Napa Woman, Boyfriend Set For Arraignment In Sex Assault, Death Of 3-Year-Old
NAPA (CBS SF) -- The mother of a 3-year-old girl who was found dead in her bed in Napa on Saturday afternoon and her boyfriend were expected to appear in court Tuesday afternoon to be arraigned on murder charges.
Sara Lynn Krueger, 23 -- the mother of toddler Kayleigh Slusher—and her 26-year-old boyfriend, Ryan Scott Warner, were arrested Sunday for assault resulting in a child's death and murder with a special circumstance alleging that the killing was "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manifesting exceptional depravity."
Napa police Lt. Debbie Peecook said the girl appeared to have suffered blunt force trauma injuries and was also sexually assaulted.
Napa County District Attorney Gary Lieberstein said this morning that he has not yet received reports on the case from Napa police, but that Krueger and Warner will likely be arraigned at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Napa County Superior Court.
Police responded to the Royal Garden Apartments at 2060 Wilkins Ave. in south Napa around 1 p.m. Saturday after a neighbor asked police to make a welfare check, Peecook said.
The deceased girl was found in bed, and no one else was home, Peecook said.
Krueger and Warner were last seen at 10 a.m. Saturday leaving the home with luggage. Neither one had a vehicle, and attempts to contact them in person and by cellphone were unsuccessful, Peecook said.
Information about the couple was released to the media, and police received an anonymous tip from a citizen who saw the couple at a restaurant in El Cerrito, Peecook said.
Officers from the BART Police Department contacted Krueger and Warner at the El Cerrito del Norte BART station at about 11 a.m. Sunday. Napa police picked them up, interviewed them and arrested them. They are being held at the Napa County Detention Center.
Peecook said Napa police had responded to nine calls for service at the couple's apartment since May. The calls were reporting problems ranging from someone violating court orders to unwanted subjects at the apartment, and the girl's grandmother requested a welfare check as recently as Jan. 29, Peecook said.
Kayleigh's father is 33-year-old Jason Slusher, a Napa County resident. Slusher was sentenced on Sept. 30, 2013 to three years in prison for attempting to evade a peace officer while driving recklessly in Napa County, according to Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Slusher arrived at San Quentin State Prison on Oct. 10. He was also convicted in January 2011 of assault and was sent to prison in April 2011, Sessa said.
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