Crime & Safety
Mom Charged In Baby's Death Made Chilling Call After Beating: DA
Police said a witness heard the child's mother on the phone with the baby's father after allegedly beating her to death.
CHESTER, PA — Brutal details of the death of an 18-month-old child in Delaware County have emerged after the child's mother and her boyfriend were charged with murder and related crimes in connection with the death.
Li'Aziah Thomas was just 18-months-old when she suffered fatal injuries, according to Delaware County authorities.
Her mother Kandie Meinhart, 31, and Meinhart's boyfriend, Maurice Davis, 29, both of Chester, are charged with criminal homicide, first- and third-degree murder, and more crimes, authorities announced this week.
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According to the affidavits filed against Meinhart and Davis, police were called to Meinhart's Chester home at about 11 a.m. the morning of Jan. 20 for a report of a child suffering cardiac arrest.
Thomas was on the floor and looked purple, was cold to the touch, had no pulse, and was showing signs of rigor mortis, police said in the affidavit.
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Police said a witness in the home said they heard Meinhart on the phone with Thomas's father, saying, "Your b***h is dead."
The Delaware County Medical Examiner's office later determined Thomas suffered multiple blunt force trauma injuries, which led to her liver, renal gland and bowel vessels being lacerated. Those injuries resulted in internal bleeding.
The medical examiner's office determined the injuries occurred between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. that day and that Thomas died between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. that day, hours before police were called to the home.
Additionally, the medical examiner's office found older injuries to Thomas's front and back that occurred four to eight hours before the fatal blows.
Police determined Meinhart and Davis were the sole caretakers of Thomas during those times.
Meinhart and Davis are also accused of lying to police about where they were when the injuries occurred and their involvement in Thomas's death.
Meinhart and Davis are being held at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility without bail.
Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for July 7.
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