3 charged in death of 4-year-old girl
Court: Milwaukee child suffered a fatal brain injury
Prosecutors have charged three Milwaukee adults in the death last week of 4-year-old Kaliyah King Magee, who suffered a traumatic brain injury following repeated abuse, according to court documents.
Kaliyah was declared dead Dec. 18 at Children’s Wisconsin after her brain showed no signs of activity, Milwaukee County prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. She suffered the fatal injury on Dec. 16 at her home in the 700 block of South 26th Street.
Winston L. Chambers, 29; his girlfriend, Princess M. Arredondo, 29; and his mother, Corinne L. Beechtree, 56, are charged in Kaliyah’s death. Prosecutors say that Kaliyah was living with Chambers and Arredondo because her own mother was homeless and could not care for her.
Chambers is charged with first-degree reckless homicide; repeated acts of physical abuse of a child, causing death; and neglecting a child by failing to seek medical care, resulting in death.
Arredondo is also charged with neglecting a child by failing to seek medical care, resulting in death; and chronically neglecting a child by repeatedly failing to protect Kaliyah from Chambers’ physical abuse, resulting in death.
Beechtree is charged with neglecting a child by failing to seek medical care, resulting in death, as a party to the crime.
Chambers, Arredondo and Beechtree lived in the same duplex on the south side, prosecutors said.
Here is what happened leading up to Kaliyah’s death and afterward, all according to court documents.
After Chambers called 911 on Dec. 16 to report Kaliyah was injured, she was hospitalized with a “severe traumatic brain injury with subdural bleeding to the right side of the head.” She was unconscious and her
face, arm and head were bruised.
In interviews with police, Chambers’ story about how Kaliyah was injured changed several times.
At first, he said she was struck by a reckless driver. Surveillance camera footage from nearby businesses did not show any collision. He also said she had fallen off her bed while playing the night prior. He also provided police a false name, date of birth and home address initially.
And Chambers’ mother, Beechtree, initially told police that she’d heard Kaliyah was hit by a reckless driver and she didn’t see her until she was taken into an ambulance.
In subsequent interviews, police confronted Chambers, Beechtree and Arredondo about text messages and video calls from around the time Kaliyah was seriously injured. Prosecutors say these messages, Chambers’ internet search history and additional information from interviews disprove the initial stories and show that the adults knew Kaliyah was seriously injured and did not take action, instead conspiring to cover up the abuse.
On Dec. 16, according to an interview from Arredondo, Kaliyah and the two other children in the home woke up in the morning and Arredondo forced them to stand in the corner for 15 minutes with their hands above their heads.
Then, Kaliyah said her stomach hurt, so she stayed home while Chambers dropped off the other children at school.
When Chambers returned home, Arredondo
told police, he took Kaliyah into a bedroom and beat her. When he left, she was unconscious and had a bruise over her right eye.
Chambers’ internet history from this time shows searches such as “under the table doctors” and “how to wake up an unconscious person.”
Text messages between Arredondo and Beechtree and video call logs indicate the two women were talking about Kaliyah’s unconscious state for more than two hours, between 9:30 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. Chambers did not call 911 until nearly 1 p.m.
A later interview with a 7-year-old child in the household revealed a “longstanding pattern of abuse” of Kaliyah, prosecutors said.
The 7-year-old said that Chambers regularly punched, kicked and struck Kaliyah and would use a belt and broom handle to beat her.
The 7-year-old also said that Arredondo “sees Defendant Chambers abuse (Kaliyah), and on occasion will
say, “stop, she’s only 4 years old,” but took no additional action to make Defendant Chambers stop or to protect” her.
If convicted of the child abuse charge, causing death, Chambers would be mandated to a life prison sentence.
The additional charges bring a maximum of 85 years in prison.
Arredondo faces a maximum of 50 years in prison if convicted of both charges. And Beechtree faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted.
The three are being held in Milwaukee County Jail. Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Grace Flynn set Chambers’ bond at $250,000, Arredondo’s bond at $50,000 and Beechtree’s bond at $10,000.