Left: Melissa Bilby and her daughter (GoFundMe). Right: Amanda L. Greger (Clermont County Jail).
In Ohio, a 37-year-old babysitter faces accusations of violently assaulting an infant nearly to the point of death while the child’s mother was away at work. Allegedly, she then attempted to hide her actions by cleaning the blood-stained items.
Amanda L. Greger has been arrested and is charged with two counts of child endangerment and one count of evidence tampering, according to official records.
The Goshen Township Police Department was alerted by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital staff on November 10 about a suspected case of child abuse. The alleged abuse reportedly happened either earlier that day or the previous evening at a home on Woodville Pike, involving a 1-year-old girl.
Medical professionals informed authorities that the infant displayed an “altered mental status” and visible injuries, including blood leaking from her right eye, along with a diagnosed brain bleed.
Investigators quickly identified Greger as the chief suspect. She was responsible for babysitting the child overnight while the child’s mother worked the night shift on November 9.
Upon returning home on the morning of November 10, the mother discovered her baby asleep. Upon closer examination, she noticed “abrasions” on the child’s lip and described her as “lethargic” and unresponsive.
Greger was asleep in the room with the baby when the mother discovered her daughter’s injuries. She was allegedly wearing a hooded sweatshirt that was “covered in what appeared to be blood and vomit.”
Investigators soon obtained and executed a search warrant at the Woodville Pike home.
“During the search, bloodstains were located throughout the room,” police wrote in the affidavit. “The clothing [the victim] had been wearing was found in the washing machine, washed but still visibly stained.”
The victim’s mother confirmed that the stained clothing found in the washing machine was the same clothing that her daughter had been wearing when she left for work the previous evening and before she suffered the injuries.
Lindsay Bilby, the victim’s aunt, started a GoFundMe page for the victim and her family. The page identified the mother as Melissa Bilby and described Greger as being a “lifetime friend” of Bilby’s whom she “trusted to protect and keep her kids safe while she worked to provide for them.”
The page also provided additional details about the victim’s injuries and prognosis.
“[The victim] was admitted to PICU [pediatric intensive care unit] with a brain bleed, bruised lungs, fluid along her spine, and fluid around her heart,” the fundraising page says. “She was intubated, then placed on a ventilator, and she is being kept heavily sedated to help her heal.”
Greger appeared in court on Thursday for a bond hearing where a judge ordered her to remain in detention in lieu of $500,000 cash bond. Should she be released, Greger may not have contact with the victim or any other children. She is currently scheduled to return to court on Dec. 1.
