‘I Should Go to Jail’: Mom Watched Dad Beat 5-Year-Old and Didn't Stop It, Cops Say

First, her father was arrested for. horrific physical abuse. And now, her. mother is also facing charges for. allegedly knowing about the abuse, but. doing nothing to stop it. We are going. to be taking a closer look at this. horrific case and the injuries that. little Isabella Loving suffered in her. short life with coroner Dr. Na. Rutherford. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Back in April, deputies with the Wo. County, Nevada Sheriff's Office made a.

horrible discovery. 5-year-old Isabella. Loving was unresponsive at her home in. Cold Springs, which is near Reno. They. got the call around 7 a.m. on April 3rd. They tried life-saving measures, but. Isabella was pronounced dead. And first. responders, they were quickly able to. determine that this 5-year-old's body. showed significant signs of abuse. Now, according to court documents that were. reviewed by my News4 in Nevada, dispatchers were told the girl had no. pulse, was cold to the touch, had been.

sick the night before. And I'm going to. warn you right now, some of the. descriptions are really, really tough to. think about because, for example, court. documents reveal Isabella, this young. girl, had more than 10 injuries to just. her face. So, you ask, who could do. that? Who could do that to a child? First responders said they found. Isabella in a bedroom in the upstairs of. the home on a tiny mattress. There was. no bed frame. They described her as. having oral trauma along with apparent.

bruising on her face, pelvis, hips, the. insides of her biceps, and on her. genitals. She also had multiple cuts, scabs, scrapes on her arms, legs, torso, face, including a black eye and a gash. over the other eye. Isabella's parents. were identified as Nicholas and Andrea. Loving. And according to the documents. that were seen by my News4, the couple, who had four children, had lots of. excuses for Isabella's injuries. For. example, both Nicholas and Andrea told.

police that the 5-year-old had been hit. in the face with a baseball bat by. accident, causing a black eye. Nicholas. claimed she also fell out of his truck. recently, and he had to quickly grab. her, causing the bruising to her arm. But then he said she fell out of the. truck a second time causing the gash on. her head when she hit the asphalt. He. also apparently claimed that Isabella. fell down the stairs causing bruising on. her butt. The parents claimed that they. were planning to take Isabella to a. specialist to figure out why she was. falling so much. Well, on April 2nd, Isabella had reportedly been sick for.

more than a week, coughing up mucus and. blood. And around 500 am on April 3rd, one of the other children woke up the. Lovings and told them that Isabella was. throwing up again. So the couple claimed. that they checked on her and that. Isabella told them she was okay. So they. went back to bed and hours later she. would be declared dead. Both Nicholas. and Andrea, they did interviews with. county investigators, which I will tell. you revealed even more disturbing. details about the conditions that.

Isabella was living in. It reveals some. of the allegations against Andrea and. what happened after Isabella died. So to. discuss this in a lot more detail to get. insight into these specific injuries and. what they tell us or what they may tell. us, I want to bring on an expert here. I. want to bring on Dr. Native Rutherford, coroner in Richland County, South. Carolina. Thank you so much, doctor, for. taking the time. Really appreciate you. coming back here on Sidebar. >> Absolutely. Thank you so much for having.

me. Nicholas and Andrea sound like. they're lying based on these injuries. >> Well, let's talk about it because we. we've talked about this before, right? Coroners and medical examiners, they see. some of the worst things a human being. can possibly see on a daily basis. But. to see those kinds of injuries on a. child, generally speaking, how do you. even conduct that examination? Like as a. h as a human being, it I I don't know. how you do it. It it seems like an.

impossible task. >> Well, I'll tell you, you put your. emotion to the side and you say, "What. can I do to possibly get justice for. this child?" So, the examination of the. body, just the external examination of. the body told them so much. the. responders on scene when when they did. the examination, all of the cuts, the. bruising, the changes that happen to a. body postmortem, they can be significant. in terms of color changes. So, when you.

have a situation like this where you're. seeing all these different injuries on. multiple planes of the body, you know. that someone possibly did this to this. child. And this is why the autopsy. becomes so important. So, you have to. put your emotions to the side. This is. definitely a story we wanted to bring to. you to shine a light on. It is so. disturbing but important to tell. And. one of the reasons that we can do this. to really dive into a story like this is. because of the amazing support that we. get from our sponsors like Upside. Now,

