A four-year-old girl allegedly beaten to death by her mother and her boyfriend was starved and had her feet and legs burned before she died.
Aniya Day-Garrett died in Euclid Hospital in Cleveland on Sunday from a stroke medical examiners said was caused by repeated blows to the head.
Her mother Sierra Day, 23, and Day’s boyfriend Deonte Lewis, 26, were charged with aggravated murder and held on $1 million bonds.
Aniya’s skin appeared to be ‘extremely pale and lifeless,’ and her face and neck were ‘very small and emaciated’, a police report read.
The toddler also had what appeared to be rug burn marks on her feet and legs and was so malnourished paramedics ‘could see the individual joints’ of her fingers.
Doctors then noticed a big bruise on her left eye which was nearly swollen shut, a cut above her left eyebrow, and scald marks on both legs.
The pair called 911 about 11.30am on Sunday to report that she was unresponsive and not breathing as an operator talked them through CPR.
Day claimed Aniya started ‘acting weird’ when hey took her to Red Lobster the previous Thursday and that she fell off a toilet seat on Sunday.
She said her daughter was unable to keep food or water down and threw up Tylenol she gave her, then barely ate any breakfast the morning of her death.
Day and Lewis were arrested after the hospital reported Aniya’s death as a possible homicide
A judge set Day and Lewis’s bonds at $1million each during an emotional bond hearing on Tuesday
Day was scheduled to meet with a social worker on Monday to discuss Mickhal Garrett’s petition for an emergency custody
Harbor Crest Child Care filed an abusing a minor report against Day in May 2017 allegedly documenting 18 months of injuries to Aniya.
Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services also conducted three separate investigations into allegations of neglect last year,
However, it concluded there was not enough evidence to remove the child from her mother’s home.
As the pair faced court on Tuesday, Aniya’s father Mickhal Garrett jumped to his feet and screamed in anguish: ‘You killed my f***ing child! You hurt my baby.’
He then collapsed, sobbing, into the arms of family members who accompanied him to the bond hearing.
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