When little Alana came into my life I was overjoyed. But I had no idea the danger she was in. By Sierra Kellogg, 32
I answered the phone and a familiar voice said, ‘I’ve got some exciting news…’
My big brother Josh
wasn’t usually one to call,
so I guessed that it was something important.
And when he told me what it was, my mouth fell open.
‘Married?’ I gasped. ‘What? Who to?’
‘Kassie,’ he said.
Her name rang a bell, but not much more than that.
‘I know we’ve only been dating a month,’ he said. ‘But it felt right.’
To find out Josh had got married in secret was a shock to say the least.
But when I got over that, and realised how
happy he was, I said, ‘Good for you. I can’t wait to meet her.’
Josh was 10 years older than me, and had been ready to settle down and start a family for a while.
And when I met Kassie, it all made sense.
She was lovely.
She worked as a nurse and had her own place.
‘Wow,’ I joked, ‘no wonder my brother married you!’
But the truth was, she
was sweet and beautiful and, judging by the way Josh looked at her from across
the room, I could tell he
was besotted.
Kassie had two children from a previous relationship and we all loved them.
But still, I was over the moon when a couple of years later, Josh and Kassie sat us down for a big announcement.
‘We’re having a baby,’ Josh said, beaming.
‘It’s a girl,’ Kassie added.
In time, she gave birth and I went to the hospital to see baby Alana.
‘She’s gorgeous,’
I cooed, as I cradled her.
It wasn’t long before I had a daughter of my own, and Kassie and I became even closer as we bonded over being mums.
'I can't wait to meet her'
She was my friend as well as my sister-in-law.
So, three years on, I was saddened to hear that things between her and Josh
weren’t going so well.
They were arguing a lot, and then Josh sent me the news I’d been dreading.
We’re over,
he texted.
My heart broke for them both.
But Josh got to see Alana every other weekend, and Kassie and I remained friends.
We kept up to date with each other on Facebook and, a year on, I was scrolling when I noticed she’d uploaded photos of
her looking cosy with
a new fella, a man
called Joshua.
I couldn’t blame her for moving on, but I felt something wasn’t quite right about him.
As I zoomed in on the picture, his arm around her, there was a look in his eyes that gave me
the creeps.
I hope he’s a good stepdad to Alana, I thought.
I found out they’d met through the hospital where they both worked. Joshua was a nurse too.
That he was in a caring profession like her should have been a good sign.
But, one night, I noticed Kassie had changed her profile picture.
There was no sign of Joshua. Instead it was
an adorable snap of her and Alana.
I wondered what had happened and three weeks later, I got my answer.
I was having a nap when my phone rang.
It was my dad.
From the echo on the
line, I could tell he was in
his car, driving.
He sounded in a terrible state, and what he told me left me reeling.
‘Kassie’s been killed!’ he shrieked. ‘She was stabbed
to death.’
‘Oh my god!’ I gasped.
‘Alana’s in intensive care,’ he went on. ‘She might not make it.’
I started to cry.
But Dad hadn’t finished.
‘It was Joshua,’ he said. ‘Kassie’s fella.’
I was stunned.
I got to the hospital as quickly as I could and, as I ran into the waiting room, I saw my brother.
Josh was usually the strong one, but he was in bits. All my family were gathered around and they filled me in on what had happened to Alana.
'How could he do that?'
She’d been stabbed eight times, including in her neck, chest, stomach and kidney.
The stab wound in her throat had split her oesophagus.
‘How could Joshua harm a little girl?’ I cried. ‘How could he do that?’
While we waited for news, a doctor came to see us.
‘Joshua is in the other ward over there,’ he said. ‘He’s being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.’
We looked at each other in horror. While Alana fought for her life on an operating table, the man who’d put her there was in a hospital bed just
feet away. It beggared belief.
Alana’s surgery went well, but she was kept under sedation.
In the meantime, Joshua was released from hospital, charged with second-degree murder and taken straight into custody.
Two weeks later, Alana woke and started to respond to treatment.
It was a relief, but she had a long road ahead of her as she’d have to learn to walk and eat properly again.
And then there was the fact she’d lost her mum – and the circumstances were horrific.
We found out that two days before Kassie died, she’d broken up with Joshua and thrown him out of the house.
He’d bombarded her with more than 100 texts. Then he went over to the house and locked himself in the garage with Kassie and Alana.
When Kassie’s older children returned home, they couldn’t get in. They used a ladder to climb through a window and found their home trashed and the door to the garage locked.
Then they heard an engine running.
Panicking, they called the police who broke in and found the devastating scene.
Kassie was already dead from multiple stab wounds, and five-year-old Alana was bleeding on the floor.
There was blood everywhere, and small bloody hand and footprints on the floor.
Police found Joshua conscious but suffering the effects of breathing in the exhaust fumes.
He’d turned on the engines of the two cars in the garage and left them running.
There was still blood on his hands and police suspected he was trying to kill himself.
A bloodied knife was also found in the garage.
On the way to hospital, Alana was able to tell paramedics what had happened to her.
‘The man stabbed me,’
she said.
As she began her slow recovery, the case took months to reach court.
It was nearly two years later when Joshua Phillips, 43, finally admitted Kassie’s murder and the attempted murder of Alana.
Court documents revealed Kassie, 35, had been stabbed 26 times. The fatal wound was the one that pierced her heart.
The documents also revealed she and Joshua had been arguing, and it was likely he’d been violent towards her for a while –
as we discovered he had a history of assaulting partners.
Although a few of us suspected there was something strange about Joshua, none of us realised just how dangerous he was.
And if Kassie had known about his violent past, there’s no way she would have brought him into their lives.
Joshua was brought into court in a wheelchair after a previous suicide attempt left him with health issues. But we had no sympathy for him.
He was jailed for 36 years, but no sentence could ever be enough for what he’d done.
As a nurse, he was supposed to save lives, not take them.
And it’s chilling to think that someone in whose role was to care for people could be so dangerous.
Our only comfort is that Alana is now recovering. Slowly, she’s started eating and walking again.
She lives with family members and is having therapy to help her deal with the immense trauma.
After everything she’s been through, she’s still a happy child. But my heart breaks
for her that she’ll grow up without her mum.
Our beautiful little girl does not deserve that.
• Alana’s name has been changed
Pictures: The Spokesman-Review