Every couple of months,
Daniel Groves told his 15 year old son to pee into a cup so he could pass his
clean urine off as his own in his drug tests. Now, this wasn't a new thing.
His older son testified he'd been doing this for his father since before his
little brother Dylan was born in January of 2019.
Now it's one thing to fake a urine test.
It's much harder to hide a drug addiction when a baby is born with meth in their
system. Dylan was living proof that Jessica,
Daniel's wife and Dylan's mom, was also a drug addict. As a result,
baby Dylan was put into foster care,
but since Daniel was using his older son's clean urine to fake his drug
tests, the state had no proof that he was still using drugs also.
So the court returned his newborn son to him on the conditions
that he stay in contact with social services,
and that Jessica was not going to be living in the house,
but only allowed to visit while she supposedly went to rehab.
Dylan's body was found in June, 2019, but he was murdered at the end of March.
So where and how did the system break down?
And how were his parents able to cover up this crime,
at least for a little while.
I'm Chris with True Crime Recaps.
And I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you all so much for taking some
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So thanks in advance. All right, enough of that.
Now let's get back to the story.
So volunteer firefighters found baby Dylan at the bottom of a 30 foot well
across the street from a church camp in Otway, Ohio.
His bones were broken. He'd been drugged.
Wrapped in six layers of plastic and a blanket.
Bound with duct tape and buried in a makeshift coffin made out of two milk
crates weighed down with 18 rocks.
Daniel told the court he found Dylan dead in his crib on March 28th,
only hours after a visit from child services. Now, during that visit,
according to an investigative report, published by WSAZ news.
Jessica was visiting the house and holding Dylan who was dressed in a
long-sleeve onesie. Afterwards,
the social worker reported "everything appeared okay," but in actuality,
Dylan was already dying or may have already been dead. How do we know?
Because on the fourth day of her trial,
Jessica made a surprise confession on the stand.
Take a look at the next couple of clips from Law and Crime's coverage of the
case.
The injuries that Dylan sustained happened on what date?
March 27th. Dylan died on what date?
March 28th. Did you murder Dylan Groves?
Not intentionally.
She didn't "intentionally" kill him. Are you satisfied with that answer?
Because the prosecution definitely wasn't. Watch this next clip.
Tell the jury how you killed this baby. It was an accident.
Not your excuse. How did you murder this baby? How did you cause these injuries?
I have sit here and admitted. Answer the question,
please. How did you cause these injuries?
It was an accident. Not an excuse for what happened.
How did you cause these injuries? How did you cause those rib fractures?
By dropping, by dropping him?
How did you cause that complete arm fracture?
Nothing that I ever did was intentional. I'm not asking for your excuse.
How would you cause that complete upper arm fracture? Tell the jury.
I have to live with this for the rest of my life.
You have devoured my family.
I've admitted to my guilt.
How would you and I have to live without my children?
I'm done talking to you. You are talking to me as you're sitting on
the witness stand.
Now testimony from the medical examiner proved the injuries you just heard about
were only some of what was found on Dylan's body.
The autopsy report showed evidence of past fractures to his head and body.
So the abuse that eventually killed him had been going on since the state gave
him back to his father. But, and this is important so you can sleep tonight.
She did say Dylan was dead before they put him in the well,
but because she couldn't say specifically what injury might have killed him his
death was officially classified as homicidal violence.
In this clip from Court TV,
you'll hear their older son share how his parents explained Dylan's injuries to
him.
What were you told about what happened to the baby?
As well as if there's somewhere near the beginning? Uh, he,
I was told about him getting a,
like a dream catcher stuck within his arm and him
swinging a small, tiny stone up to his head. I'm not sure if that caused the,
the swelling of his head. I don't think, I don't believe it was.
When asked by WSAZ,
child services said they saw the family in early February when Dylan had been
returned to their custody, but it was hard to schedule home visits after that.
Daniel and Jessica were good at dodging them. Most of the time,
they wouldn't answer the door, ignored messages,
even after the caseworker dropped by their older son's school and tried to
communicate with them through him. In April,
Jessica and Daniel started making excuses for not showing up to custody
hearings, doctor appointments, and home visits.
According to the published report,
Daniel was using four different phone numbers to string his caseworker along
without actually agreeing to any home visits.
He even texted that Dylan was quote, "growing like a weed." By the end of April,
their attempts to cover up Dylan's murder was starting to unravel.
Jessica wanted permission to move back into the house.
Supposedly she'd been spending nights with friends and was only there during the
day. Yeah.
But social services found out she wasn't going to rehab at all.
That's when they decided that both boys needed to be removed from the Groves'
home. Their older son was placed with his aunt and uncle.
It was easier to relocate him because they just picked him up from school one
day and took him to his relatives. But when they tried to remove Dylan,
Jessica and Daniel just wouldn't answer the door. On April 30th,
they filed a missing persons report for Dylan. Now, according to WSAZ,
someone in child services suggested issuing an Amber alert,
but that idea was shot down because it would make the department quote,
"look bad for losing a child."
When police came out to their house in May,
Daniel and Jessica hopped on their four-wheeler and tore out of the yard,
raced across the field, and disappeared into the woods to escape.
A few weeks later on June 10th, the sheriff came back with a search warrant,
but the Groves weren't about to give up their secret that easily.
They barricaded themselves inside the house. After about 30 minutes,
Jessica came out with her hands up,
but it took a six hour standoff before Daniel finally surrendered.
As we already know Dylan wasn't in the house,
but police did find $42,000 worth of stolen merchandise,
including two four-wheelers, a camper, two trailers,
a utility task vehicle, and a riding lawnmower,
according to The Dispatch. When Jessica and Daniel were interrogated,
the officer testified that Daniel was obviously going through drug withdrawals
and lying repeatedly about where Dylan's body was until he finally pointed them
in the direction of a well that was almost hidden in an overgrown field.
In court he said he panicked.
Jessica told him that if the state found out that Dylan was dead,
they'd blame him since he had primary custody.
But listen to what the prosecution had to say about Daniel's "I panicked and
didn't know what to do" defense.
You were told that Daniel Groves panicked
and dumped baby Dylan in a 30 foot well.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, does this look like panic to you?
Does that? A chain? Three padlocks,12
zip ties, a wire ties, 18 rocks,
six layers of plastic and duct tape.
Does this look like panic?
I submit to you, it looks like extreme planning.
They want you to believe they're not complicit to their baby's murder,
but this, this is what they chose for a coffin and his buriel? Dumped
him in a well.
It still took the jury several hours to find Jessica guilty of aggravated
murder and other charges.
Daniel was found guilty of the slightly lesser charge of murder,
as well as other charges.
Jessica will be spending her life in prison without parole and Daniel was
sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 47 years.
This case also directed a major spotlight on the broken child services system in
Ohio, and the director ended up stepping down.
Let's hope it resulted in some actual changes.
Thanks for letting me recap this case for you.
And please remember to subscribe to get a new recap twice a week. And hey,
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Meanwhile, Amy's back with another mystery for you on Sunday,
but don't go anywhere before you watch this next recap. See you soon. Take care.