A 25-year-old Florida man is accused of beating to death a 14-month-old baby girl, leaving her twin brother unharmed nearby.
Deric Young was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Ky’meria German, WCTV reported.
Tallahassee Police were called to the scene on Monday and found the unresponsive toddler. She died after being taken to a hospital.
Investigators said they “quickly uncovered signs of foul play” as they investigated the baby girl’s death.
An affidavit filed in Young’s arrest says that he broke down in tears before confessing that he repeatedly punched the baby.
Deric Young Arrest Affidavit by kc wildmoon on Scribd
The affidavit stated that the girl’s mother initially placed her children under the care of her cousin. However, when the cousin had to leave for work, she handed over the responsibility to Young, her boyfriend. When the police arrived, Young was present at the scene and initially denied any involvement in harming the girl. However, after an autopsy revealed that the girl “had suffered severe injuries, including multiple blows to the head with a closed fist that ultimately led to her death,” Young altered his account and confessed to hitting the girl in the head.
“Once confronted with the details of [the girl’s] injuries, all of which showed evidence of severe physical abuse by someone else, leading to her death, the defendant became emotional,” the document noted. “When questioned further, the defendant expressed remorse for what had happened.”
Young insisted that it was not his intention to kill the girl, explaining that he was only “playing” when he hit her. He admitted to striking her “with both his right and left fists… two to three times, on both the right and left sides of her head/face.”
After “playing” with the girl, he left her lying on the bed with her twin brother. When he returned, he couldn’t hear her breathing and ran into the living room to have a relative call 911.
According to the arrest report, one of the baby girl’s legs was broken in sucha a way that “would have undoubtedly been extremely painful and severely impacted her ability to crawl or move.”
”My baby didn’t deserve that,” Nickalya Walker, the girl’s mother, told WCTV. “She was a sweet baby. She was sweet. She was a sweet baby. Why would you harm an innocent baby? She didn’t mean no harm at all.”
Ky’meria is survived by her mother and two brothers — an oder brother and her twin brother.