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description to download Upside or scan. the QR code on screen, but make sure to. use our promo code sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents back on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. According to the medical examiner's. office, Isabella died due to bacterial. pneumonia, but multiple blunt force. injuries, malnutrition, dehydration, and. medical neglect significantly. contributed to her death. So, Dr. Rutherford, I want to talk about each of. these causes of death and contributions. First, bacterial pneumonia. What is that.

a result of? Is that can that be a. result of physical abuse? Is there. another cause? What is that? Well, bacterial pneumonia is just an. infection in the lungs. And so if not. treated, it can cause a fatality. It can. cause the child to die. We see deaths. from pneumonia all the time. It can kill. you. But you look at the circumstances. surrounding that bacterial pneumonia. So. somebody could look at this case and. say, "Oh, she just died of natural. causes," which I'm sure their defense. will try to pull out someplace that this.

was a natural cause of death. But then. how do you explain with this bacterial. pneumonia. just taking that one diagnosis? Most. parents don't want their children to be. sick. And so if your child is sick, you're going to seek medical care and. attention. From the time the child is. born, every time you go to the doctor's. office, they're telling you, "Hey, if. your child has fever or sickness or. changes for more than 3 days, you should. take them to be seen by a physician.". even if they're taking medications, even.

the the manufacturer instructions on the. back of a medicine bottle will tell you. that if your symptoms persist more than. three days that you should go and seek. medical care. There's a point in one of. the news stories that I read about this. case that they said that it had been 12. days that this child had been sick. Your. child is vomiting multiple times, throwing up supposedly uh emmesis that. has mucus and blood in it. That is not. okay. So you just ignored these. symptoms. You didn't think this child.

needed to be seen. And that's where we. get this determination for manner of. death as homicide because they neglected. to seek medical attention for something. that could be fatal. >> What about malnutrition and dehydration? Because you can see how tiny Isabella is. in some of the photos that were posted. to Facebook. Lack of consistent food and. water to a body. I mean, that's the. parents responsibility. I imagine. >> it is. >> Yeah. Where is a 5-year-old going to. nourish themselves and and get something.

to eat or drink? Um the conditions that. is poor little this poor little girl was. found in is heartbreaking because. there's a point in one of the stories. where the dad is telling them that he. caged her. So, she couldn't get out to. even go to the bathroom, let alone try. to get food and help for herself. So, it. seems like this was a case of severe. neglect. malnutrition, dehydration, and. abuse that you just can't even imagine, especially as a parent. I just can't.

imagine someone doing this to a child. >> The multiple blunt force injuries. Is. there a way, doctor, to determine what. exactly caused those injuries? We you. heard me describe it a little bit. before. Could be accidents that the. child was involved in, not surprising. young children, fall, bump all the time. But but multiple blunt force injuries. Is there a way to determine exactly what. caused those? >> So, sometimes you can't tell exactly. what may have caused an injury. For. example, like a bruise. Um, yes, you.

could get that by bumping into the door. jam. Sure, you could get a bruise on. your arm, but on but does the bruising. location match the type of injury that. is being described. So, if she has. bruising to her genitalia, that does not. make sense. A child can fall and hurt. themselves, but bruising to the. genitalia, where did that come from? Um, there's a point where the mother talked. about watching her husband kick this.

child in her in her in her private area. I just I can't even imagine as a mom. what that like not reacting to that, but. maybe she was frightened. We we don't. know the ins and outs of what happened. in that home, but what I can tell you is. the multiple blunt force injuries to. this child. While we may not be able to. specifically state that, you know, a a. finger pinching her the inside of her. bicep caused this bruising, um, they. will look for pattern of injury. And I'd. be really interested to see what the. medical examiner came up with. Like, was.

there a shoe print? I had a case one. time where the entire boot print with. the logo was was on someone's face. And. so, I could tell police, hey, this. imprint matches the shoes seemingly that. the guy was wearing who called 911. You. guys should maybe look into that. So, when you see things like that, sometimes. things are very obvious, but sometimes. they aren't. >> Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's awful. Um, and. this is a collection of different. factors that we're talking about here. And the fourth one that we didn't even. get into is medical neglect. That seems.

