Babysitter Tiffani Calise Charged with Murder After Toddler Aaliyah Ali Dies

SUMMIT COUNTY, OH (CBS/WOIO) 23-month-old Aaliyah Ali fought for her life for almost three days before succumbing to bleeding on the brain and other head injuries Aug. 12,and the girl's babysitter, Tiffani Calise, has been charged with her murder.

Police and paramedics were called to an apartment complex in Green, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland, Aug. 10 because of a report that a toddler was not breathing after being removed from a bathtub, according to CBS affiliate WOIO.

Calise told police that she left Aaliyah in the tub for a few seconds to tend to her own child and heard a noise from the bathroom. She said that when she came back the toddler was limp and she immediately called 911, according to Summit County Sheriff Deputy William Holland.

But when Aaliyah arrived at the hospital, deputies were informed that he injuries did not support Calise's version of events and she was arrested Aug. 11 for child endangerment, according to WOIO.

Those charges have since been upgraded to murder following Aaliyah's death, according to a news release issued by the Summit County Sheriff's Office Tuesday.

The coroner's office would not confirm the cause of death but did say that Aaliyah suffered from bleeding on the skull and other head injuries that were not consistent with a fall in a bathtub, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

According to the paper, Calise was a friend of Aaliyah's mother, Gabrielle Moneypenny, of Akron.

Calise's 2-year-old daughter was removed from her custody following her arrest and her boyfriend says she is eight months pregnant with her second child, WOIO reported.

Calise is being held on a $500,000 cash bond. She'll be back in court Wednesday morning.