inflicted stab wounds. Cruse was transported to a local hospital, according to the police report. She was arrested after she was released from the hospital Tuesday, and a secured-appearance bond was set for $2 million, according to KVVU-TV in Las Vegas.
Maddox is not the only family to suffer in this tragedy. Michael Coleman, the biological father of Royal, lost a daughter, too.
"It's a tragedy on both sides of the family," Ridgeway said.
According to Ridgeway, Coleman had been at the gym that morning and came home to find the house in disarray and found the girls "already gone."
"Unfortunately, I came home to a devastating situation where my daughters were deceased and their mother critically injured," Coleman said in an online comment. "At this point, there are still more questions than answers."
Cruse is accused of giving the girls prescription medications, causing them to overdose, KVVU-TV reported, citing the probable cause document in her arrest. Police said Cruse barricaded herself in her bedroom and left a handwritten note explaining the situation.
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Detectives said a prescription pill was found near the girls' mouths and a bottle of oxycodone also was in the room. Neither girl had obvious injuries, police said.
Investigators are still awaiting toxicology results.
Aleyah had enrolled as a third-grade student at Sunnyslope School this spring and was a fourth-grader at the time of her death, according to the Washington Elementary School District in Phoenix.
“The loss of the child is the most difficult situation for any school, staff, and our students,” the district posted. “Our thoughts are with the Sunnyslope teachers and staff as well as with Aleyah’s family during this difficult time.”
Maddox was unable to reach Cruse for nearly two weeks while Aleyah was with her in Arizona, Ridgeway said.
According to investigators, Coleman said Cruse was upset over a recent court hearing where she was losing custody of one of her daughters.
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“On Monday, she (Cruse) thought she and the girls had COVID,” Ridgeway said Thursday. “She isolated herself with the girls.”
Ridgeway said Maddox and Cruse had been battling over custody of Aleyah for a long time.
“Kevin was going to court all this time and winning all these cases,” Ridgeway said. “But nobody ever took the baby out of her custody. He was following the court rules. … We thought the fighting was over because he won custody, but now we have to fight for justice.”
Maddox's family has set up a GoFundMe page to return Aleyah's body to New Jersey for a funeral.
As of Thursday afternoon, the fundraising goal was a little over halfway to being met.
Coleman also started a GoFundMe page to cover funeral costs for his daughter. As of Thursday afternoon, the effort had exceeded its goal of $8,000. On the page, he said he had moved from New Jersey to Arizona with Cruse for "spiritual reasons."
A preliminary hearing for Cruse is scheduled for Sept. 23.
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