The parents of an 8-month-old child in Georgia are accused of murdering their daughter, who allegedly suffocated to death after becoming “wedged” between a couch cushion and mattress inside a filthy home that was covered in animal feces and insects.
The death of their daughter Ellie was charged as second-degree murder and second-degree child cruelty by police on Wednesday. Miguel Badillo, 24, and Kiara Davis, 27, were arrested. On top of that, they were charged with having items related to drugs.
A news release from the Columbus, Georgia, Police Department says that on September 27, 2024, officers were called to a home in the 4300 block of Rosemont Drive about an 8-month-old girl who had died.
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The home was searched by detectives from the department’s Special Victims Unit, who said they found that “the infant had been placed on an angled mattress on a love seat, with no safety measures in place to prevent the infant from rolling off and becoming wedged between the mattress and couch cushions.”
It was after an investigation into how Ellie died that police got warrants for Badillo and Davis’s arrest on November 8, 2024. On Nov. 13, they were both being held.
During a court hearing on Friday, which was covered by Columbus ABC affiliate WTVM, the police gave more information about how the child died.
One of the officers who responded said that the conditions inside the house were terrible.
“There were several animals inside the house that weren’t in a cage.” “There was animal waste,” the officer told the judge during the case. “Every room in the house was full of bugs.” Every room in the house had food that had been half eaten and was going bad.
People say that Davis, who was home at the time, left the baby alone while she went outside to talk to a friend. However, Badillo was charged even though he wasn’t at home when his daughter Ellie died because he knew about the unsafe conditions that caused her death.
“Both parents were well aware of the conditions in the home and were both aware of where the child was sleeping,” the officer told the court.
In court, another investigator said that the victim “rolled off of a bedroom mattress and got stuck between the side of the mattress and the couch cushion.” The police officer said the child died of suffocation.
But Davis and Badillo’s landlord, Howard Turner, told WTVM that they were not mean to their child and that he thinks Ellie’s death was just a “freak accident.”
“And from what I could tell, they were taking great care of that baby. It was just a freak accident,” he told the station.
The case was sent to Muscogee County Superior Court after the hearing on Friday. While this writing, Davis and Badillo are still being held without bond at the Muscogee County Jail.