kind of overarching. Is that just a way. to say that she needed medical treatment. and was denied it, never got it? Well, what we really look at as from the. coroner's perspective is to see did this. person act within reason for someone in. the same circumstances. So, if these are. two adults who do not have cognitive. disability, who understand, you know, logic and reason, they understand that. this child was sick at some point in a. two-eek period because 12 days is is.

essentially two weeks. They did not even. attempt to go and seek medical care for. her. throwing up blood is an ominous. sign. So, I would think that that would. trigger a parent to want to get their. child medical care. So, when we see. cases like this or when a child has been. diagnosed with something and the family. refuses to follow up, this is how you. could take something that seemingly. seems like a a natural death and rule it. as a homicide. because would a. reasonable person who wasn't trying to. hurt this child, who wasn't trying to.

neglect them, would they have taken this. child to be seen by by a medical. professional? And the answer to that. question is most adults don't want to. see a child suffer. They're going to. take them for care. These parents did. not do that. >> I want to go back to what Nicholas and. Andrea Loving as well as their other. children had to say to investigators. after Isabella died. So, according to. those court documents in my News4's. reporting, Nicholas denied ever hitting, spanking, shoving, kicking this. 5-year-old. He said he works a lot. He's. hardly ever home, so he doesn't know how.

she got most of her injuries. And his. story about discovering Isabella on. April 3rd also seemed to change during. the course of his interview because at. one point he said that he'd been awaken. around 7:00 a.m. to someone freaking out. about Isabella being unresponsive. Later, he told investigators that. actually he found her at 2 am and didn't. call for help for around five hours. because he was consoling Andrea. Hm. Dr. Rutherford, time of death. That could be. very critical to an investigation. Would.

would the medical examiner have. immediately known that Isabella had been. unresponsive for a period of time, maybe. a lot longer than what we're hearing. from this account? >> Absolutely. We look at something called. rigor mortise and we look to see if. someone's muscles have stiffened to a. point that makes sense for the timeline. that is given to us. For example, as. soon as a person dies, their body's. muscles will begin to stiffen. It starts. in the smallest parts of your body and. then works its way out to the larger.

parts. So, first responders, they would. have known that Isabella had had been. deceased if they've had if they've had. that type of training. If they haven't. had that type of training, they may have. thought, "Okay, she's cold to the. touch." Um, I don't see where she was. transported to the hospital. I thought. she was declared dead on scene, um, which is how they were able to examine. where where she was. But if that's the. case, one of the things that becomes. very important is how stiff were her.

muscles. So, even just taking your arm. and extending it outward, that's very. easy for us to do. We're alive and well. But for someone who's been deceased more. than 3 hours, their muscles are going to. begin to stiffen. And once you get to. the 6, 9, 12, 15 hour marks, that body. is going to be extremely rigid. So. that's going to be very important. By. the time the medical examiner gets that. body, it's going to be even more stiff. But then there's a period where the. rigor mortise begins to soften. And so.

the medical examiner will be able to. give some indicator as to a range for. time of death. It is not an exact. science and so they will have to just. give a range but they will use things. like levidity the color changes that. happen postmortem or uh rigor mortise. which is the stiffening of the muscles. that happen postmortem. M. Now, the. documents, they also discuss the. conditions that Isabella was apparently. living in because Nicholas allegedly. admitted to police that he kept, as you.

said, this 5-year-old in a makeshift 5-. foot x5 foot cubby in the room that she. shared with her sister. And he said that. she was locked in there sometimes as. punishment. Deputies that were executing. a search warrant also noted that the. other girls had a nice queen bed to. sleep on while Isabella slept on a small. crib mattress on the floor. The couple. also apparently asserted that they'd. previously been told not to take a child. to the doctor until they've been sick. for at least 12 days. Uh Dr. Rutherford,

this is I don't I don't even know what. to say about it. Is there any reason not. to take your child to the hospital or a. doctor if they're in distress? Don't you. do it immediately? >> You do. As a parent, when you notice. that something is wrong with your child, if you're actually taking care of them, then yes, you're going to take that that. child to be seen. Once the doctor sees. them, they may tell you, "Hey, this is. going to go away. Let me prescribe these. medications. If the symptoms worsen, then you need to come back in three or.

