3-year-old's death spurs campaign to prevent abuse
Covered in bruises, 3-year-old Schala hid from her mother's boyfriend in the bathroom.
She squeezed herself between the toilet and the vanity and died there, alone.
The details of her death shook longtime nurses and veteran police officers.
Everyone who touched Schala's case - the detectives, paramedics, doctors and social workers - were so disturbed by what they saw last August that they took action.
They united with child advocates on a statewide campaign to describe the horrors of child abuse and what might be done to prevent it.
"I cried for two weeks, every day," said nurse Kepra Jack, who tended to Schala when she arrived at
"It was the hardest death I've had, ever, in 11 years. I don't know when or if it will ever go away," Jack said, tears still coming to her eyes seven months after the girl's death. "All I could think was, 'Somebody has failed.' "
Schala arrived at the hospital naked, her hair wet, her body purple and blue.
She had marks on her arms, legs, shoulders, head, wrist and back that matched the stitching of a leather belt that
Police reports say Schala upset her mother's boyfriend by not listening to him.
Susan Witbracht bathed her daughter that morning because she wasn't feeling well. According to the police reports, Witbracht's boyfriend, Dauntorian Sanders, then hit the little girl over and over with the belt.
Schala's face fell between her knees, and then Sanders whipped her back, investigators reported. She was picked up and dropped again and again on the bathroom floor, police say. While she was sprawled on the tile, a door was slammed repeatedly into her head, reports say.
Sanders went to Walgreens to buy cigarettes, the reports say. When he came back, Schala was naked, propped against the vanity, her legs in front of her, her eyes and mouth open.
Sanders calmly called 911. When emergency help arrived, it was too late. He and Witbracht were arrested. The case is pending in Maricopa County Superior Court.
"You get the job done. You can't be emotional about it. You can be emotional later," said veteran homicide Detective Gary Fuller, the lead investigator on Schala's case.
Fuller's co-workers say he was extremely professional and helpful throughout the entire case, but afterward, it was clear the tragedy had affected him.
"It's the helplessness you feel, and you're angry it happened, because there wasn't a part of her body that wasn't bruised," Fuller said. "By the time it gets to me, it's too late. I don't investigate child abuses. I investigate child homicides. And that is so frustrating."
In the week after Schala died, the hospital held meetings to help workers cope. Workers held a memorial service for Schala in the hospital chapel and invited police and firefighters to attend.
Her body was cremated and sent to her father in
Nine days after Schala's case, a 3-week-old girl was beaten and molested by her father. By then, Fuller's unit had investigated four child-abuse homicides in the past year.
Fuller asked the public-information unit to see if anything could be done. In response, Sgt. Joe Favazzo turned to ChildHelp, a national foundation based in
A dozen agencies, hospitals and police departments united to create public-service announcements and billboard advertisements and to start panel discussions on public-television stations.
They're planning a rally for the first week of April, which is national Child Abuse Prevention Month, and a proclamation by the governor.
In the first public-service announcement, faces of children flash on screen while a dispatcher talks a caller through compressions on a patient.
Two more videos are in the works for parents who struggle with anger and outsiders who see signs of abuse. The videos point both sides to resources that can help.
Please….. make sure your acquaintances who might be in the
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