4-Year-Old Girl Brutally Killed By 'Guardian' In Philadelphia

The Philadelphia District Attorney's office discovered that there was foul play on the death of a 4-year-old on October 30.

The case of Zya Singleton first broke when she was reported to have died after falling from a second-floor window at a home in Fairmount while she was playing with a cat.

Singleton was rushed to Jefferson University Hospital after suffering multiple wounds to her face from the fall, according NBC10.

Police said that Singleton died a week later due to the severity of her injuries.

However, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office claimed that there were more wounds on Singleton's body. Their investigation led to the discovery of “bite marks, cigarette burns and open wounds” to the child's scalp.

She also had a number of puncture wounds all over her body and showed signs of malnutrition.

The ghastly findings prompted investigators to believe that the story of Singleton falling out from the window was fabricated. Instead, her death was caused by abuse and neglect by her caretaker.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Kranser pointed that Singleton was brutally killed and was “abused for an extensive period of time.”

The caretaker, Samilya Brown was charged Tuesday with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and other related charges to the death of Singleton.

The 38-year-old Brown is the godsister of Zya's mother, Jasmine Singleto, and is married to Singleton's stepbrother.

Both women knew each other well, and this prompted Singleton to trust Brown to look after Zya. NBC10 added that family members even called Brown as Zya's “guardian.” They made an agreement and, through a notarized letter, gave the latter custody of Zya to keep her out of foster care.

Part of the agreement was that Singleton could still get Zya back provided that “she got her life together,” it added.

Jasmine told the DA's office that she had no idea that her daughter was abused and was able to see her before she died.

“I blame myself to be honest. I deal with this everyday but no one will understand the pain that I go through knowing that I will never see my daughter again,” she said.

“This is a horrific, heartbreaking case of abuse, neglect and murder of an innocent, defenseless child,” added Kranser.

Brown lost custody of her children and was placed under the care of the Department of Human Services.