UNIONTOWN- When cops said he abused his fiancée’s 2-year-old daughter so badly that she died, the man from Uniontown was charged with murder.
Emmanuel Thomas Dennis, 33, was charged with murder and aggravated assault after the child died on Monday at Uniontown Hospital.
Monday around noon, police said they were called to the Village of Searights apartment complex. Medics were there helping the child before they were taken to the hospital. Police said they were told that the child hadn’t been seen since 7 a.m.
The cops said that Dennis was charged after they talked to and interviewed Fayette County District Attorney Michael Auble.
“The child had been dead for a long time, possibly more than a few hours.” “More likely at least 12,” Auble said.
Court papers say Dennis is going to marry the victim’s mother, and the three of them live together. When asked by police, Dennis said the baby had the “terrible twos” and admitted to hitting the child.
He told her that she fell six times over the weekend and hit her head. Troopers also noticed that Dennis never called the girl by her name; instead, he kept calling her “it.”
Dennis told police that he had badly hurt the victim but didn’t want to take her to the hospital because he was afraid of an investigation by Children and Youth Services.
When police talked to the girl’s mother, she told them that her daughter had hurt her head and had been acting tired and sluggish. The police said she told them Dennis had been beating her for a few weeks and that she needed to talk to him about it.
“We observed numerous bruises and stitches on the child’s body, very evident the child suffered serious physical abuse,” said Auble.
The victim’s mother told the police that Dennis had gotten angry with them twice in the last four days. She told the cops that he once dragged the girl to her room and hit her several times.
As the girl’s health quickly got worse, cops said her mother wanted to take her to the hospital, but Dennis wouldn’t because she was hurt.
Dennis was charged, and the Fayette County Jail did not let him out on bail. The investigation is still going on with state cops.
When asked if the mother would be charged, Auble would only say, “More charges are likely to be filed.”
