Lisa Marie Cunningham blames antipsychotic drug for stepdaughter’s death

A South Australian mother has spoken from behind bars in an Arizona prison, declaring her innocence.

Mother-of-four Lisa Marie Cunningham, 51, has been incarcerated for eight years, confined to a two-meter by three-meter cell. She’s allowed outside for only one hour a day, and lives alongside some of America’s worst female killers.

Lisa potentially faced death row after being charged with first-degree murder over the death of her 7-year-old stepdaughter Sanaa in Phoenix, Arizona in 2017.

She was charged alongside her US husband, Germayne, 46, following a 10-month investigation after the girl died from a sepsis infection in Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

In February, prosecutors filed a withdrawal of their intent to seek the death penalty.

Now, key elements of Lisa’s defense have been revealed, with Lisa telling 7NEWS Spotlight in a new interview on Sunday night that Sanaa’s death was a medical tragedy, not murder.

Lisa said her stepdaughter had early-onset schizophrenia and was prescribed an antipsychotic drug not recommended for children under 13.

“It’s always been such a mystery to us why it is easier to believe that we tried to slowly kill her with this bizarre, delayed death torture story than it is to simply accept the fact that she entered into the early onset period of serious mental illness,” Lisa told Spotlight.

She continued: “I think she died because of the Risperdal … Risperdal kills people all the time.”

A daughter’s love

Lisa’s daughter Cierra spoke of her loving mother during the interview: “My mum was my best friend and she was my rock … All she was all she ever wanted to be, was the best possible mum that she could physically manage for us.”

Cierra said the first sign of something being wrong with Sanna was “when she started eating things she wasn’t supposed to … Watching my sister struggle was probably the most painful thing that I’ve ever witnessed.”

Sanna had the mental health condition PICA, which caused her to swallow non-food items compulsively.

Lisa recalled: “We had this big, noisy, amazing family and these kids were great. The sad thing was that this one thing happened that nobody really knew how to fix. Nobody knew how to make it better for her.”

An unimaginable situation

Eleven months before her death, Lisa claims Sanna was a risk to herself and others.

“She did try to hurt her little sister,” Lisa said. “She tried to hit her over the head with a rock. And my knee-jerk reaction was, ‘what happened?”

Cierra said of Sanna: “I still have nightmares, about the things she would do”.

Lisa said the family sought help, and eventually a psychologist delivered a shocking diagnosis.

“She said, this is very serious and I believe she’s schizophrenic. I want you to find a child’s

psychiatrist because I think she needs antipsychotic medication,” Lisa said.

They next saw a child psychiatrist, who they claim prescribed Sanaa the powerful antipsychotic Risperdal.

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The psychiatrist is not facing any charges.

“After about a week of her being on it, we started to research it online. And that’s when I said, this drug’s not even supposed to be given to anybody unless they’re 13.”

However, Sanaa experienced what Lisa believed were side effects of the medication, and 36 hours before Sanaa was rushed to the emergency room, Lisa claims she called the psychiatrist. She was allegedly told he would call back, but didn’t.

Then, Sanaa’s symptoms worsened, and she was taken to the emergency room by Lisa and Germayne before being medevaced to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. There, came the unimaginable news.

“They came over and asked us if we would agree to them intubating her airway to protect it. And we said yes. And I think Jermaine signed something and they did that, and it was put in incorrectly, and they came over and they said, it’s in a little deep, so we’ve got to pull it back out again and put it back in again.

“And when they did that, her heart stopped and they did CPR for about 12 minutes. And then they came over and said, ‘We are sorry. We’re sorry.’ And Germayne and I were just, what do you mean? What do you mean you’re sorry now? So what are we doing now? And they said, ‘well, I’m sorry she’s gone’.”

What happened to Sanaa?

The autopsy report noted that there were scars on multiple locations of Sanaa’s body, more than 100 cuts, and bruises head to toe.

“Sanaa didn’t receive any injuries,” Lisa said. “Sanaa was diagnosed with self-injury.”

An attending doctor reported her death as suspicious due to a septic wound on her right foot that had been there for months, which Lisa said Sanaa “kept picking”.

Prosecutors allege Sanaa suffered at the hands of two neglectful parents who kept her confined to a laundry, often in a makeshift straitjacket. They also claim police-issued RIPP restraints, zip ties and handcuffs were used, a claim Lisa denies.

“I never restrained or zip tied or handcuffed. You can’t handcuff a 6-year-old, but it’s ridiculous. Handcuffs don’t fit 6-year-olds. You don’t need a degree to figure that out.”

However, since-deleted messages allegedly sent between Lisa and Germayne the night before Sanaa’s death have emerged.

“I have her standing with her hands behind her back wrapped up in a headband and she’s still trying to act a fool,” Lisa allegedly messaged.

To which Germayne allegedly responded: “I don’t want her to sleep with her hands behind her back some people can die like that if they have certain health issues or are on drugs.”

Lisa replied: “I’m not having her groaning and screaming keeping everyone up playing her bulls**t. Sanaa doesn’t have certain drug issues or health issues that can kill her if she’s restrained.”

Lisa says the texts just prove the pair were exhausted.

“If you look at our lives from a distance and you go through our messages and the way we communicated with each other, you are going to form your own opinions. No detective, no one ever came in and said I went through your phone and this is what I found. And can you explain that to me?”

After Sanaa’s death, authorities deemed Lisa an unacceptable risk to her youngest children, Gabriel and Eva, who were taken into the state’s custody and had short, supervised visits with their mother.

Lisa said: “It was like a bomb went off. Now they’re all gone and how are we ever going to put this back together?”

Child safety worker Tami Swaim observed Lisa during visits with her children, and became convinced of her innocence.

“I believe that no murder has taken place in this case at all,” Tami said.

Eric Kessler, Lisa’s lawyer, said the system failed Lisa and Sanaa.

“I don’t believe that she did anything inappropriate. I think the medical community failed certainly Lisa, but most of all, Sanaa. she was not given the opportunity to live.”

Lisa’s aunt Denise Sweet said: “It’s horrifying. Quite horrible. She’s lost everything. She’s lost her children. Yeah. Lost her two babies, lost her connection with her two oldest children.”

Complaints made against the pair

Detectives in Phoenix claim there were numerous complaints in the lead-up to Sanaa’s death.

The first was an anonymous report of neglect of Sanaa, lodged with the Arizona Department of Child Safety on March 4, 2016.

An investigator was sent to the Cunninghams’ home, but the children, including Sanaa, “denied any abuse or neglect,” and the case was subsequently closed.

7NEWS Spotlight invited the Attorney-General and the lead prosecutor in Lisa’s case to be interviewed, but both declined.

The prosecution will present their case when the trial gets underway in coming weeks.