HdG Child Abuse Case: Man Sentenced In Death Of 2-Year-Old

BEL AIR, MD —A Harford County man was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week related to the death of a 2-year-old girl in Havre de Grace.

Aubrey Hickman, 2, died in January 2019 in what the medical examiner ruled was a homicide.

Brenton John Alexander Mills, 27, of Edgewood, was sentenced Tuesday in Harford County Circuit Court to 40 years in prison for first-degree child abuse that resulted in the death of a person younger than 13, court records show. The judge suspended all but 15 years of the sentence, which will be followed by five years of probation.

Mills had been living with the child's mother when the 2-year-old suffered "high velocity trauma" that caused brain bleeding and swelling, The Aegis reported.

The Havre de Grace Police Department said authorities were called for a medical emergency in the 600 block of Green Street — where the girl was in cardiac arrest — on Jan. 7, 2019.

While providing aid, police noticed signs of injury, triggering a child abuse investigation.

The girl was flown to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she died Jan. 11.

After she died at the hospital, Aubrey was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where an autopsy of her body resulted in her death being ruled a homicide.

Mills was charged in December 2019 and pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse in November 2020, according to court records, which show that on Thursday he filed for a modification or reconsideration.

Related:

• Suspect Charged In Death Of 2-Year-Old Havre de Grace Girl
• Death Of 2-Year-Old In Havre de Grace Was Homicide: Police