DENTON COUNTY (1080 KRLD)- A Frisco woman has been indicted for murder, injury to a child and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Destinnie Grant, 21, is being held in the Denton County jail on $1 million bond.
Grant, who was the live-in girlfriend of the victim's father at the time, is accused of causing a fatal head injury to 3 year old Marley Rhodes March 27, 2020. The girl was taken to Children's hospital in Plano, but later transferred to Children's Dallas, according to an arrest affidavit.
The Texas Department of Child Protective Services confirms the agency had received complaints of abuse to the girl and her two-year old brother before. However, CPS declined further comment on the case. The arrest affidavit says investigators mistakenly focused on the girl's biological mother, who was never charged. The records say Grant is now believed to be behind abuse that happened in December of 2019. A third indictment says Grant is charged with trying to erase text messages from her phone.
Grant told investigators from the Frisco Police Department that she had put the girl down for a nap, but later found her foaming at the mouth and unresponsive, according to the affidavit.
"Marley's CT scan of her head showed "significant trauma, including bleeding within the skull, lots of swelling of the brain, swelling outside the brain and a midline shift." The affidavit says. The papers go on to say that a doctor "compared the level of trauma to the head with what one might after a serious motor vehicle crash." But the doctor said the injuries were "likely caused by child abuse."
