Security footage of a retention pond at a Sandy Springs office park shows a young mother leading her 1-year-old daughter through some bushes to the water’s edge Thursday. Six minutes later, she is seen walking back — but the child is nowhere in sight.
The toddler was later discovered by police in the pond, face-down and not breathing. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
It is not clear what happened to Nirvana Oliver during those six minutes, as no cameras captured those moments.
Those details are listed in arrest warrants for Asia Calabrese-Lewis, who was taken into custody the same day during what police described as a mental breakdown. She faces charges of felony murder and first-degree child cruelty in the death of her daughter, who was just shy of her second birthday.
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
A day earlier, Sandy Springs officers had a bizarre encounter with Calabrese-Lewis.
They were called to check on reports of a woman without shoes wandering along Peachtree-Dunwoody Road with an unclothed child, according to the warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The child’s father later told police that the family didn’t wear shoes as part of their spiritual practice.
During that conversation with police, Calabrese-Lewis was at times coherent, with an ability to clearly provide correct information about herself. At other times, her actions and words were erratic or ambiguously confusing.
Police have said there wasn’t much they could have done because no crime had been committed at that time and the “parties were not in any immediate danger, but there appeared to be some family assistance needs,” spokesperson Sgt. Matthew McGinnis said. A referral to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services was made instead.
Tom Rawlings, former head of DFCS in Georgia, agreed with the officers’ assessment.
“Her behavior was bizarre, but under our current mental health laws, unless she appears to be an active danger to herself or others, there’s not much you can do,” he said. “While her behavior is indicative of a mental health concern ... she didn’t specifically say anything (threatening), so she’s actually allowed to refuse help.”
That Wednesday afternoon, Calabrese-Lewis was walking just across the street from where she lived with her daughter and the child’s father. Nirvana was wrapped in a knit blanket and appeared to be “happy and healthy,” police noted in the warrant. Officers also said that when they initially approached Calabrese-Lewis, she was speaking in an unidentifiable language.
She told officers she was “on a spiritual journey and that her ‘energy’ with the child’s father had been in conflict,” according to the warrant. She later explained that she had outgrown him and that her energy was becoming “more and more intense.”
At some point, Calabrese-Lewis told first responders she “did not want to appear like a ‘crazy person,’” she just had to calm herself down by taking a walk and getting some fresh air. She went on to say she felt strongly that “something was going to happen” and that she had been “preparing” because the child’s father had been “so rageful” lately, according to the warrant.
When she was asked how she would get back home, she became emotional, saying, “I know exactly where I need to go; I just have to wait until it’s time.”
It was not clear where she planned to go.
Calabrese-Lewis then “folded herself onto the ground and appeared to be meditating or praying” and later picked up a pinecone and placed it on her forehead, “closing her eyes and appeared to be muttering,” investigators noted. During this time, Nirvana was wandering in a grassy area.
“She appeared to be enjoying the attention from passersby and from officers,” police said in the warrant.
When they returned to her apartment, she continued speaking clearly with officers and proceeded to talk with them about their energy.
Police then submitted a report to DFCS, which placed the matter on a five-day intake response. The agency said a case worker attempted a home visit the next day.
By that evening, Nirvana was dead.
Calabrese-Lewis waived her first court appearance Monday morning. Her bond would have been procedurally denied, as only a Superior Court judge can set bond in a murder case.
“We’ve got to have some kind of mental health system such that we can better evaluate people on the scene,” Rawlings said. “The mental health system continues to fail both individuals and children who get in these situations ... having good — and even mandatory — mental health treatment is sort of the missing link in a lot of these cases.”
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