'She was gone:' mother recalls loss of her child at neglect trial

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind.---There are few things sadder than watching a mother cry over her dead child.

But that’s what the court witnessed Tuesday when Kayla Vachon, a forklift operator who held down two jobs to financially support her family, briefly sobbed during her testimony in Allen Superior Court.

Michael T. Allen, Jr.

On trial is Michael T. Allen,Jr., 35,  her former partner and father of their 17-month-old daughter, Kaivonni. She died very early on February 25, 2021.

Allen was charged in March 2021 with neglect of a child resulting in death and aggravated battery, both Level 1 felonies that carry potential prison sentences of between 20 and 40 years.

Vachon said the little girl had been throwing up two days prior to her death and she'd taken her to the ER, where the doctors found nothing serious. She also notified her pediatrician, Dr. Lakshmi Yalamanchali, Vachon said.

Vachon went to work that day at 3 p.m., after Allen, the child’s caregiver, dropped her off at work.

Vachon checked in with him a couple of times, the later call around 7:30 p.m. She then tucked away her phone because using it was prohibited on the job, she said.

Around midnight, as she drove her forklift back to the drop off point, she noticed several missed phone calls from Allen.

When she called him back, Allen had already driven from their Moeller Road mobile home in New Haven to the Fort Wayne fire station in the 400 block of Rudisill Boulevard. He had been en route to Lutheran Hospital on West Jefferson Boulevard, but made the decision to stop at the fire station where EMS aid was available.

“I think she’s dead,” Allen told her when she called him back. 

Vachon recalled becoming frantic.

“I almost hit the forklift into the wall,” Vachon told the jury. “I told him 'you’re not telling the truth'.”

With no vehicle available, her supervisor offered to drive her to the fire station where she saw police cars. 

“Michael was yelling at me. I just wanted to be with my dad,” who lived behind the fire station. “The supervisor drove me and my father to the hospital.”

The probable cause affidavit written by New Haven detective Kurtis Jeffers describes Allen as “distraught” when he was at the fire station.

An FWPD officer confirmed with Allen that he was the last person who was with the toddler. Allen’s story was that the child had been vomiting. When he went to check on her around 10:30 that night, she was “stiff” and “not breathing.”

Vachon, who just after Kaivonni’s death was in contact with Allen and took his calls from the Allen County Jail, found it hard to believe the child would fall deathly ill so quickly. When she left around 2:30 p.m. - she was running late because she couldn’t find her badge - her daughter was fine. 

“She was eating and watching cartoons,” Vachon said. Vachon and Yalamanchuli both said Kaivonni had asthma, but it did not interfere with daily activities.

At Lutheran Hospital, the check-in staff didn’t have the baby’s name, but told Vachon and her father hospital staff was working on a 17-month-old. 

Vachon found the room and watched as staff pumped her little chest.

“I kept telling them to try hard, try harder,” Vachon testified. But “her eyes were open, not moving. She was just gone.” With that, Vachon dropped her head at she sat on the stand and sobbed.

Charges against Allen arose when Dr. Scott Wagner, a forensic pathologist, and the Allen County Coroner ruled Kaivonni’s death a homicide due to a torn mesentery that “could only be caused by hard direct force by something the size of a fist, knee or elbow.”

Wagner said the injury “could not be caused by an accident as it would take serious and direct force, such as a punch to the stomach,” court documents said.

Kaivonni bled internally and died within 10 to 15 minutes, Wagner said.

One of Allen’s attorneys, Greg Miller, said the defense agreed that the child died from internal bleeding, but he cautioned the jury to pay attention to “how” she died and specific terms. 

Miller described the CPR done on Kaivonni as “very forceful” on her chest and during that time, injuries could have occurred.

“She was vomiting and not her normal self,” Miller said. “Internal bleeding may not have any external signs.”

Miller defended Allen saying he checked in on Kaivonni three times the night she died and called Vachon, which was an important point.

“He called 9-1-1.” He was driving his daughter to the hospital when he realized the fire station was closer. “He stopped at the fire station. He was willing, able and cooperative with medical personnel,” Miller said.

Then, like most defense attorneys, Miller reminded the jury that to convict Allen, they had to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Miller is co-defending Allen with Nicholas Podlanski. Trying Allen for the state are deputy prosecutors Rachel Gschwend and Rebecca Grove.

This is Allen’s second trial for the same offense. In July of last year, the trial jury deliberated for six hours and couldn’t come to a decision. The proceedings were ruled a mistrial.

The trial recommences Wednesday at 9 a.m. with Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull presiding.