Toddler killed 3 months after being returned to parents by Child Protective Services
A 2-year-old Parkland girl taken from her parents last year after allegations of physical abuse was found dead in the family’s apartment March 11.
The toddler, who has not been publicly identified, was returned to her parents less than three months ago.
On Tuesday, Pierce County prosecutors charged the mother, 21-year-old Jharmaine Baker, and her boyfriend, 29-year-old Agustino Maile, with second-degree murder in the girl’s death. Maile also is charged with homicide by abuse and a second count of second-degree murder.
Both pleaded not guilty during arraignment Tuesday afternoon. Maile was ordered held on $5 million bail. Baker was jailed in lieu of $3 million bail.
Medical examiners said the toddler had too many injuries to document. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, records say. She also had bruising on her head and behind her ears, abrasions on her cheek, lacerations inside her mouth and on her lower lip. Bruises were found on her face, arms, thigh, hands, buttocks and feet, records say.
A possible hemorrhage was found on her spinal cord, as well as two scars from somebody placing ice directly on her skin after previous injuries.
The “injuries observed on the victim were indicative of abuse,” according to charging papers.
The girl and her two brothers were taken by Child Protective Services in April 2021 because Baker was suspected of physically abusing her children. All three kids were found to have “significant injuries” and were taken to area hospitals, records say.
Doctors found lesions, bruises, abrasions and puncture marks on the toddler’s head, face, abdomen, ears, inner thighs, buttocks, feet and sternum.
Baker allegedly told officials it was Maile who injured the children and that she allowed him to beat them “so she wouldn’t get beaten,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Maile is charged with third-degree child assault for the April incident. A 3-year-old boy with markings from an electrical cord or belt told police Maile hit him with a belt, records say.
A protection order went into effect last year barring Maile from being near the three children.
The kids were returned to Baker in late December.
On March 11, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies were called to an apartment complex on 129th Street South by Child Protective Services. A social worker conducting a check-in on the family said the toddler was dead.
Deputies found her body on the floor of a hallway. Baker, Maile and the other children were home.
The parents said the girl was not “being herself” the night before and went to bed wheezing. When Baker woke up, she said she found her daughter not breathing and with blue lips.
Maile initially gave deputies a fake name and date of birth in an attempt to hide who he was since he was violating the protection order by being there. The protection order does not expire until January 2026. Baker referred to Maile as her cousin rather than her boyfriend.
Baker and Maile discussed taking their daughter to the hospital when she appeared to not be feeling well the night before her death but chose not to “because they were afraid that the doctor would see the injuries on (the victim’s) arms, and they didn’t want further ‘allegations,’” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
In interviews with detectives, Maile allegedly admitted to slamming a door on the toddler’s arms the week before, dropping her on her head while trying to get her to the shower after she reportedly passed out and smacking her feet with a spatula when she jumped on the bed.
Baker told investigators the girl was “extremely clumsy and always falling down” and the kids had been taken away from her due to a “difference of opinion on discipline,” records say.
Deputies found bloody paper towels in the apartment, as well as a closet full of bedding with “significant” stains from blood, fecal matter and urine.
“Based upon the detectives’ observations, they believed that the bedding had been stripped and placed into the closet prior to the arrival of the deputies,” records say.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
