NC mother seeks answers, justice after daughter drowns at unlicensed daycare

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — Ginger Calder is pleading for answers and an arrest in the death of her one-year-old daughter Gianna James.

“I’m not going to be able to do her first date or her first crush, going to school, and everything,” Calder said. “Her birthday is on Oct. 19. She would have been two years old.”

Gianni was with an adult in the backyard of Mema’s Playhouse home daycare when she fell in the pool and drowned on Sept. 5, according to the Fayetteville Police Department.

According to Calder, police told her a male at the home daycare took Gianni out of the pool, then said paramedics found her naked and lifeless inside the home when they arrived.

“Story keeps changing every single time and I’m tired of hearing different stories of what happened,” Calder said. I want to know what really happened to my little girl.

On Oct. 2, almost a month after the incident, Fayetteville police arrested 51-year-old Melissa Ortiz-Fikes, the owner of the home daycare. She’s charged with operating a daycare without a license.

According to prosecutors, Ortiz-Fikes continued to run the daycare with multiple kids days after James’ death. Calder said she was shocked to find out the daycare didn’t have a license to operate. 

“[Ortiz-Fikes] told me how much experience she had,” Calder said. “How much nursing background she had. All the stuff she told me. I was shocked.”

According to Calder, her daughter started going to the daycare after recommendations on social media. Her 4-year-old son was also one of the more than 30 children who attended the daycare and witnessed the incident on Sept. 5.

After Ortiz-Fikes’ bond was initially set at $500, she bonded out of jail within hours. A Cumberland County judge raised her bond during her first court appearance on Oct. 3 to $50,000 secured, but records show she has bonded out again.

“To see how she can easily bond out, that makes me furious,” Calder said. “If she could have easily bond out, she could have helped me with the funeral. I didn’t have to do a GoFundMe page to get help me. And I’m still 100% grateful for everyone [who helped].”

Calder said she won’t rest until someone is held accountable for her daughter’s death.

“I want every one of them who was in that house to go to jail,” Calder said. “I want them to admit they are sorry for this.”

The case remains under investigation and more charges could be filed, according to Fayetteville police.