[Ziltoid]

Not much to say about this one, just... Damn.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio...h/5021715/

Quote:

PLANO, Texas — A 25-year-old woman faces the death penalty in connection with the suffocation death of her fiancé's daughter.

Melinda Lynn Muniz, 25, staged a break-in Jan. 9 to deflect suspicion in the plot, Plano police say. She is in jail on $1 million bond.

Grace Lillian Ford, 2, was found unconscious in a crib, her mouth covered with duct tape, according to an arrest affidavit. Muniz was found on the floor of another room with her mouth taped shut and her pants pulled down.

Muniz told police that an unknown male had sexually assaulted her, the affidavit states. But investigators said her story had holes: Information about her activities the day of the crime were inconsistent with her story, and medical tests failed to corroborate her claim of a sexual assault.

"What was reported to us that had taken place, there was not any way that could have happened," Plano police spokesman David Tilley said.

The couple, who had become engaged in December, had been fighting over text messages and a topless video on Muniz' cell phone that her boyfriend, Mitch Ford, believed she had sent to a personal trainer. Before Ford left for work that day, he had told Muniz that they were breaking up.

Muniz was in the process of moving out of their shared apartment, the affidavit states.

After the crime, Grace was rushed to a Dallas-area hospital but was pronounced dead Jan. 12, and the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the toddler's death a homicide Jan. 22.

During their investigation, detectives uncovered surveillance video showing that Muniz went to a nearby dollar store Jan. 9 with Grace riding in the shopping cart as Muniz purchased duct tape, zip ties, kitchen shears, and cotton swabs just hours before police were called to the apartment.

“She took the child with her to purchase the items that she was going to use during the commission of the crime — clearly premeditated.”
David Tilley, Plano Police Department
"She took the child with her to purchase the items that she was going to use during the commission of the crime — clearly premeditated," Tilley said.

On Jan. 10, Muniz told investigators she had memory loss, "could not remember the last couple of months and said her memory should come back in a couple of days," according to the affidavit.

Ford told police he met with Muniz on Jan. 15 even though police and his lawyers had advised against it. He said Muniz continued to act as if she did not recognize him.

While they were in his car, he questioned her about her claims of amnesia and later had drinks with her at a restaurant in nearly McKinney, Texas, where she continued to act as if she didn't remember the past year and a half, Ford told police.

Later that night Ford and Muniz had sex in his car down the street from her house, Ford told police. As she left, she asked him if anything was going to happen to her, according to the affidavit. He told her that Grace had died but did not give her specific information.

"God will make sure justice is served to the fullest," Grace's family said Tuesday in a statement. "What this monster did is as evil as it can get. There is no excuse."

Before Grace's death, Ford and the child's mother, Emily Ward, had been battling in court over Grace's custody, according to The Dallas Morning News. Court records were sealed after Grace's death at the request of Ford's lawyer.

Investigators from the Texas Division of Child Protective Services had been called to Ford's home July 20, Nov. 1, and Dec. 19. The agency said it was unable to confirm any abuse. A spokesperson said revisiting is common to determine if anything was missed.

Grace's grandfather contacted Child Protective Services two days before the incident Jan. 9 asking officials to reopen the case, according to the affidavit, He alleged that a pattern of abuse had begun when Muniz and Ford moved in together.

The agency is conducting a review of the case.