Auburn mom charged in 3-year-old daughter's death; boyfriend arrested in case, too
KENT, Wash. -- The Auburn mom accused of beating her 3-year-old child to death was charged with second-degree murder Friday.
A King County Superior Court judge also found probable cause to keep her boyfriend behind bars after he was arrested Thursday.
Tatiana Baker, 21, and her 24-year-old boyfriend are accused of beating 3-year-old Nava for hours and hours on Tuesday before she died.
The abuse was so severe the little girl had numerous injuries, including a fractured rib, pelvis, arm, a lacerated kidney and bleeding of the brain.
“Her life was ended too soon,” neighbor Patricia Wright said.
Police arrested Baker Tuesday. The boyfriend was arrested later.
A prosecutor told the judge Friday that the boyfriend admitted to beating the girl in the stomach until she went limp.
Auburn police say a man believed to be that boyfriend called 911 Tuesday to report that a little girl was dehydrated and vomiting. But the caller gave dispatch a wrong location and hung up the phone.
More than seven hours later, the same phone called 911 reporting an unconscious child.
Officers arrived and gave CPR to little Nava, but realized she had likely died long before they were even called to the scene.
“I never knew my daughter to be an abusive person,” Tatiana Baker’s father, Donald Baker, said, adding that the allegations of abuse were shocking.
According to court documents, police said Tatiana Baker admitted to hitting her daughter.
On the day Nava died, the boyfriend told investigators Tatiana Baker hit the child with a belt and punched her repeatedly with a closed fist.
The grandfather has a lot of questions as he mourns the loss of the little girl.
“Speaking to her (Nava) last week, she said, 'I love you grandpa.' That was the last time I spoke with her ... it means more to me now than it did Sunday,” Donald Baker said.
He said he will always remember his granddaughter as the little girl with the brightest smile.
“Nava was a very beautiful girl, she loved to laugh, loved to play,” said Donald Baker.
Tatiana Baker and her boyfriend also have a 2-month-old baby girl. That infant is now in the custody of Child Protective Services.