four days." Or sometimes they may say, "Oh, we'll see you in um in a couple of. weeks just to make sure that the child. is progressing. But if anything changes, please bring your child back." They. never went to have her evaluated so that. they would know that there is no. physician alive. No nurse practitioner, no physician's assistant, no health care. provider is going to tell you to wait 12. days for a child to be sick. Children. decompensate so quickly. And with. bacteria pneumonia, I'm sure that this.

poor sweet little girl was having. difficulty breathing. She would have. been short of breath. She would have had. issues with her lungs. And the fact that. she was actually coughing up sputum that. was stained with blood is is crazy to me. that a mom or a dad wouldn't look at. that and say we should take her to be. seen. Even the vomiting is super. concerning because she was so. malnourished. What was she throwing up? I would be very interested to see the. toxicology report for this to see if.

they were poisoning her or what they. were actually giving her that she would. have had the possibility to even throw. up. It's it's very disheartening that um. that these are the facts of this case. >> And when it came to Andrea's interview, My News4 notes that she told detectives. that she witnessed Nicholas kick. Isabella in the genitals, drag her by. the collar up the stairs. She also. allegedly said, "I should go to jail for. not helping her, and Nick should go to. jail for killing her." But Andrea.

wouldn't be arrested for several more. weeks, and we're going to get into why. that is in just a moment. But. investigators, they interviewed the. Loving's other children. And the. timeline changed again because the kids. said they were woken around midnight and. forced to go downstairs where Nicholas. told them that Isabella had died and. they might be going on a road trip. And. after detectives officially arrested and. charged Nicholas with one count of child. abuse causing substantial bodily injury, they reintered him, revealing what. they'd learned from the other. interviews. And the court documents say.

he then blamed the decision not to call. 911 right away on Andrea, saying that. was her idea. So you see everybody's. pointing fingers. But Andrea told. investigators that Nicholas wanted to. bury the body in the backyard and run to. his parents' house in Virginia. Andrea. was allegedly concerned that if they. left Isabella's body in the bedroom, quote, it would rot. That's according to. my News4. Dr. Rutherford, your uh your. reaction to this. >> So the the facts of this case are just. disturbing. the fact that their stories.

are conflicting, that the timeline. changes so much. Those forensic. interviews with the children become very. important because what did they see? What did they hear? And I'm sure they. will conduct more forensic interviews. with those children to get more details. about what may have happened to little. Isabella in that home. and did the other. children have any signs or symptoms that. they were also malnourished or that they. were being beaten or abused in any way.

These things will become very important. as this case progresses. But the fact. that the mother said that she should go. to jail and that the dad should also go. to jail, but him for murder and her for. not being reactive to the situation just. speaks volumes to me because those are. their words. These are not things that. the police are making up. These aren't. things that are just being thrown out. there as speculation. You have the. mother and father who ironically have. the last name loving, who were not being.

very loving to this child. They did not. have a loving home. What they did. seemingly based on the injuries to. Isabella's body is that they were being. very abusive. And I'm sure that the. arrest of the mom had something to do. with probably an investigation into. could she have possibly been a victim of. domestic violence? Was she afraid to. leave? I'm sure all of these things will. come up in defense, but I don't know how. you allow your child to be this sick, to.

be this abused, and you do absolutely. nothing. She didn't mention being in. fear for her life. She didn't mention. that she was afraid. It seemed like she. was in on this plan to cover this up. >> Well, a bail hearing was held about a. week after Nicholas's arrest, but he. didn't appear in court. Let his. attorneys handle it for him. Real quick, regarding the bond hearing on Nicholas. Loving that apparently happened. So, the. judge noted that she's required to give.

him a bond for the one child abuse. charge that he faces. So, she set it at. $10 million cash. He's also not allowed. to have any contact with his wife, Andrea, or any of his other children who. are now in state custody. And guess. what? Nicholas Loving had been convicted. of child abuse previously. Yes, Andrea. was dating him back in 2014 when he. pleaded guilty to abusing her son from a. previous relationship. According to. court documents for that case, he broke. the 2-year-old boy's arm and bit him so.

hard on the shoulder that he left bite. marks. Andrea actually argued for. leniency and despite facing up to eight. years in prison, he was given five years. of probation. Okay. So, Dr. Rutherford, back to you. How often do we see repeat. offenders when it comes to crimes like. child abuse? And yes, he might be. innocent until proven guilty with. respect to the current case, but h I. can't ignore asking this question. >> Well, I'll tell you this. Abuse usually.

