COON RAPIDS, Minn. — Natilie Kreye will always cherish the three months she shared with her daughter, Suvanna. After her birth on Oct. 11, 2008, they were able to spend the holidays together before Suvanna died in her crib in Coon Rapids on Jan. 19, 2009.
"She was a happy, go-lucky baby. Very alert and smiling," said Kreye, who now lives in Isanti.
The day Suvanna died, Kreye remembers saying goodbye to her before heading to work.
"Her dad was changing her on the floor in the bedroom. She was happy, and she was smiling and kicking," Kreye recalled.
Suvanna's dad and Kreye's significant other at the time, Benjamin Russell, later called her at work to tell her Suvanna wasn't breathing.
"I left work and rushed up to the hospital and I remember pulling over on the side of Hwy 610 and just in a quiet moment, I just felt like I knew she was gone," Kreye said.
Russell told Kreye at the time that he had propped a bottle up using a blanket during her nap. According to a criminal complaint, Russell told investigators that when he came back, Suvanna had rolled over onto her stomach and was face down on a blanket and unresponsive. Documents show that an autopsy was performed and the cause of death was determined to be positional asphyxia/suffocation based in part on the history provided by Russell.
Kreye and Russell parted ways but 13 years later, on July 4, 2022, he reached out to Kreye.
"He came over to my home... and he had told me that he had suffocated her. He had previously told others that hadn't reported it but he had told his pastor and then the pastors, and actually my counselor, had reported it. Because I didn't know who to turn to so I had called my counselor," Kreye said.
Kreye said Russell then confessed to her that he had actually suffocated Suvanna with a pillow and that she was happy right before it happened.
In a criminal complaint, Russell told investigators he had placed a pillow over her face because "he was aggravated she would not stop crying. After putting the pillow over her face, the defendant went and had a cigarette and did the dishes." The complaint goes on to say that when he returned, Suvanna was blue.
After his confession in July 2022, Russell was arrested. Because he had no prior criminal history, Russell faced a maximum sentence of 15 years. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and, according to Kreye, is expected to receive a sentence of 11.5 years, with credit for time served.
"I feel like she was cheated," Kreye said. "To give him 138 months is extremely unfair. It's unfair to her because she only got three months of her life."
Russell, 38, is scheduled to be sentenced in Anoka County on July 31.
With the sentencing ahead, Kreye is ready to focus her efforts on helping others in Suvanna's name.
"Once I started helping others and coming up with Suvanna's Outreach, I felt so much more peace," Kreye said.
Last October, Kreye started the organization as a way to support Minnesota families impacted by life-altering trauma and harmed by gaps in the justice system.
"It's not huge things that we're doing but just the little gaps that I saw in my road... little things like having to go to the store when I have four kids. School is starting and they needed clothes and I was out of work. And just even having to go in public period. It was just really hard. I don't even know if I slept the first week after hearing about it," Kreye said.
Suvanna's Outreach has held everything from clothing drives to lemonade stands to raise funds for the group.
"There's always something that you can do that's positive to make change. I just want to do that and teach my kids how to do it, too," Kreye said. "Not to just be here to be here, but to be here to make a difference, to be active, to live your best life, regardless of what you walk through."
A candlelight vigil will be held at Morningside Memorial Gardens in Coon Rapids on Saturday from 7:45 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.
Kreye asks for those who cannot be there, to light a candle in Suvanna's memory.
You can follow Suvanna's Outreach on Facebook.
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