PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia woman who was charged with beating, burning, and starving a 4-year-old child she was caring for has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder.
Samiya Brown, 40, admitted to torturing Zya Singleton, who died in November 2019 from blunt force trauma and sepsis, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
Police were called out to Francisville in late October 2019 for reports that she fell out a window after playing with a cat, but when the medical examiner received her body, they determined the little girl suffered a long history of abuse.
The abuse included bite marks, home-stitched infected scars, broken bones, and countless bruises and contusions.
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Prosecutors have called it “an avalanche of injuries.”
Brown was the girl’s temporary caretaker, as her mother had not been with her for two years.
She pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and possession of an instrument in a crime.
Brown is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11.
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Report suspected cases of child abuse in Philadelphia
— City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services at 215-683-6100
— Childline at 1-800-932-0313
CORRECTION: Prosecutors say the defendant's name has been misspelled because of a processing error. The correct spelling of her name is Samiya Brown.