John Jefferson
Inset, top to bottom: Kiara Davis and Miguel Badillo (Muscogee County Jail). Background: The home where the victim died (WTVM).
The parents of an 8-month-old girl in Georgia are accused of killing their daughter, who suffocated to death after allegedly becoming “wedged” between a couch cushion and mattress inside of a filthy home that was covered in animal feces and insects.
Miguel Badillo, 24, and Kiara Davis, 27, were taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count each of second-degree murder and second-degree child cruelty in the death of their daughter Ellie, authorities announced. They were also charged with one count of possession of drug-related objects.
According to a news release from the Columbus, Georgia, Police Department, officers on Sept. 27, 2024, responded to a residence in the 4300 block of Rosemont Drive regarding a report of a deceased 8-month-old girl.
Detectives with the department’s Special Victims Unit executed a search warrant on the home and said they learned that “the infant had been placed on an angled mattress on a love seat, with no safety measures in place to prevent the infant from rolling off and becoming wedged between the mattress and couch cushions.”
Following an investigation into the circumstances of Ellie’s death, police on Nov. 8, 2024, obtained warrants for the arrests of Badillo and Davis. They were both taken into custody on Nov. 13.
Authorities provided additional details about the circumstances of the child’s death during a court hearing on Friday that was covered by Columbus ABC affiliate WTVM.
One of the responding officers testified that the conditions inside the home were deplorable.
“There were multiple animals inside the house that were unconfined. There was animal feces,” the officer told a judge during the proceedings. “There were insects in every room of the house. There was half-eaten food that was decaying in every room of the house.”
Davis, who was home at the time, had reportedly left the infant alone while she went outside to talk with a friend. Badillo was not at the home when his daughter died, but was reportedly charged because he knew about the unsafe conditions that authorities say led to Ellie’s death.
“Both parents were well aware of the conditions in the household and they were both aware of the sleeping arrangement for the child,” the officer told the court.
Another investigator explained to the court that the victim “rolled off of a bedroom mattress and became wedged between the side of the mattress and the couch cushion.” The investigator said the child died of asphyxiation.
However, Howard Turner, the couple’s landlord, told WTVM that Davis and Badillo were not cruel to their child and he believes Ellie’s death was just a “freak accident.”
“And they were very caring of that baby based on what I could tell, and it was just like a freak accident,” he told the station.
Following Friday’s hearing, the case was bound over to Muscogee County Superior Court. Davis and Badillo currently remain in detention at the Muscogee County Jail where they are being held without bond.
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