A Leon County grand jury indicted a man on a charge of first-degree murder in the brutal death of a 1-year-old girl.
Deric Young, 25, was indicted July 18 on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse by great bodily harm.
According to court records, Ky’meria Key’moni German died June 23 after Young punched her in the head so hard it caused her brain to hemorrhage and swell. She also suffered an acute fracture to her thigh bone, an injury police called “extremely painful.”
Young was the boyfriend of a woman who had been hired to look after the little girl. He admitted in an interview with police that he struck the girl but said he didn’t think it was hard enough to cause her death.
The girl’s mother, Nickaiya Walker, started a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-with-my-baby-funeral.
“My baby is gone,” her mom wrote. “Anything will help my baby she was murdered she wasn’t ready to leave this earth …I want my baby to leave right anything will help she was sweet little baby ..she loved to eat she was loved by many people she didn’t deserve this my baby is gone please help me.”
Young is being held without bond at the Leon County Detention Facility.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Grand jury indicts man in punching death of 1-year-old girl
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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