A 26-year-old Belle Rose man faces a first-degree murder charge following the death of a 3-year-old girl early Thursday, Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon reported.
Bernard JR Fleander, of 6751 Highway 308, was booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center on Thursday afternoon on counts of first-degree murder and failure to appear in Assumption Parish for simple battery.
Deputies were dispatched to Assumption Community Hospital in Napoleonville at approximately 3:20 a.m. Thursday, after a man brought an unresponsive child to the facility.
Hospital staff initiated life-saving measures, but the child was pronounced dead a short time later.
Detectives opened an investigation and identified the man who transported the victim as Fleander. According to investigators, Fleander was caring for the 3-year-old and other children at the time. He is not the child’s biological father. Detectives reported seeing significant injuries across the victim’s body.
Authorities executed a search warrant at the residence on Highway 308 and interviewed witnesses who were inside the home when the incident occurred.
An autopsy performed at a forensic facility officially classified the child’s manner of death as a homicide. Detectives detained Fleander during the initial inquiry and obtained an arrest warrant later Thursday afternoon before booking him into the parish jail.
READ: Staged Alibis And Burner Phones: New York Couple Gets Life In Grisly 2020 Murder Plot
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