Stepmother jailed for life after 3-year-old dies with more than 50 signs of trauma: ‘Justice was served today’

An east Alabama woman has been sentenced to life in prison for abusing her stepdaughter, who over 50 trauma marks covering her body and whose head had been shaved when she died three years ago.

Haley Dee Metz, 33, entered September in a blind guilty plea to aggravated child abuse of Aydah DiMaso, age 3.

A blind plea means there was no previously agreed upon sentence as part of the deal and a judge would decide her fate.

Etowah County Circuit Judge William Ogletree sentenced Metz to life — with the possibility of parole — on Friday.

Metz’s husband, Nikilas DiMaso, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this year to capital murder and conspiracy to commit child abuse. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“We are so grateful for the outcome,” Aydah’s grandmother, Shundra Powe Davis, said after Metz’s sentencing. “Today justice was served.”

According to charging documents, Aydah was killed by DiMaso’s “hands and/or fists” in October 2021.

She was found unresponsive in the bathtub after family members asked police to go to the DiMaso home on Crestview Drive Monday afternoon for a welfare check.

The family said DiMaso was granted custody of Aydah less than eight months before her death, despite her maternal grandparents’ fight to have her in their care.

Attorneys for Aydah’s family filed a lawsuit last year against the Alabama Department of Human Resources and individual caseworkers for their alleged roles in the girl’s death.

The lawsuit, filed by Birmingham attorneys Tommy James of Tommy James Law and Jeremy Knowles of Morris Haynes, alleges multiple failures by DHR and caseworkers to protect Aydah from ongoing abuse and neglect.

According to the lawsuit, Aydah’s filthy living conditions included animal feces and urine throughout the house, reports of DiMaso’s drug use, particularly a heroin addiction, and observations of Ayda exhibiting sudden changes in behavior.

The lawsuit alleges systematic failures and negligence that allowed the young child to remain in a severely harmful environment despite clear indications that he was in danger.

“This case represents a blatant failure of the system that is supposed to protect our most vulnerable children,” James said.

“Aydah’s death could and should have been prevented. We seek justice for Aydah and accountability for those whose conduct led to her tragic death.”

Aydah was described in a 2021 GoFundMe as a sweet soul with an infectious giggle who was loved by her grandparents who had fought for her custody.

Davis said there wasn’t a dry eye in the courtroom Friday.

“The images and text messages presented were so horrific that my husband, my mother and I had to walk out, and even the judge finally said he had heard enough,” Davis said in a Facebook post in Justice for Aydah.

She said the courtroom was packed with friends, family, the Gadsden Sheriff’s Office and Etowah County prosecutors.

“I am incredibly grateful to these remarkable individuals for making sure Aydah got justice,” she said.

Davis said Aydah’s family will do everything they can to keep Metz in jail.

“The fight is taking a new direction now,” she said. “With both people imprisoned, we can begin the important work of honoring Aydah’s name with laws that protect other innocent lives from such a tragedy.”