A Queens woman has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly beating her 4-year-old daughter to death this week, authorities say.
The New York Daily News reports that 35-year-old Latoya Curry was arrested on Friday after her daughter, Linayjah Meraldo, was found dead at the Briarwood Salvation Army shelter the previous day.
The Daily News adds that the little girl appeared malnourished when her body was found, and that an autopsy revealed bruising, internal bleeding, rib fractures that had recently healed, and injuries to her small intestine. Curry's arrest came after officials determined that Meraldo's death was the result of blunt force trauma.
According to the Daily News, Curry confessed to striking her daughter because she squeezed a bottle of lotion onto the kitchen floor:
Curry was arrested Friday after the city medical examiner determined her daughter’s death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the torso.
The mom confessed to hitting Linayjah after catching her squeezing lotion onto the kitchen floor Wednesday night, officials said. She struck her defenseless girl so hard in the stomach and face that the child lost a tooth, prosecutors said. Curry then dragged her daughter into the bedroom and threw her against a wall and onto the bed, pummeling her again in the face and stomach, according to court papers.
The terrified girl cried and complained of pain but eventually fell asleep that night.
The next morning, Curry kept her daughter home from day care when she complained of stomach pains and ran a slight fever.
When Curry came to check on the girl on Thursday afternoon, she was unresponsive. The Daily News adds that by the time emergency responders arrived, she was already dead.
Police told the Daily News that Curry's four other children, who are between the ages of 3 and 9-years-old, were taken by Child Protective Services.
[via New York Daily News]
