Rockville Daycare Owner Sentenced In Baby's Beating Death

ROCKVILLE, MD — A Rockville child-care provider who beat a 6-month-old girl so forcefully she suffered broken bones and later died was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in prison. The baby, Miller "Millie" Lilliston of Rockville, died April 22, 2016, three days after she suffered multiple blunt-force trauma injuries, authorities said.

A Montgomery County jury convicted Kia Divband, 37, in September of first-degree child abuse resulting in death; first-degree child abuse resulting in severe physical injury; first-degree child abuse resulting in severe physical injury; first-degree assault; and involuntary manslaughter. He was found guilty in a second trial after the first case ended in a mistrial. Divband was found not guilty of second-degree murder.

Police said Divband fatally injured the baby while she was in the care of his licensed daycare, Little Dreamers, which is located at Divband's home.

Divband had been looking for a different job about the time of the baby's death, prosecutors said. He had called a former employer, WTOP reports, "and explained that he had a child in his care who cried all the time and that he 'couldn't take it anymore.'"

Homicide detectives were called to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital on April 19 after the baby was brought to the hospital. Divband told detectives that after a morning nap he put Millier in her stroller, began to feed her a bottle and she started choking and vomiting. When he took her to the bathroom to clean her face, Divband said he noticed that the child was unresponsive and that her lips had turned blue.

After he reportedly performed three to four rounds of CPR, Divband yelled for his wife, who was upstairs in the home, to call 9-1-1. Emergency responders took the child to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, where doctors noted subdural hematomas in her head, rib fractures, and multiple bruises on her face and body.

The baby was then flown to the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where doctors found more injuries that included retinal hemorrhages, a fractured thigh bone, and a fractured arm/shoulder. All of the injuries were deemed as non-accidental, inflicted trauma.
Millie died from her injuries three days later on April 22.

The baby's parents told police that she had not been ill, and was in good health and condition when she was dropped off at Divband's day-care. Millie's parents had a photograph taken on April 18 that showed the baby with no facial bruising.

During a search of Little Dreamers daycare and Divband's residence, police reportedly found blood evidence in multiple locations in the daycare, including the stroller that Millie was seated in. A trash can with bloodied baby wipes was located outside with the trash bins.

Hospital reports described Millie suffering from multiple inflicted injuries. None of these were consistent with the choking event described by Divband, police said, but were consistent with repeated incidents of physical abuse.

Photo of Kia Divband, courtesy of Montgomery County Police