Far Rockaway Mother Charged With Fatally Beating 2-Year-Old Daughter
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Queens mother was charged in the fatal beating of her 2-year-old daughter Wednesday.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced the second-degree murder and first-degree assault charges against 28-year-old Ashley Diaz.
Far Rockaway Mother Charged With Fatally Beating 2-Year-Old Daughter
"The defendant has been charged with causing the death of her own child - a defenseless 2-year-old girl who suffered greatly in her short life. The actions of the defendant are totally incomprehensible," Brown said of the case.
The toddler, identified as Kevasia Edwards, was found unconscious and unresponsive by emergency responders in her Far Rockaway home on Beach 56th Place around 11:30 p.m. Monday, police said.
Police responded to the home after Diaz sought help from a neighbor who called 911, 1010 WINS previously reported.
Kevasia was pronounced dead at Saint John's Hospital.
According to the charges, neighbor Latoya Murphy watched Kevasia for about 20 minutes on the night of her death as the child's mother went to purchase food.
Murphy told police Kevasia did not exhibit any obvious signs of trauma to her face.
Several hours later, Murphy said she received another call from Diaz that Kevasia was not breathing and was unresponsive, the district attorney's office said.
Murphy claims when she got to the apartment, Kevasia was lying unresponsive on the floor, her face red and bruised, her lip bleeding, and her teeth pushed in or missing.
Murphy said she administered CPR on the child while her sister called 911.
According to District Attorney Brown, Diaz claims Kevasia had a seizure, fell to the ground and became unresponsive at around 9:30 p.m. Monday.
The mother allegedly admitted that she did not call anyone for help until after 11:00 p.m.
Brown told WCBS 880's Monica Miller that the autopsy reports shows that Kevasia was severely beaten with fresh and old bruises all over her body.
According to the autopsy report issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, Kevasia suffered multiple fresh and old bruising to her face, neck, torso and legs, multiple scalp abrasions and lacerations, multiple scars of varying ages about her body and other markings consistent with trauma.
Kevasia also allegedly suffered subdural bleeding, hemorrhage resulting from multiple impacts of varying ages underneath the scalp, bilateral optical nerve sheath hemorrhages, hemorrhage resulting from impact to her lower back, and two rib fractures with underlying liver injury.
"I find this thing incomprehensible that these kinds of injuries would be imposed upon a child by the child's own mother," Brown said.
According to medical personnel, the injuries were inconsistent with Diaz's assertion that her daughter had a seizure and fell to the ground, the district attorney's office said.
Diaz faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
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