Robert Robertson

So when did you learn that she had been taken to the hospital?

And Robert got up and left.

The Bowmans tell me they were the ones who raised Nikki for the first two years of her life.

Larry's daughter, Michelle, is Nikki's mother.

Michelle struggled with addiction.

Nikki was taken from her the day she was born.

She lived with the Bowmans along with another one of Michelle's children.

So what about Nikki's father, Robert Robertson?

Robert and Michelle were only together for a short time before he ended up in prison on a parole violation.

He found out Michelle was pregnant.

After he was released from prison, he said he wanted custody and got Nikki shortly after her second birthday.

But now he was suspected of abusing Nikki.

Robert was told he couldn't go to Dallas to be with his daughter.

It was the Bowmans who were at her bedside.

Dr. Janet Squires, a pediatrician who specialized in child abuse investigations, examined Nikki and confirmed she'd suffered a massive brain injury.

She noted bleeding behind Nikki's eyes and on her brain, which was also swollen.

Those three symptoms, known as the triad, were the classic signs of shaken baby syndrome.

Dr. Squires called the Palestine Police Department with her findings.

She said Nikki was a victim of physical abuse and was unlikely to survive.

Larry Bowman told us a judge in Palestine called the hospital, informing the staff that Robert was no longer allowed to make decisions about Nikki.