Aminda Giebel: Mom Of Toddler Allegedly Killed By Stepdad Is Busted, Cops Say She Let Abuse Happen

Aminda Giebel, a 29-year-old mom in Mesa, Arizona, was arrested on Thursday and charged with doing exactly the opposite of what a mom should do — failing to protect her little daughter from a stepfather who regularly beat her, ultimately to death.

Police say that 27-year-old Andrew Isaacs, Giebel’s husband and stepfather to her children, beat toddler Joylynne Giebel, not even 2-years-old, so severely that the child stopped breathing and died at a nearby hospital on June 5.

Police were alerted to the alleged abuse when Aminda Giebel’s other child, a 4-year-old, spontaneously told his mother with a police officer present that Isaacs had “hit his sister in the face real hard.”

Isaacs himself admitted “smacking” the little girl as a form of punishment, but initially blamed the little girl’s fatal injuries on the 4-year-old boy, who had shoved his sister into a wall, he claimed.

The case attracted wide attention because Arizona’s Department of Child Services had received five previous reports of child abuse in Isaacs-Giebel household, but never pursued the case.

Aminda Giebel expressed shock at the time that her husband was physically harming Joylynne, known as JoJo — but now police say that she not only knew about Isaac’s beatings of the toddler, but she let them happen, failing to report the girl’s injuries to authorities.

“Aminda was not home when Joylynne was injured, but was home for several hours before the injury was discovered and did not seek medical attention,” Mesa Detective Steve Berry said, explaining the charges against the mom.

“Further interviews and investigation revealed that Isaacs had a history of abuse to the children, sometimes in front of Aminda. Aminda did not report the abuse or take any actions to protect the children from Isaacs.”

Giebel has continued to deny that she was complicit in the abuse that led to her little daughter’s brutal death.

“I sit in my room and cry. I get my bible out, and I pray to God that some light will shine, so that people who know me come forth and tell everybody what a mom I am,” she told KNXV News in Phoenix.

“I’ve always protected my children. I think what I’m being charged with is bogus, and I will fight it all the way.”

Aminda Giebel also maintained that Isaacs was a “loving, caring” stepdad who “never hit me, he never hurt the kids. We never hurt the kids, we love the kids.”

[Images: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, KPHO-TV]