A New Jersey cop was arrested Wednesday in the death of his infant daughter seven months ago for which more than $17,000 has since been raised on Go Fund Me for funeral expenses.
Ewing Township police officer Daniel Bannister was charged with murder. His wife, Catherine Bannister, the girl’s mother, was charged with child endangerment.
Baby Hailey was only three months old when she was killed but prosecutors determined through an autopsy she had been the victim of an ongoing pattern of abuse in her short lifetime. The baby died from a fractured skull, bleeding in the brain and multiple fractured ribs, according to the Trentonian.
The Bannisters capitalized on the death of their daughter by raising $17,618 for funeral expenses on Go Fund Me, even though funeral costs rarely exceed $10,000.
Catherine Bannister also announced via Facebook earlier this year that she was planning on starting a memorial foundation honoring her daughter called “Hailey’s Hope,” intended to help “other babies live,” according to The Trentonian.
But now the baby’s mother is facing up to ten years in prison and her husband is facing 30 years to life for the murder charge.
