Man, 25, arrested in death of child

Records show Springdale toddler died of blunt force trauma in 2018

FAYETTEVILLE — A man was arrested Monday in connection with last year’s death of a Springdale toddler.

Joshua Lee Anderson, 25, was arrested about noon at Vantage Point Behavioral Health Hospital.

Sephylia Fuls died of blunt force trauma about one month before her second birthday, according to police records. The death was in a portion of Springdale in Benton County.

Anderson was being held without bond in the Benton County Jail, where his address was listed as 17388 Gann Ridge Road in Garfield.

There were no adult witnesses to the Sept. 4, 2018, and death the child’s injuries were internal, Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith said Monday.

“In cases like this, all the evidence is medical evidence,” Smith said. “These kinds of investigations are labor intensive.”

It was a time-consuming process to rule out all the possible ways the child could have died, such as by an accidental fall, he said.

Anderson has yet to be charged and Smith hasn’t decided whether he’ll seek the death penalty, he said.

Anderson was the boyfriend of Sephylia’s mother, Smith said.

Springdale police were called at 8:44 p.m. Sept. 4 to Chapel Ridge Apartments by the Fire Department, according to a Springdale police statement after the initial report of the child’s death. The Fire Department was called because the child was unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.

An autopsy by the state medical examiner detailed injuries Sephylia suffered and an investigation began, Smith said.

A court affidavit filed by investigators included a summary of the autopsy reporting “multiple blunt force traumas.”

The child’s mother, Veronica McCoy, told police she returned to the apartment from a trip to a convenience store and found Anderson holding Sephylia’s 5-year-old brother and accusing the boy of hitting her, according to the affidavit.

Anderson told investigators a different story, including the brother had pushed the girl, according to the affidavit.

Sephylia’s two brothers, the other was 3 years old, were interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County in Little Flock. Those interviews implicated Anderson, according to the affidavit.

A child abuse specialist pediatrician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital determined the girl died as a result of physical abuse, according to the affidavit.

Anderson