The mother of a 17-month-old girl found mortally wounded inside a Santa Monica apartment was charged Thursday with murder and assault on a child causing death.
Carmen Anita Degregg, 24, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
She faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted as charged, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Police were notified shortly before 11:54 a.m. Tuesday that UCLA Police had detained a woman on campus after she made statements indicating she had harmed her child and left the infant inside an apartment in the 2000 block of Broadway, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.
Officers responded to the residence, where the child was found inside an apartment with “significant injuries,” police said.
Santa Monica Fire Department personnel took the child to a hospital, where the toddler was pronounced dead, police said.
Degregg was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death.
Santa Monica Police Lt. Lewis Gilmour said he could not confirm media reports that indicated a frying pan was involved in the child’s death.
Police said the cause and manner of the child’s death will be determined by the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office. The girl’s name has not been released.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Degregg was not a UCLA student and had no other affiliation with the university.
“The allegations in this case describe extreme violence against a child who was entirely vulnerable and unable to protect herself,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “When a parent is accused of causing a child’s death, our office has a duty to act decisively and to seek the maximum accountability permitted by law.”