A 35 year-old woman will spend at least 18 months in prison for the death of her 4 year-old daughter in Johnston County nearly 9 years ago.
In July 2010, Helen Reyes left her daughter, Teghan Skiba, with her boyfriend while she went away to Army Reserve training in New Mexico. The three were staying in a barn behind a home east of the Smithfield. The barn had no running water.
While in the custody of Jonathan Douglas Richardson, Teghan “…suffered extensive abuse including beatings, bites and abusive head injury” according to her autopsy. She died as a result of intracranial bleeding from “blunt force head injuries” and “assault.” She had also been sexually assaulted. She died 3 days after being hospitalized.
Richardson had originally claimed the young girl had fallen out of bed.
In his 2014 trial, testimony showed Richardson used his hands and electrical cords as deadly weapons inflicting serious personal injury, restrained and terrorized Teghan, confined and restrained the young girl, and had intercourse with the victim. The offenses occurred between July 5 – 16, 2010.
Richardson reportedly told detectives he “lost it” after Teghan urinated and defecated on him in a bed they were sharing in a barn behind a residence on Old Sanders Road.
Helen Reyes had been away from her daughter and boyfriend attending reserve training. In his 2014 trial, a jury took only 3 hours to convict Richardson and sentence him to the death penalty.
Reyes, Teghan’s mother, was convicted of negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. She was sentenced on Wednesday to serve a minimum of 18 months to a maximum 31 months in prison. She was also recommended for substance abuse treatment.
