A DeKalb County woman charged with murder in the February death of her 3-year-old daughter went before a judge Tuesday and entered a not guilty plea.
DeKalb Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams denied bond for Meriel Bemis, and set a September trial date for the 22-year-old Stone Mountain woman.
Police told Channel 2 Action News in February that Bemis got into an argument with her boyfriend on Feb. 23, prompting him to leave the woman's apartment.
Bemis later called her boyfriend for help, and he returned home to find the girl, Lela Bemis, lifeless, police said. Lela was pronounced dead on arrival at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
Police told Channel 2 that the mother admitted to suffocating the child because she was upset that her boyfriend broke up with her. The boyfriend was not charged.
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