WEST FARGO, N.D. — Joseph Harlow knew something was wrong with his 20-month-old son the moment he picked him up from daycare.

His son, Mikey Harlow, always wanted a hug, but on Sept. 15, 2000, he didn’t. He was irritable. The daycare worker, Nikki Lyn Aipperspach, who said she was a licensed babysitter, attributed the child’s bad mood to not having a nap.

“I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what,” Joseph told The Forum in 2020.

After a long day of work at Integrity Windows and Doors in Fargo, he and Mikey’s godfather Nicholas Eberhardt, then noticed blood dripping from Mikey’s ear.

They rushed him to a West Acres clinic, where doctors discovered additional injuries to his throat and ear. Later that night, as Joseph was getting his son ready for bed, skin on the child’s lower

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