UPDATE: Sunday, February 19, 5:30 p.m.
Kiarali Rodriguez-Ayala, 23, was arrested and charged for her role in the violent abuse of her children, ages two and four.
Police say when they responded to a house near N. 50th Street and Haverford Avenue Friday, they found a 3-year-old under the watch of Rodriguez-Ayala unresponsive in an empty bath tub. They took the child to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Out of precaution, police also took Rodriguez-Ayala's two kids, who were at the residence with her, in for evaluation and observed multiple physical issues on both children
Rodriguez-Ayala is being charged with two counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, and one count of possession of an instrument of crime.
Her bail was set at $1 million.
The original story follows
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police are investigating the suspicious death of a 3-year-old girl in West Philadelphia.
Officers responded to a house near North 50th Street and Haverford Avenue, in the Mill Creek neighborhood, around 2:30 a.m. There, they discovered a toddler in an empty bathtub.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital an hour later.
Police said there were bruises on the little girl’s body.
According to law enforcement sources, the girl had been in the care of a woman who was not her mother for about a week. The woman is already in police custody pending charges related to the possible abuse of her own two young children, ages 2 and 4.
Police have not confirmed the girl's cause of death.
The investigation is active and is being assisted by the Special Victims Unit.