Babysitter, 11, Faces Murder Charges for Killing 2-Year-Old
Grieving mother says babysitter should go to prison for life.
Sept. 21, 2010 — -- An 11-year-old girl may face murder charges after the 2-year-old she was babysitting allegedly died from injuries she sustained under her care.
The young babysitter claimed that the toddler, identified as Zyda White, had fallen off the bed Saturday evening, according to ABC News' Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV.
But when the mother of the victim brought her to a hospital early Sunday morning, the girl died. An autopsy later determined that the child had died of blunt force trauma.
The case is now being treated as a homicide, according to Sandy Springs Police.
Lt. Steve Rose said the babysitter was the daughter of a co-worker of the victim's mother.
Ashlea Collier, the toddler's 23-year-old mother, told WSB-TV that she found her daughter "lying on the bed" and "blue" when she arrived to pick her up.
Collier asked what had happened, and the 11-year-old said that her daughter had fallen off the bed, but that she had given her juice and let her sleep, according to WSB-TV.
Collier added that she was under the impression the 11-year-old's mother, her co-worker at the restaurant chain Chili's, would be watching her daughter together, and never expected the 11-year-old to be left alone with Zyda.
"I'm upset I didn't tell my baby I loved her before she left," said Collier. "I think this girl [the babysitter] should do life in prison."
Messages left at the address where the babysitter and her mom are believed to live were not immediately returned.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office, the agency that will decide whether the 11-year-old is charged and tried as a child or as an adult, told ABC News that the investigation is still ongoing.
"Our office is awaiting a full report on this matter from the Sandy Springs Police Department. Upon receipt of that report, we will conduct our own investigation and make a decision regarding the appropriate charges," said District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. in an e-mail.
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