Natalie Pickle's death was due to brain swelling and bruising that resulted from a severe beating, an attorney representing the girl's mother told the Daily Globe on Friday.
The 3 1/2-year-old girl suffered the injuries that led to her death Nov. 19 in Dodge City. She was airlifted to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita for treatment and died the next day.
Natalie's mother, Amanda Perry, was at work Nov. 19 and had left her children in the care of her boyfriend at the time, said Wichita attorney Chris McHugh. McHugh is representing Perry in a child in need of care case concerning her younger daughter, Alexis Cunningham, who is Perry's biological child with her boyfriend.
Perry received a call at work saying that something was wrong with Natalie, and she needed to go to the hospital, McHugh said. The girl was later airlifted to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita.
The boyfriend told Perry at the hospital that he had heard a thump, went into another room and found Natalie semiconscious on the floor, McHugh said. The boyfriend gave police the same account of events.
McHugh said the boyfriend had told authorities that he had called 911 fairly quickly to report what had happened.
But the physician who treated Natalie in Wichita contradicted the boyfriend's version of events during a court hearing earlier this week. McHugh said the physician testified that Natalie's injuries could not have come from an accidental fall — unless the fall was from a five-story building.
McHugh said the physician testified that the injuries were the result of a severe beating.
"From our perspective, it was just a horrible beating of this little girl," he said. "And we really can't understand what happened, actually."
He said the physician's testimony came during a court hearing in the child in need of care case concerning Perry's daughter Alexis.
State law dictates that when a child dies as a result of child abuse, the surviving sibling automatically becomes a child in need of care.
In this case, Alexis was designated as a child in need of care and has been temporarily placed with Perry's sister, McHugh said. Perry retains custody of Alexis and can see her at any time, but the boyfriend's visitation rights have been temporarily terminated.
Perry and the boyfriend are no longer together, McHugh said. He added that the boyfriend has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
When asked about the night that Pickle died, Perry referred all questions to McHugh.
The Globe is not naming the boyfriend because he has not been arrested in connection with the case. An attempt to reach the boyfriend's attorney, Linda Eckelman, for comment Friday was not immediately successful.
Dodge City Police Lt. Craig Mellecker said that police are still investigating the case but declined to comment beyond that.
DODGE CITY —
