Everyone mourns in their own way. There’s no wrong method of coping with the death of a loved one—except possibly having the “angelic” ghost of your toddler digitally altered into various portraits of you.
That’s what a North Carolina mom did after the death of her 2-year-old daughter in December. Certainly the photos are a little creepy, but not as creepy as this: She’s now a suspect in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter—the same daughter whose etherial form appears in the photos.
Jeanie Ditty, a soldier at Fort Bragg, was arrested this week along with her boyfriend, Zachary Keefer. They’re charged with first-degree murder in the death of the toddler, Macy Grace Ditty.
Sunny Jo, the photographer who created the images of the heartbroken mom and the murdered angel, is livid.
Jo said he agreed to work for free, instead of charging a $500 fee, because of the heartbreaking circumstances of Macy’s death. Now he regrets the decision.
“I called the detective in charge of the situation, and I find out that she wanted these photos just to lie to the public, to cover up what she did so she can look like the grieving mother,” Sunny Jo told the Fayetteville Observer.
“That she used me, and possibly used this to make herself seem innocent? That’s the worst feeling in the world,” Jo added in an interview with WNEP 16, a local news station in Ditty’s home state of Pennsylvania.
The entire ghostly tribute photo genre feels macabre and a little cringeworthy, but what mourners do with their money is their business. Being tacky is not a crime. Murder is, though.
Mom and boyfriend are currently being held without bail.