TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Tacoma-area man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
Pierce County prosecutors say Charles Christopher Mann struck Najaila Lowe in the abdomen some time Monday evening, causing massive internal bleeding.
The News Tribune reports Mann originally told investigators the girl drowned in a bathtub while he was in another room attending to another child. The mother was not home at the time.
Mann changed his story when confronted with autopsy results showing the girl died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen. He told investigators he accidentally punched her while pretending to box with her.
