Murder Of Zya Singleton

A four-year-old girl has been found with terrible injuries, stitched together and bitten in what has been described as a "heartbreaking case of abuse, neglect, and murder of an innocent, defenseless child."

Zya Singleton was found covered in homemade stitches, cigarette burns on her arms and legs, broken bones, open wounds, bite marks, stab wounds, and with no nose.

Police were called to the house in Philadelphia, on October 30, to report that a child had fallen out of the window.

Caretaker Samilya Brown, 38, claimed the girl was playing with a cat when she fell out.

When the police come, they found Zya in the second-floor bathroom being put in cold water.

She was rushed to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital on October 30 but was then transferred to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment.

She was declared dead on November 3, according to CNN.

The medical examiner determined that Zya died from the blunt impact, thermal injuries, and sepsis, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

They found inconsistencies with Brown's story, including signs of malnourishment on the little girl.

Little Zya is thought to have been abused for years, the Daily Star reports.

Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Chesley Lightsey said: "It became clear very soon after doctors were eligible to try and stabilize her that this was a case of long-term child abuse, not a fall out of a window."

Jasmine Singleton, Zya's biological mother, told she could barely recognize her daughter at the hospital.

She said: “She had no nose, all of this was gone. All you saw was the frame.

"You can't prepare no mom for what I walked in that room and saw. My baby's face was destroyed, all she had was eyes and a head that was taped up with burns on her body. I walked into the room and walked out."

The woman, who gave Zya in custody to Brown in 2016 because she was unfit to care for the child, said he had no idea about the abuse her daughter was suffering.

The girl had been living with Brown for about two years, Lightsey said.

Records also indicated that the child had not been to a doctor since April 2016, prosecutors added.