Information about whether Jayci Yaeger’s incarcerated father will be permitted to attend her funeral will not be released prior to her funeral services.

“That information is not something we’d provide prior to an actual trip, similar to previous trips,” said Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley.

Jayci lost her seven-year struggle with brain cancer early Friday morning, said her uncle, Ed Yaeger.

Back when the 10-year-old was well enough, she expressed one dying wish: to be with her dad, Jason Yaeger, who is serving time for drug offenses in a federal prison in South Dakota.

She did live long enough to see her father for about 45 minutes on Wednesday, when guards escorted him to the Lincoln hospice where she lay in a hospital bed.

The family had no specific advance notice of the escorted visit. Billingsley said that was for safety and security reasons.

The warden at the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton will be the one to decide whether Jason Yaeger can attend Jayci’s funeral, Billingsley said.

“The institution considers each case on its own basis,” she said.

Jason Yaeger was indicted on conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in March 2003 and pled guilty to the charge in  October 2003. He is serving a 5 ½-year drug sentence and is scheduled to be released next year.

Before Jayci died, Jason Yaeger had appealed to prison authorities and the courts — and even asked President Bush for clemency — to be transferred to halfway house in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in order to spend time with his daughter.

The family’s plight has drawn nationwide media attention, and many people have contacted the federal prison bureau and other federal officials on the family’s behalf.

Jason  Yaeger visited his daughter three times since her condition was declared terminal last fall, once in October and three times in the past month, with the last visit being on Wednesday.

Jayci’s mother, Vonda, and her grandmother were at the hospice with her when she died, Ed Yaeger said. Her father was notified immediately, Ed Yaeger said.

“I spoke with him and he’s doing as well as he can be, I guess,” Ed Yaeger said. “He’s grieving.

“Yet at the same time he also is working on trying to get himself down here for the funeral.”

Funeral services for Jayci will be Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Princeton Countryside Alliance Church.

She will be buried at Fairview Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday at Butherus, Maser & Love Funeral Home, 4040 A St. Visitation with her family will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home and at the church on Tuesday one hour before her service.

Condolences may be left at www.bmlfh.com. 

“We would like to appeal to the judge and to the U.S. attorney … and warden to do what’s right and allow Jason to come down here for the funeral,” Ed Yaeger said.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com.