PRINCETON, Ky. - Marae Allison smiles, looking down at the family video playing on her cell phone.  The video captures father and son in happier times, on a playground.

Now, the little boy, just 4 years old, wonders where his father is.

"I've just been telling him Daddy's still at work and he wants to know why he can't come back," Marae Allison said Tuesday of her son asking about his father's whereabouts.

Jessie Allison, as it turns out, is not at work.  He is behind bars, charged with the murder of the little boy's 7-month-old sister, Ariel.

Police discovered the infant dead in her crib September 5, after Jessie Allison, 34, called 911, saying his daughter had not woken up from a nap.

"I lost everything that day, everything's been falling apart since then," Marae tearfully admitted. "It's just not right, it's not fair.  Anyone who knows Jessie knows this isn't him. He is not capable of this."

Marae said Jessie, in fact, spent more time with the kids than she did.

"He got on the floor, played with them. He is just a wonderful dad."

It is a sharp contrast to the man who now spends his days dressed in an orange inmate jumpsuit.  On Tuesday, she sat in the back of a courtroom and her husband blew her a kiss after the pair learned he'd be behind bars several more months.

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for next month and a trial is on the books for January 26, 2011.

Lawyer Dell Pruitt is confident about the case.

"I believe he's innocent," Pruitt said.

Pruitt said the crib itself is at fault and is the subject of an investigation by the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Law enforcement declined to talk about the case or reveal results of baby Ariel's autopsy.