Blake Hall
Murdering a child is inexcusable, full stop. Using that child’s image to create morbid “ghost” photos with the intent to deflect suspicion? That is a low no one should have to fathom. Yet here we are.
Meet Jeanie Ditty, a 23 year-old former body builder and active duty soldier in the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade. She has lived at Fort Bragg since 2013. Also, meet her boyfriend Zachary Keefer, a paramedic who also served in the Army for 12 years.
Both were arrested last week for the murder of Ditty’s 2-year-old daughter, Macy Grace.
Young Macy was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 2, unresponsive and covered in bruises. A medical examiner found that Macy had suffered life-threatening injuries consistent with child abuse. Kevin Ditty, Macy’s father and Jeanie’s ex-husband, had to return home from his military assignment overseas to take his daughter off life support.
A month after Macy’s death, the military mom contacted a photographer who specialized in “One More Time” tribute photos to commission photographs of her and Macy’s ghost visiting the girl’s grave.
Yeah. They are as appalling as they sound.
The photographer, Sunny Jo, did not know that the military mom was suspected of causing her own daughter’s death. Jo bought Ditty’s act, and was absolutely stunned when she learned the truth.
“I knew that it was a grieving mother, and I felt so bad that she lost her 2-year-old daughter that I jumped right on it,” Jo told WNEP-TV. “Knowing that she used me and she used this to possibly make herself seem innocent. That’s the worst feeling in the world.”
Ditty and Keefer are now being charged with first-degree murder and negligent child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury. If convicted, the pair may face the death penalty.