Chicago firefighters found the girl's body around 11 a.m. Friday, lying face up in a room with her bedridden father at Ford's home in the 5200 block of West Adams Street, according to police and Assistant State's Attorney Amanda Pillsbury.
The prosecutor said Gizzell had injuries old and new over her entire body: Cuts, bruises and scratches to her face, ears and lips, bruises and puncture wounds on her back, chest and abdomen and bruises on her arms and legs.
Her neck showed signs of hemorrhaging and fractures and broken cartilage, Pillsbury said. The girl also suffered deep lacerations to her buttocks and had ligature marks on her ankles and wrists, as well as circular burns on her body that may have been cigarette burns, Pillsbury said.
When they examined the home for evidence, police took a pole, twine and cables, some of them smeared with blood. In the bedroom where the girl was found, investigators found blood splattered near her body, Pillsbury said.
Investigators also determined that Gizzell had suffered trauma to her head long enough ago that maggots had hatched in the cuts and spread to the front of her scalp while she was still alive.
"Everybody is in shock," said Mercado, 30, who lives in Schiller Park.
"We want justice and we want answers."
Two of girl's brothers, 9 and 12, also lived in the home and have been placed in foster care, according to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The agency said it is investigating both the grandmother and the father.
When the girl's body was discovered, Ford told police that Gizzell had hurt herself because she was upset her mother was not visiting her. Ford said the girl would run into furniture and bang her head on things, according to a police report. The girl also told Helen Ford she was being abused by her mother's boyfriend, the report said.
On Friday, according to the grandmother, the girl asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich around 11 a.m. While she was eating it, she couldn't move and was "really sore," Ford said, according to the report. The grandmother told her she needed to sit in a hot bath and when she gave her water to drink, the child stopped breathing, the police report said.
When police arrived, the child's body was "cold," according to the report.
Mercado, the girl's uncle, said Gizzell was expected to go on a camping trip with an aunt on Friday but Ford would not allow her to go. "Helen blocked everybody," he said.
Mercado said "Gizzy" was a smart, chatty girl who loved ribs.
"She was outgoing, she spoke to everybody. She had a brain, she had manners," Mercado said. "It was like one big party when she got together with her cousins."