9 Year Old Dies From Running, Parent and Grandparent Charged With Murder

9-year-old Savannah Hardin lied to her grandmother about eating candy bars and was punished. Her grandmother and mother made her run laps for three straight hours. At the end, Savannah was severely dehydrated and had a seizure. The poor girl died a few days later. Her Grandmother and Stepmother are now in jail facing murder charges.

Robert Simpson saw her running without being yelled at or encouraged but he had no idea he was witnessing a murder in progress.

He said,

“I saw her running down there, that’s what I told the detectives. But I don’t see how that would kill her.”

Savannah Hardin died Monday at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. the coroner ruled her death a homicide.

Gail Denny and her husband Phil, live up the road from the Hardins. Their grandson had a crush on little Savannah.

“My grandson asked her to be his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, and she said ‘yes,'”

She left a candle and stuffed animal outside the girl’s home Wednesday night.

Denny said the family seems very nice,

“It seems like a very happy extended family around here. There are mothers, grandmothers, kids. It sounds like a punishment that got out of hand.”

Savannah Hardin was a third-grader at Carlisle Elementary School. Superintendent Alan Cosby turned her desk into a memorial for her and let the students leave cards and toys in memory of Savannah. He said the school made grief counselors available.

Crosby told the Associated Press,

“This is obviously a very tragic, devastating, heartbreaking situation. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Do you think that Savannah Hardin’s grandmother should be charged with murder?