A 40-year-old nanny who admitted she fatally injured a 4-week-old baby under her care a year and a half ago in San Diego was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison.
Victoria Fox pleaded guilty August 31 to first-degree murder in the death of the child.
The case dates back to August 2021, when Phoenix’s parents traveled from Singapore to San Diego for a surrogate’s birth of twins because the couple had a difficult time getting pregnant, including failed attempts at in vitro fertilization.
Shortly after they found the surrogate, Phoenix was conceived ‘to surprise of their doctors,’ the court documents say, which was why his parents called him their ‘miracle baby.’ Fox News reported.
The boy, identified as Phoenix Grove, died Aug. 21, 2021, as a result of injuries he suffered when Fox threw him onto a bed, squeezed him and shook him because he wouldn’t stop crying, according to police and prosecutors.
‘After she abused Phoenix, she left him downstairs to die while she went upstairs and ate lunch with the other nanny,’ according to the sentencing document.
Eleven hours went by, and Fox didn’t call for help or provide medical care. When Phoenix’s parents returned from the hospital, they found him ‘barely breathing with blue lips and his body completely limp.’
Phoenix was rushed to a children’s hospital. He died on August 21, 2021.
Victoria Fox, 40, said through her public defender that she was ‘deeply sorry’ during Tuesday’s sentencing in San Diego, according to NBC 7.
According to Fox News, her apology in court is a stark contrast to the timeline of events outlined by prosecutors in the sentencing documents.
‘Even while Phoenix’s parents were at the hospital as their son was dying, instead of expressing remorse or at minimum, empathy, defendant instead sent a text message to them expressing her outrage that the police dare investigate her and treat her as though she was guilty,’ prosecutors wrote in the sentencing document.
