REMEMBERING ELLORAH

Ellorah Rose Warner had been in the world for only 19 days. She was born with gentle blue eyes and a full head of dark brown hair. She was her grandmother Nan Allison's first grandchild, and Ellorah was so new that gifts and well wishes celebrating her birth were still arriving in the mail when she died. There should have been an entire childhood ahead of her. First smiles. First words. First steps. Birthdays. School. Friends. A lifetime of discovering who Ellorah Rose Warner would become.

Instead, before she was even three weeks old, Ellorah's life was taken inside the home where she should have been safest.

ELLORAH'S STORY

On the morning of January 23, 2015, Ellorah's mother, Tawni Wallis, left their Newhall home to go to work as a daycare provider. Ellorah remained at home with her father, Matthew Brendan Warner. Her maternal grandmother, Nan Allison, was also in the home. During the morning, Nan heard unusual noises coming from the bedroom where Matthew was with Ellorah. She heard him speaking to the baby in an unusually stern tone. Then she heard Ellorah make a weak, muffled cry. As the day continued, Nan stopped hearing her granddaughter. At first, she thought the newborn had fallen asleep. But other things began to concern her. The breast milk Tawni had left for Ellorah in the refrigerator had not been touched. Matthew was behaving erratically. When Nan tried to use the telephone, she discovered that the line had been disconnected. Around 5:30 that evening, Nan went to a neighbor's home and called 911. She told the dispatcher about Matthew's behavior. By the time deputies arrived, Matthew and Ellorah were gone. Neighbors later told Nan that they had seen Matthew leaving the apartment complex carrying a small bundle. Later that night, Matthew and Tawni went to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station. They reported that their newborn daughter was missing. A massive search began. Deputies from three sheriff's stations searched through the night. Helicopters flew overhead. Search dogs were brought in. Neighbors joined the effort. People believed they were searching for a missing three week old baby. But Ellorah had not been kidnapped. According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Matthew killed his daughter inside the family's home on January 23 while Tawni was at work. He then hid Ellorah's body in the cab of a truck parked in a nearby parking lot and claimed that his newborn daughter had disappeared. The following morning, Matthew led investigators to the truck. inside the cab, deputies found Ellorah. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County medical examiner later determined that Ellorah died from blunt force trauma. The criminal complaint filed against Matthew revealed even more disturbing allegations about what Ellorah endured during the final hours of her life. Prosecutors charged him with murder, assault on a child causing death, torture, sexual penetration of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. The complaint alleged that the murder and sexual assault occurred on January 23. Ellorah was 19 days old.

WARNING SIGNS & MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

There were warning signs on the final day of Ellorah's life. Her grandmother was inside the home. She heard Matthew use an unusual and stern tone toward the newborn. She heard Ellorah make a weak, muffled cry. Later, she noticed that the breast milk intended for Ellorah had not been used. She became concerned by Matthew's increasingly erratic behavior. When she tried to call for help, she discovered that the telephone had been disconnected. Nan eventually went to a neighbor's home and called 911. She told authorities that Matthew was acting erratically. Deputies responded, but by then Matthew had left with Ellorah. Nan later expressed the devastating regret she carried because she had not realized what was happening sooner. She explained that Ellorah was such a tiny baby that she could not imagine her father could hurt her. Matthew was also under post release community supervision at the time of Ellorah's death because of a previous criminal conviction. In 2012, he had been sentenced to two years in state prison for unlawfully driving or taking a vehicle, and he had other previous convictions.

None of those facts, however, could undo what happened inside the home on January 23.

By the time Ellorah was found the following morning, the newborn baby her family had welcomed only weeks earlier was gone.

JUSTICE FOR ELLORAH

Matthew Brendan Warner was arrested shortly after Ellorah's body was recovered. Prosecutors initially charged him with murder, assault on a child causing death, torture, sexual penetration of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. On September 2, 2015, Matthew entered a no contest plea to one count of first degree murder. He also admitted a prior strike conviction for first degree residential burglary. The remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

On October 6, 2015, he was sentenced to 50 years to life in California state prison. before the sentence was imposed, Ellorah's mother and grandmother both gave victim impact statements.

 

Matthew Brendan Warner

Relationship to Ellorah: Father

Conviction: First degree murder

Sentence: 50 years to life in state prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

During the first frantic hours after Ellorah disappeared, the attention of an entire community turned toward finding a missing newborn. But Ellorah's grandmother later said something that deserves to remain at the center of her story. She did not want the focus to be on the man accused of killing her granddaughter. She wanted people to remember Ellorah. And that is what matters here. Before there was an investigation, a criminal case or a prison sentence, there was Ellorah. A tiny baby with blue eyes and dark brown hair. A first grandchild. A daughter whose family was still receiving congratulations on her arrival. A newborn so young that she had barely begun experiencing the world around her. Ellorah never reached one month old. She never celebrated a birthday. She never learned to crawl. She never spoke her first word. She never had the chance to become anything other than the newborn baby her family had only just welcomed into their lives. Nineteen days were all she was given. But the length of a life does not determine its value. Ellorah Rose Warner was here. She was loved. and her life mattered. Abuse Angels remembers Ellorah Rose Warner, the tiny baby with gentle blue eyes and a full head of dark brown hair whose life should have only been beginning. We remember Ellorah. We speak her name. And Ellorah Rose Warner will not be forgotten.