Police: 11-month-old baby was sexually abused before she died (Chester County, South Carolina)

We posted on this case recently (UNNAMED DAD wasn't named in that article either). Now we see it confirmed that this was the first time Dad had kept the 11-month-old daughter for more than a couple of hours. It appears the baby was sexually abused as well as assaulted in some way. She later died at the hospital.

http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/1590309.html

Police: Baby was sexually abused before she died
11-month-old was bleeding internally, PMC nurse said

By Matt Garfield - mgarfield@heraldonline.com

An 11-month-old girl who died over the weekend showed signs of a recent sexual assault, a nurse who treated her at the hospital told investigators.

The girl suffered injuries to her head and body, including a bruise across the torso that appeared to be a handprint, according to police reports.

Now, authorities from Chester and Chesterfield have joined an investigation that involves three counties and stops at hospitals in Rock Hill and Charlotte.

No arrests have been made, Maj. Bill Murphy of the Chester County Sheriff's Office said.

The baby was taken Friday to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill and sent to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where she died less than three days later.

York County Coroner Sabrina Gast identified the girl as Xymerra Evans.

Interviews with the mother helped investigators piece together the baby's final hours.

The night before she was taken to the hospital, the baby stayed at the Richburg home of her 23-year-old father, according to reports filed by Rock Hill Police. It was the first time the father had kept the baby for more than a few hours, the mother told police.

When the mother picked the girl up, she said the child was acting “strange” and had a “funny look” in her eyes, reports stated. On her way home to Rock Hill, the mother pulled into the parking lot of a business and called paramedics.

Police and officials from the state Department of Social Services came to the hospital at the request of a nurse who treated the child.

The nurse told officers that she had discovered signs of sexual abuse, including bruises and internal bleeding.

The 21-year-old mother said the baby on Wednesday had fallen off the bed during a visit to the home of the mother's parents in Chesterfield, reports show. But the girl's injuries were not consistent with falling from a bed, the nurse told police.

The baby was taken to CMC in Charlotte for treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit. She died late Sunday or early Monday, Gast said.

Reached Monday, the mother declined to comment.

An autopsy Monday morning gave answers as to when the girl was injured, but Gast would not release any findings, including cause of death.

She cited the ongoing investigation.

Gast said it would take several weeks for pathology tests to be completed.

Murphy said investigators are sorting through the sequence of events to figure out which agency should be in charge.

He said it was unclear how long that would take.

“We've got some jurisdictional issues that we've got to resolve,” he said.

“I don't want to comment on somebody else's case if it's not mine.”