A 30-year-old mother has been charged after she allegedly beat her 8-year-old daughter to death and lied to police by saying she fell down some stairs.
Chelsea Renee Duperon, 30, of Wayne, MI has been charged with Felony Murder and First-Degree Child Abuse. She was arraigned and remanded to jail this afternoon in 29th District Court.
The incident happened Sunday around 5:19 a.m., in the 35200 block of Phyllis Street, near Van Born and Wayne
Police responded to reports of a child not breathing. Upon their arrival, officers observed the child in a bedroom of the home, unresponsive.
According to prosecutors, the child had swelling to the head and face and was completely ‘unrecognizable’. The medical examiner determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma and brain swelling.
Duperon allegedly told police that her daughter fell down the stairs, but police became suspicious when they found a large amount of swelling on the mother’s arms and hands.
While being questioned by police, she told them that it was a bad “spirit or ghost” that was responsible and a “mystery lady” who appeared in the basement, prosecutors said. Duperon eventually admitted to hitting her daughter.
“The sheer brutality that innocent 8-year-old Lyla suffered on March 13 is really like nothing I’ve ever seen in my five years of handling child abuse cases,” Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Erin Wilmoth said.
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