Sep 03, 2010
Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writer
A baby sitter accused of killing a toddler during a sleepover in her Green apartment was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on a murder charge.
Tiffani Calise, 20, is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court, according to the clerk of courts office.
She remains jailed under a $500,000 cash bond. The grand jury also indicted Calise on two counts of child endangering and a count of involuntary manslaughter. Calise pleaded innocent to the charges last month in Barberton Municipal Court. Her attorney, Donald Hicks, declined comment Thursday.
Calise is accused in the Aug. 12 death of 23-month-old Aaliyah Ali. Sheriff's detectives, according to two sources familiar with the investigation, believe the girl suffered brain injuries found in cases of shaken baby syndrome. Calise, who is about two months pregnant and is the single mother of a 3-year-old daughter, was with Aaliyah and her own daughter the night of Aug. 9 inside her Mayfair Road apartment.
At some point, Calise gave Aaliyah a bath. She told deputies and family members she left the toddler alone momentarily in a near-empty bathtub to retrieve a towel. When she was away, she said, she heard a thud and returned to find Aaliyah unconscious.
She called 911 about 11:40 p.m., and a dispatcher gave her CPR instructions. Green paramedics arrived about nine minutes later and took the girl to Akron Children's Hospital.
About four hours later, hospital staff contacted deputies with suspicions that Aaliyah's injuries were not consistent with Calise's account of what had transpired, a sheriff's spokesman has said.
On Aug. 11, Calise was arrested on the child-endangering charge while the toddler was still being treated. Aaliyah died the following day.
An autopsy was performed last month, but a cause of death has not yet been determined.
A baby sitter accused of killing a toddler during a sleepover in her Green apartment was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on a murder charge.
Tiffani Calise, 20, is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court, according to the clerk of courts office.
She remains jailed under a $500,000 cash bond. The grand jury also indicted Calise on two counts of child endangering and a count of involuntary manslaughter. Calise pleaded innocent to the charges last month in Barberton Municipal Court. Her attorney, Donald Hicks, declined comment Thursday.
Calise is accused in the Aug. 12 death of 23-month-old Aaliyah Ali. Sheriff's detectives, according to two sources familiar with the investigation, believe the girl suffered brain injuries found in cases of shaken baby syndrome. Calise, who is about two months pregnant and is the single mother of a 3-year-old daughter, was with Aaliyah and her own daughter the night of Aug. 9 inside her Mayfair Road apartment.
At some point, Calise gave Aaliyah a bath. She told deputies and family members she left the toddler alone momentarily in a near-empty bathtub to retrieve a towel. When she was away, she said, she heard a thud and returned to find Aaliyah unconscious.
She called 911 about 11:40 p.m., and a dispatcher gave her CPR instructions. Green paramedics arrived about nine minutes later and took the girl to Akron Children's Hospital.
About four hours later, hospital staff contacted deputies with suspicions that Aaliyah's injuries were not consistent with Calise's account of what had transpired, a sheriff's spokesman has said.
On Aug. 11, Calise was arrested on the child-endangering charge while the toddler was still being treated. Aaliyah died the following day.
An autopsy was performed last month, but a cause of death has not yet been determined.
http://www.ohio.com/news/102130984.html
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