A ten-month old girl has tragically died after her mother’s boyfriend allegedly beat and raped her.
Time reports, authorities said the baby named Emmaleigh was found unresponsive in the basement of the family’s apartment.
Family members told West Virgina Metro News on Wednesday the baby was taken to hospital where she was declared clinically brain dead and died in intensive care at Charleston Area Medical Center.
The mother’s live in boyfriend Benjamin Taylor, 32, was originally charged with sexual assault, however, county Sheriff Tony Boggs said the charges would be upgraded to murder.
Boggs added: ‘I don’t know of any normal human that could fathom what would possess somebody to do that.
‘This investigation is ongoing, but as far as his past and what she did or didn’t know, he didn’t have anything obviously of this nature in his past, or he wouldn’t have been out (of jail) period.’
Relative of the child’s mother Danielle Adkins told news station WSAV-TV: ‘The only way justice is going to be served is if he feels every ounce of pain that he caused her to.’
‘It wasn’t enough that he took her innocence, he had to take her life too.’
A family member set up a Go Fund Me page to help pay for medical bills, court fees and the funeral.