WAYNE (WWJ) — The mother of an 8-year-old Metro Detroit girl has been charged with murder and child abuse after allegedly beating her daughter because she thought she was possessed by evil spirits.
Chelsea Duperon of Wayne was arraigned Tuesday on charges of felony murder and first-degree child abuse. Duperon, 30, was remanded to jail.
Wayne police officers were called to Duperon’s home on Phyllis Street — near Van Born and Wayne Roads — around 5:15 a.m. Saturday after getting a call for a child who was not breathing.
Officers found 8-year-old Lyla unresponsive and not breathing, with severe injuries to her head and neck. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Duperon initially told police that her daughter’s injuries were from falling down the stairs, but police and prosecutors said during Tuesday’s arraignment that she contradicted herself multiple times.
“There were multiple stories given by the defendant in this case, one of them being a possible fall down the stairs. That was refuted by the medical examiner,” Assistant Prosecutor Erin Wilmoth said. “The medical examiner said there would be injuries that he would expect to see if there was a fall down the stairs of a child. None of those injuries were present in this case.”
Wilmoth called the girl’s injuries “unfathomable.”
“What she endured is unfathomable. The pictures reflect a child that does not even look like a child. The massive amount of swelling to her head and her face, she was completely unrecognizable,” Wilmoth said.
Michigan State Police Sgt. Det. Rob Walters said during Tuesday’s arraignment an officer interviewing Duperon after the girl’s death saw Duperon “reposition her body” during the interview and “noticed significant swelling and bruising to her right hand and arm.”
She did not respond when asked if her arm is normally bruised, according to Walters.
“While the questions were being asked, Duperon mumbled out loud, ‘I swear to God, this is not me. This sounds crazy, but there’s bad spirits,’” Walters said. “Duperon stated ‘there was a lady and she came out of nowhere.’”
Duperon went on to admit that her daughter had run downstairs and she followed her and hit her. She told police she did not remember hitting her daughter, but said the girl told her that’s what happened, several days before the girl was found dead.
On Saturday Walters interviewed Duperon’s boyfriend, who lived at the same home, and he said “everything was normal” on Monday and Tuesday. After an argument late Tuesday night with Duperon he came home from work around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and found Duperon outside, pointing at the house and “talking about how she was possessed.”
He found the girl lying on the floor inside the home, with lots of water “everywhere.” The boyfriend told police the girl was responsive and talking to him, and he carried her to her bed. Since she was not his own child, he wasn’t sure what to do in terms of calling police or taking her to the hospital, according to Walters.
Walters said the boyfriend “stated that after the first day he spoke with Lyla and asked her what happened. Lyla told him that Duperon was listening to her music and then started attacking her. Lyla went and hid in the basement and Duperon ‘tricked her’ into coming out and attacked her and was pouring water on her.”
The boyfriend told police Duperon had talked before about spirits, but “nothing like this” and said she had never hurt her daughter, according to Walters.
Duperon has been ordered to have no contact with her boyfriend and will undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Her next court date is scheduled for March 25.