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Schenectady County residents Amber Geier and her boyfriend Rickey Loika were arrested Thursday, April 18, in the death of Geier’s 24-year-old daughter Skylar Pettit.
The young woman, who had Down syndrome and diabetes, was found dead inside her Rotterdam residence on July 31, 2023 following a welfare check requested by her school. Investigators determined that she had been dead for months.
“At first both of these people assured police that Skylar was fine. When the police asked to see her in person they admitted she was deceased for some time, Schenectady County DA Robert Carney said.
Geier, a former nurse practitioner, eventually confessed that Skylar had died in the middle of the night sometime in April 2023 and that she kept her daughter’s body in her bedroom because she “couldn’t bear to leave her,” Carney said.
According to investigators, Geier stopped taking care of Skylar in the summer of 2022 and quit filling her insulin prescription. The young woman eventually became bedridden.
An autopsy found that she died of natural causes, but her mother’s neglect played a direct role in her death, Carney alleged.
"It seems that at some point she just gave up,” Carney said.
Prosecutors said the couple continued collecting social security benefits for Skylar to the tune of $5,000.
Geier is facing multiple charges, including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and endangering an incompetent person. She is being held at the Schenectady County jail.
Loika is charged with concealment of a human corpse and hindering prosecution. He was released from custody on probation.
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