Foster mom released from jail on bond

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) -- A medical examiner said the case of an infant shaken to death, in which his foster caretaker is a suspect, died from the worst case of shaken baby syndrome she had ever seen.

Virginia Beach police arrested 28 year old Kathleen Ganiere for the second degree murder of 9-month-old Braxton Taylor. She was released Tuesday, February 16 on $25,000 bond.

Kathleen Ganiere didn't testify during a hearing to determine if she would get out of jail. There on charges she killed a foster child in her care by shaking him to death. But her husband, Brian Kezer, when asked by a defense attorney if she ever harmed the child, said this:

"I observed the woman I have known and loved for 10 years caring for this child as she has for every child she has touched her entire life with love, with compassion, as if that child were her own," said Brian Kezer.

He testified the boy, Braxton Taylor, was 6 months old when they got him and had a number of medical problems, including seizures and tremors.

When you would hold him give him a bottle he would shake as if he were vibrating from the inside of his body and as you would hold him he would shake for a period of time," said Kezer.

Kathleen Ganiere appeared in a Virginia Beach courtroom where a judge placed her on home confinement and told her she can only leave the house for medical and attorney visits.

During testimony, the medical examiner said the baby suffered from crushed genitalia and had old and new injuries.

Taylor was the Ganiere's first and only foster child.

A search warrant obtained by WAVY TV 10 on March 11 stated that Ganiere told detectives she went online to learn more about long-term effects of drug-exposed children. She told police she wanted more information on symptoms exhibited by Braxton.

Police told WAVY.com Taylor died on February 7, 2010 at the Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters in Norfolk. Emergency Services personnel were called to the Ganiere's home in the 5300 block of Glenville Circle the day before and discovered the baby unresponsive in his crib.

Ganiere is charged with second degree murder.