Authorities: Waukegan girl killed by stomach punch was malnourished, beaten in past
The 11-year-old Waukegan girl who died last week after police say she was punched in the stomach by her mother also was suffering from malnutrition and weighed only 55 pounds at the time of her death, authorities said Monday.
Police confiscated cellphone videos from Nicholette R. Lawrence, 32, that show her using a belt to beat her daughter, Raasania J. Coley, in the days or weeks before the girl died Friday, said Stephen Scheller, chief of the Felony Review Division for the Lake County state's attorney's office.
Lawrence has been charged with one count of murder in Coley's death. She remains in Lake County jail on $5 million bail.
Scheller said Lawrence also admitted to previously hitting Coley with an extension cord. Lawrence was the sole caregiver for Coley, who was home-schooled, Scheller said.
Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd said significant scarring and numerous cigarette burns were discovered on Coley's skin during the autopsy. Rudd said Coley weighed 55 pounds and that her wrists and ribs were protruding due to mass malnutrition.
“This was definite long-term malnutrition,” Rudd said. “This took place over months, not weeks.”
Coley was pronounced dead at a hospital after Waukegan firefighters found her unresponsive at her Gillette Avenue home at 9:08 p.m. Friday, authorities said. Rudd said the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Firefighters notified Waukegan police, who called in the department's Major Crime Scene Unit and Criminal Investigations Division to investigate.
Lawrence admitted she punched Coley hard in the stomach Wednesday night, Scheller said. Coley was bloated and vomiting Thursday and Friday, officials said. Scheller would not comment on what prompted the punch.
The Department of Children and Family Services would not comment on any previous reports of involving Lawrence. However, the agency is investigating allegations of abuse in Coley's case, spokesman Jimmie Whitelow said.
There is no allegation of abuse involving Lawrence's two other children, authorities said. Those children are in the care of DCFS, Whitelow said.
Lawrence is due in court for a preliminary hearing at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 30.