REMEMBERING AVA

Ava Renee Harford was only nine weeks old when she died.

She was the daughter of Kirby Gushee and Robert E. Harford Jr.

Ava had been with her family for barely two months. At nine weeks old, her world was still made up of simple things: being fed, sleeping, crying when she needed something and being held by the people she depended on.

Her mother would later describe Ava as her “little angel.”

Even her father, while speaking at his sentencing, described his daughter as beautiful, full of life and full of potential.

That potential should have had decades to unfold.

Instead, Ava’s life ended before she was old enough to sit up, crawl, speak her first word or celebrate her first Christmas.

AVA’S STORY

Ava lived with her parents on New County Road in Rockland, Maine.

On August 17, 2008, Ava’s mother was working at the Samoset Resort.

Robert was home alone caring for his nine week old daughter.

During the evening, Ava was crying.

Robert became frustrated.

He later admitted that he threw his infant daughter toward the floor.

He believed that as he threw her, Ava struck the side of the refrigerator.

Robert initially told investigators a different story.

He claimed he had awakened Ava for a scheduled feeding and accidentally dropped her while picking her up.

After Ava was injured, Robert noticed that her breathing was abnormal.

He tried to reach Kirby.

When she returned his call, she told him to call 911.

Emergency responders transported Ava to Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport.

Her condition was critical.

Ava was then flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Doctors attempted to save her.

They could not.

On August 19, two days after she was injured, Ava died at Maine Medical Center.

The autopsy revealed multiple blunt force injuries to her head, including skull fractures.

The medical examiner also discovered healing rib fractures that could not be explained by the fatal incident alone.

Ava’s death was classified as a homicide.

She was nine weeks old.

WARNING SIGNS

Ava’s autopsy revealed something that could not be explained by the assault that caused her death.

She had healing rib fractures.

Those fractures showed that Ava had suffered significant injury before August 17.

The available public record does not establish exactly how the earlier fractures occurred or identify who caused them.

There is also no reliable evidence that child protection authorities or medical professionals knew about those fractures before Ava was fatally injured.

For that reason, Ava’s story does not support a documented system failure in the way some Abuse Angels cases do.

But the healing injuries remain an important part of her story.

Ava was only nine weeks old.

She could not tell anyone that she had been hurt.

She could not explain how her ribs had been fractured.

She could only depend on the adults around her to keep her safe.

JUSTICE FOR AVA

Robert E. Harford Jr. was arrested shortly after Ava died.

He initially faced a manslaughter charge and was later indicted on both murder and manslaughter charges.

Robert continued to dispute parts of the prosecution’s account, including allegations that he had shaken Ava.

But he admitted that he became frustrated while caring for his crying daughter and threw her to the floor.

In October 2009, Robert pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The murder charge was dismissed as part of the proceedings.

On December 29, 2009, Robert appeared in Knox County Superior Court for sentencing.

The judge imposed a 25 year sentence, with all but 16 years suspended.

Robert was also ordered to serve six years of probation following his release.

Robert E. Harford Jr.

Relationship to Ava: Father

Conviction: Manslaughter

Sentence: 25 years, with all but 16 years suspended, followed by 6 years of probation

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Ava lived for nine weeks.

Nine weeks is enough time for a baby to become completely woven into a family.

It is enough time to learn the way she likes to be held.

The sound of her cry.

The expressions she makes while sleeping.

The tiny changes that happen almost every day during the first months of life.

It is enough time to imagine everything still ahead.

After Ava died, her mother stood in a courtroom and described the memory she would carry of her daughter’s lifeless body.

No parent should have that memory replace all the ones they expected to make.

Kirby should have watched Ava grow from a newborn into a toddler.

She should have watched her crawl across the floor and take uncertain first steps.

There should have been first words and first birthdays.

School pictures.

Friends.

Arguments.

Laughter.

A teenager.

An adult.

A whole person emerging from the tiny baby her mother once held.

At sentencing, even the man responsible for ending Ava’s life acknowledged what had been taken from her.

Ava had been full of potential.

That is perhaps one of the cruelest truths in the death of an infant.

Almost everything she could have become remains unknown.

But what happened to Ava is known.

Her name is known.

And the fact that her life mattered does not depend upon how long she was allowed to live.

Ava Renee Harford was here.

She was loved.

She was someone's baby girl.

Abuse Angels remembers Ava Renee Harford.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.