Claiming they had been in a bad car accident, Timothy Warner brought his foster child, Sierra Odom, to the U.S.M.D. Hospital in Arlington Texas. At about 11:30pm, Police were called because the medical staff didn't think that the injuries they saw on Sierra were due to a car accident. They were right!

Sierra Odom and her seven year old brother, Dante, were taken away from  their biological mother, Heather Jamieson in October with Child Protective Services claiming that Heather had a drug problem. Dante was placed with an Unlce and Aunt and they were expected to become his permanent guardians. Sierra went to a foster home and was placed with Timothy Warner and his  wife. The home of the Warner's housed seven children in all. Four of them were the biological children of the Warner's and three were foster children.

An arrest warrant was issued for Timothy Rashon Warner III and the arrest was made without any problems at about 10:00am. The warrant was issued for injury to a child with serious bodily injury. Bail was set at $250,000. and the charge would change when the mecical examiner released the cause of death.

Timothy claimed that he had been taking Sierra out for icecream when he had to swerve to avoid hitting a possom. He said his car hit a brick pillar and that Sierra flew from the backseat to the front seat. Police were suspicious of this explanation since the SUV he had been driving suffered only minimal damage and the airbag had not even deployed. An accident investigator said that the SUV was likely only traveling five to ten miles an hour and that there was evidence that the swerve was in one diretion where he avoided hitting a tree and then it seemed to intentionally swerve in the other direction so that he could hit the pillar. 

Sierra had bruises from head to toe and they were in various statges of healing. Timothy changed his story to say that Sierra had fallen and her head had hit a bookcase and then she had tripped over the vacuum cleaner. As he slammed his fist down on the table for emphasis, he said that every time she had fallen, she hit like a ton of bricks. He claimed that Sierra had asked him to help her after she fell:

"You take care of me Big Tim. You take care of me" 

Timothy said he lied about the car wreck to cover up her injuries. When Valena Warner, his wife, was interviewed, he changed his story yet again. At that time Timothy told a Police Officer that several days earlier, Sierra had smeared the wall with feces and that he had hit her for it. He said that could explain some of her bruises. The real story started to come out as he said that he was upset with her for hitting one of his biological children, the night she died. Timothy says he tried to put her in time out and she refused to go and ran to one of the bedrooms in their home. He said he grabbed her by the face and shoved her into the bookcase. Sierra hit her had on the bottom shelf, her eyes rolled back up into her head and she went pale.

Timothy and his wife didn't take Sierra to the hospital at that time. Instead, they put her in front of a fan, did CPR and put her in a tub of hot water. When none of this worked, they made up the story about the car accident.

In court, Joe J. Johnson Jr, Timothy's lawyer tryied to get his video taped confession banned from the jury. Claims were made that the interview had been done by the police, illegally, before he was even notified of his rights. District Judge Elizabeth Berry rejected the claim. A mistrial was requested no less than nine times by his lawyer. One of those times was due to his Miranda Rights violation and one wsa when a Police Officer started to cry when pictures of Sierra's body were shown, Sargeant John Gonzalez was accused of faking grief. One of the jurors cried along with him. 

On Friday, April 27, 2007, Timonty Warner was convicted of injury to a child and lying about the cause of her death. The jury would then have to start the phase of the trial where they decided his punishment. Timothy was facing up to life in prison, though he could be eligible for probation.

Heather Jamieson, who continued to deny she had a drug problem, file a law suite for wrongful death, against Child Protective Services for their failure to protect Sierra. Patrick cummins, a spokesman for CPS said that he was aware of the lawsuit and that the agency had no comment about it.

Heather said that she saw injuries on Sierra and warned CPS that she thought Timothy was abusing her. CPS had previously stated that they had investigated the bruises on Sierra and found that she got the bruises while she was fighting with other children in the home. They found no evidence of abuse going on in the Warner home.

The lawsuit states that the Mesa Family Services violated their own licensing standards when they placed Sierra in a home in Arlington and that they and CPS failed to train, screen or properly oversee the Warner's.

Mike Williams, who is one of the founders of Mesa and was named as one of the defendants in the case, made no comments about it. At the home of Artie Hilliard, who is a co-founder of Mesa, the phone was answered and then someone hung up immediately when they realized it was in regard to the case.

In April of 2007, another lawsuit was filed against CPS by Sierra's father, on behalf of her brother and father. Sheila B. Johnson, who is the adminstrator of Sierra's estate, filed the lawsuit listing CPS and other state employees as the defendants in the case.

For information about preventing child abuse in the state of Texas, click the links below. If they can't help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER give up looking for help for an abused child!