A DeKalb County grandmother was jailed without bond Monday night for allegedly beating her 3-year-old granddaughter to death. But her version of what happened differs from what police suspect.
Selena Denise Rivera, 42, told police she was in bed reading the Bible when she noticed Neveah Pinckney’s eyes rolling back and a white foam coming from her nose, according to the police report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rivera told DeKalb County police she was the only one who cared for the child, and she immediately called 911 the evening of Aug. 21, the report states. An hour later, Neveah was pronounced dead at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, police said.
Rivera allegedly told police she had bathed the girl before putting her to bed in the family’s home near Decatur the night she died.
An autopsy determined Neveah died from blunt force trauma, and scarring indicated she had been previously been injured, according to the warrant for Rivera’s arrest.
Furthermore, the autopsy revealed Neveah had sustained blunt force trauma from her head to her calves, police said. Neveah had also been a patient at Egleston less than two weeks before she died, and the Department of Family and Children Services was contacted, the police report states.
“The guardian stated the victim had a seizure while in the shower and fell striking her forehead,” the police report states. “The guardian said when the victim was at the hospital, she had another seizure.”
However, the child’s 8-year-old sister, whose name was not released, told police Thursday she watched her grandmother “beating the victim with a silver pipe on the day she died and shoved the victim in a closet,” the arrest warrant states.
Neveah wasn’t breathing when Rivera got her out of the closet, the older child told police.
An arrest warrant was secured Thursday for Rivera, who was arrested Saturday and charged with murder, DeKalb County jail records show. Rivera was denied bond at her first court appearance Monday.
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