REMEMBERING DOLCI

Dolci Gryshayeva was two years old when she died.

She was the daughter of Anastasia Gryshayeva and Daniel Vincent Aragon.

Dolci came from a family with an extraordinary gymnastics background. Her maternal grandparents, Roman and Iryna Gryshayeva, had both been accomplished gymnasts in Ukraine before becoming gymnastics coaches in Colorado.

Her grandfather had been a seven time national champion on the pommel horse, while her grandmother had excelled on the trampoline.

People who knew the family could imagine Dolci growing up surrounded by gymnastics.

Whether she would have followed that path herself would have been hers to decide.

She never received the chance.

Dolci was still a toddler when her life ended, just two years and three months after it began.

DOLCI’S STORY

Dolci lived with her mother, Anastasia Gryshayeva, in Lakewood, Colorado.

Anastasia was dating Keith Nick Ruiz.

There had already been concerns about injuries to Dolci before September 2011.

Approximately three months before her death, Dolci’s paternal grandmother noticed that she was walking abnormally and took her to an emergency room.

Doctors discovered that Dolci had a broken leg.

Jefferson County Human Services investigated.

Anastasia told investigators that she did not leave Dolci alone with Keith.

The family was referred to the Child Abuse Prevention team at the Kempe Center for further evaluation.

The exact cause of the broken leg could not be determined, and the injury was ultimately considered most likely accidental.

Dolci remained with her mother.

On September 7, 2011, Anastasia left the apartment.

Keith was alone with Dolci.

Dolci began crying.

She would not stop.

Keith later admitted that he became frustrated and snapped.

He threw the two year old onto the floor.

Dolci struck the floor headfirst.

Keith said he then fell on top of her.

Dolci stopped breathing.

At approximately 5 p.m., Lakewood police responded to a report of a child who was not breathing at the apartment in the 700 block of South Vance Street.

Keith was the only other person there when police arrived.

Dolci was rushed to the hospital with devastating injuries.

She was placed on life support.

For two days, her family remained with her.

On September 9, 2011, Dolci was taken off life support and legally pronounced dead.

The Jefferson County Coroner determined that Dolci died from blunt force trauma to her head.

The examination of her body also revealed evidence that Dolci had been hurt before the fatal assault.

She had healing rib fractures and other injuries.

The little girl whose broken leg had prompted a child welfare investigation only months earlier was dead.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Dolci’s death was not the first time someone had questioned whether she was being hurt.

Her paternal grandmother had previously confronted Anastasia about injuries she noticed on Dolci.

Then came the broken leg.

When Dolci began walking abnormally, her grandmother took her for medical care.

Doctors confirmed the fracture.

Jefferson County Human Services investigated, and Dolci, Anastasia and Keith were referred to the Kempe Center’s Child Abuse Prevention team.

Investigators were unable to determine exactly how Dolci’s leg had been broken.

The injury was considered most likely accidental.

Dolci remained in the home.

There was also information involving Keith himself.

Approximately a year before Dolci died, Adams County Human Services investigated allegations that Keith had abused his own children from another relationship.

Those allegations were ultimately considered connected to a custody dispute and were not substantiated.

Viewed individually, neither investigation established that Keith was abusing Dolci.

But after Dolci died, her autopsy revealed healing rib fractures in addition to the injuries from the fatal assault.

That finding raised a terrible question about what had happened to her before September 7.

Dolci was two.

She could not explain a pattern of injuries to investigators.

She depended on the adults around her to recognize that pattern for her.

By the time the pattern became impossible to overlook, there was no longer a living child to protect.

JUSTICE FOR DOLCI

Keith Nick Ruiz was arrested after Dolci was critically injured.

After her death, the criminal case proceeded as a child abuse death investigation.

Keith eventually admitted responsibility for the fatal assault.

He acknowledged becoming frustrated because Dolci would not stop crying and throwing her onto the floor.

He pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death.

On February 26, 2013, Keith was sentenced to 36 years in prison. His sentence also included five years of mandatory parole.

Keith Nick Ruiz

Relationship to Dolci: Mother’s Boyfriend

Conviction: Child abuse resulting in death

Sentence: 36 years in prison, followed by 5 years of mandatory parole

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Dolci’s life ended because she cried.

She was two years old.

Crying was still one of the ways she communicated frustration, fear, discomfort and need.

It was normal.

It was temporary.

It required patience from the adult caring for her.

Instead, one adult’s moment of anger ended everything that should have followed.

Dolci should have had the opportunity to discover whether she loved gymnastics like her grandparents.

Maybe she would have.

Maybe she would have wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

She should have been the one to decide.

There should have been preschool and kindergarten.

Birthdays.

Friends.

Questions asked endlessly because toddlers eventually become children who want to know why everything exists.

There should have been scraped knees that healed, illnesses she recovered from and childhood tears answered with comfort rather than violence.

Dolci also left behind something extraordinary.

After her death, her family chose organ and tissue donation.

Years later, her name remained among the donor families honored by Donor Alliance.

A life that lasted barely more than two years continued helping others after Dolci could no longer be saved.

But donation should never have been the legacy her family had to create for her.

They should have been watching her grow.

Dolci Gryshayeva was not simply the little girl at the center of a child abuse case.

She was a daughter.

A granddaughter.

A two year old with an entire future still unwritten.

She deserved the chance to write it.

Abuse Angels remembers Dolci Gryshayeva.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.