starts small. People don't don't. normally attack in the biggest way. They. start with little things like neglect, not feeding the child, treating the. child differently from the other. children that may be in the home. And. certainly we see this in cases where um. the child is not the biological child of. the person who's doing the abuse. But we. also see this with biological parents. We've had a number of cases where the. biological parent for whatever reason. will target this one child and all of.

the other children are not targeted. And. so this is very common. Abuse starts. small. Maybe it's yelling, maybe it's. screaming, maybe it's taking toys or. just intentionally being mean. And then. it advances because for whatever their. reasons are, this child agitates them to. the point of them causing abuse to that. child. So this is not his first time. doing this, he's already had a. conviction for it. So while he may be. innocent until proven guilty here, we.

know that he had a conviction prior to. this. And so when we do child fatality. reviews, which are a federal mandate and. usually a state mandate to review the. cases of children who are killed, we. look at all of the factors that child. protective services um call that was. made for the two-year-old. We will look. at the entire history for this family. and we will look for any law enforcement. calls, any other signs of abuse and they. may even put those other children into. protective custody to make sure that.

they don't have contact with the parents. who are possibly the abuser. So there's. a lot that goes into a child fatality. >> Now we haven't talked about Andrea. Loving, what happened to her, right? So, there was a lot of community outrage. that she hadn't been arrested for her. alleged role in Isabella's abuse. But. that changed on July 28th when she was. charged with one count of child abuse. causing substantial bodily harm, the. same charge that Nicholas faces. And. Andrea's search history and text. messages reveal even more shocking.

information. Because according to court. documents that were reviewed by my. News4, Andrea indicated in text messages. that she only fed Isabella one piece of. bread a day. Josel Googled various. disturbing symptoms despite not seeking. medical care for the girl. According to. police, they included signs my child is. dying, dark blood on boil when popping, how long can you go without food, kidneys failing, my 5-year-old is peeing. blood. Andrea claimed to detectives that.

she never physically harmed Isabella. That that was all Nick. She said she. claimed Nicholas beat her more times. than she could count. But despite all. the injuries Isabella had, all the times. she'd fallen, all the really concerning. symptoms, Andrea said this 5-year-old. last saw a doctor in 2022. Andrea also. allegedly told investigators that they. kept Isabella out of school this past. year because of the marks and bruises. all over her body. And when she went out. in public, Andrea would put makeup on. this little girl and make her wear a.

face mask to cover up the marks. The. parents also indicated that CPS, Child. Protective Services, had recently. wrapped up an investigation into the. family, and it's unclear what, if. anything, came from that investigation. However, Ashley Vinnie, the aunt of. Andrea's oldest son, has been quite. outspoken about how many different. people failed this little girl. Vinnie. told my News4 that she and others. reported Nicholas Loving for abuse, but. that CPS the CPS case was closed in. March. She said in part, "Two weeks.

prior to the death, the kid was. malnourished, bruises all over her face, and to just say that you're doing a. great job and then leave the house and. close it. I was told there was an inhome. safety plan, but still these kids should. have been removed from the house." and. she and others are calling for Nevada to. enact Isabella's law, which would. mandate more welfare and random checks. in homes and previous child abuse cases. My News4 reports that a detective wrote. in official documents, "Andrea admitted. she could have and should have sought.

help but did not." Andrea said she. thinks about that all the time and said. she feels bad and guilty now. Her first. court appearance was continued to August. 5th when bail is going to be set and. Nicholas remains behind bars as well. Dr. Uh, Rutherford, I want to get your. final thoughts on what we just laid out. >> Here's the thing that's most disturbing. about this is that you have a mom and a. dad who are responsible in some way for. the death of this child and everything. will come out in the court documents in.

the trial, but you have people who. reported this. So, did this system fail. Isabella? Did this system fail the other. children who are in the home who are. witnessing this type of trauma and and. graphic abuse that's happening to their. little sister? This is a case where so. many hands are involved and so many. people will have to answer as to why. Isabella died. >> Dr. Nita Rutherford, thank you so much. for coming on. It was great seeing you.

and I appreciate you breaking down all. aspects of this very, very disturbing. story. >> My pleasure. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].