In the summer of 2013, a tragedy unfolded in Savannah, Georgia, ending the life of 8-month-old Arizona Mozee. The infant female was found unresponsive in her bed on August 5th of that year. An autopsy would later reveal a horrifying truth: the child had died from a massive blow to her stomach, causing fatal internal bleeding. This discovery shifted the focus of the investigation, which was conducted by the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police, the Chatham County District Attorney's Office, and
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
After a thorough eight-month investigation, suspicion fell upon the person who should have been Arizona's protector: her own mother. In April 2014, Calabria Tiawana Bragg, who was 17 at the time of her daughter's death, was indicted by a Chatham County grand jury. Bragg turned herself in to the authorities and was charged with two counts of felony murder, cruelty to children in the first and second degree, and making false statements to law enforcement officers. The indictment and subsequent arrest marked a significant turning point in the quest for justice for young Arizona.
The legal proceedings that followed painted a grim picture of the circumstances leading up to the infant's death. It was revealed that on the very day Arizona died, a Juvenile Court had returned the child to her mother's custody. The prosecution argued that Bragg, facing the return of her responsibilities, 'lost it.' Bragg ultimately pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. In April 2015, a Chatham County Superior Court judge sentenced her to 30 years in prison, with the first 20 years to be served in confinement. The sentence also included a 10-year probationary term for child cruelty and making false statements.
