Dad murders 7-month-old daughter during "supervised" visitation; neighbors insist killer was "nice guy" despite mother's previous order of protection (Oxford Township, Michigan)

Some days I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. The father who viciously murdered this baby was a "nice guy" because...he cut his neighbor's grass. Meanwhile, Mom previously had an order of protection, which documents that this guy had a history of domestic violence. And got supervised visitation because of it. But it didn't matter, because it appears he attacked his own mother, the supposed supervisor.

Dad is identified as DARYNE GAILEY.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2014/11/oxford_township_father_killed.html

Oxford Township father found dead with 7-month-old daughter had turbulent relationship with ex-wife

Daryne Gailey, 29, and his 7-month-old daughter were found dead inside Gailey's Oxford Township home Sunday. The child's death is ruled a homicide and it appears Gailey's neck was cut with a box cutter. His 65-year-old mother, who suffered lacerations to her arm, was also found in the home by police.

Gus Burns
on November 24, 2014 at 3:53 PM, updated November 24, 2014 at 9:47 PM

A pink heart-shaped balloon, anchored at the center of a makeshift memorial with poems, candles and stuffed animals, jerked in the strengthening wind in the lawn of a home in Metro Detroit's Oxford Monday.

Inside the ranch-style home with a sloping backyard and elevated deck overlooking a nearby pond, two people, 29-year-old Daryne Gailey, and his 7-month-old daughter, Charlie, were died this weekend.

Oakland County investigators on Monday said an autopsy determined the infant died of blunt force trauma, the result of a homicide. Though Gailey's autopsy was pending Monday afternoon, investigators said it appeared his neck was slashed with a box cutter. The manner of death hasn't been identified.

Gailey's mother, whose account of what happened police haven't revealed, provided supervision to her son, who is developmentally disabled, while he had court-ordered, adult-monitored visitation with his daughter.

Police found Gailey's mother in the home, alive, with lacerations on her arm and had her transported to a hospital for treatment Sunday.

Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said police responding to the address for a welfare check with Gailey's father about 10 a.m. Sunday. Deputies found Gailey dead in the bathroom. His mother was incoherent, lying on the couch with her cut arm in a pail of water, McCabe said. Investigators hope to interview her when she is released from the hospital.

A couple who live nearby -- they didn't want their names published -- said Gailey picked up his daughter Friday and was supposed to return her to the mother in Tuscola County Saturday.

McCabe confirmed Gailey's ex-wife, Amanda Henderick who lives in Tuscola County's Caro, had full custody of Gailey's daughter.

The court allowed Gailey overnight adult-supervised visits every other Friday. Gailey usually picked his mother up at her home in nearby Addison and they drove to Caro to retrieve the child and and returned her the following night.

The infant never returned Saturday, prompting Hendrick to contact police. Oakland County sheriff's deputies stopped at the homes of Gailey and his mother, but saw no evidence anyone was inside either address.

Deputies went with Gailey's father to the house the next morning.

A neighbor said Gailey's dog, Gator, a Labrador, had been let out of the house and seen in the backyard Saturday. The dog, which suffers seizures according to one neighbor, is now in the custody of animal control. When the woman next door left for her bakery job about 3 a.m. Sunday, she said she noticed a exterior light had been turned on at Gailey's home.

By 11 a.m. Sunday, crime scene tape surrounded the house. Neighbors on either sided of Gailey's house said they heard nothing unusual.

Gailey had a 'heart of gold'

In the last year of Gailey's life, he married Amanda Hendrick, had a baby with her and then divorced.

According to court records obtained by the Detroit Free Press, a personal protection order was filed on Gailey's behalf against his ex-wife, but lifted in July.

Oakland County Clerk marriage records show the couple married in Tuscola County's Novesta during the fall of 2013. They filed for divorce in early March and an Oakland County judge finalized the divorce earlier this month.

A 23-year-old neighbor said Gailey's mother and father visited their son often to help him around the house.

He lived in the house alone with his dog, Gator. Oakland County property records show Gailey has owned the house since 2009.

"Daryne is a nice guy," Gailey's neighbor said, adding that he "seriously" doubts Daryne would hurt his daughter or mother. "He's a great employee at work, he cuts my grass ... He talks about his baby all the time ...

The neighbor described Gailey as "a little slow," possibly with a learning disability, but "a great guy."
"His whole phone was full of pictures of that baby," said another neighbor, who also asked her name not be published.

Gailey for the last 15 years has worked at as a clerk at Kroger in Lake Orion, a town just south of Oxford Township.

"He was a very happy-go-lucky guy, always had a smile on his face, always said hello to you, remembered every single customers' name," said Gailey's manager of five years, Jamie Babel.

"Everybody looked forward to saying hi to Daryne. He had a heart of gold."

She said Gailey loved anything that had to do with cars.

At the front of the store, a collection box was set up for donations to Gailey's family. Customers at a steady pace stopped to drop in a few dollars in the wrapped box or write out a check.

Neighbors on Monday placed an order for a memorial stone that they plan to place in Gailey's yard.

"No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye, you were gone before were knew it, and only God knows why," it was to read.

Neighbors said plans are underway for a memorial vigil outside Gailey's home at 148 Kintyre in Oxford Township, tentatively scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.