1-Year-Old Girl Found Burned, Assaulted To Death In Maplewood: Police

MAPLEWOOD, MN — A Maplewood man burned and beat his girlfriend's 1-year-old girl, according to a murder charge filed in Ramsey County.

Terrance V. Leslie, 26, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder — without intent — while committing a felony.

If convicted, Leslie faces up to 40 years in prison.

On Oct. 18 just before 7:30 p.m., Maplewood police and paramedics responded to an apartment complex on County Road B and Barclay Street on a report of a 1-year-old girl with serious burn injuries, according to the criminal complaint.

At the apartment, responders found a girl with fresh burns on her right cheek, neck, right forearm, and shoulder, police said.

The girl was "extremely lethargic and unresponsive," according to the criminal complaint. Medics tried sternum rubs, but the girl would not open her eyes, authorities said.

Leslie and his girlfriend — the child's mother — were at the apartment with her, according to the criminal complaint. Both adults reported that Leslie watched the girl that day while the mother went to work, authorities said.

Leslie said that he was preparing a bath for the girl when she fell in, according to the criminal complaint. Leslie also said that when he was drying the child, her skin began peeling off, according to authorities.

However, police said the bathroom tub was completely dry — except for a few water droplets around the drain — and everything else in the room appeared completely dry.

The burn patterns on the girl did not match Leslie’s story because the bathtub water could not get hot enough to cause the degree of burns suffered by the girl, authorities said.

When medics removed the girl's clothes, they found dark bruises all over her back and abdomen, according to the criminal complaint.

Medics rushed the girl to the hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest and died just before 10 p.m., authorities said.

The emergency room physician said many of the bruises all over the girl's body were old and indicated physical abuse, according to the criminal complaint.

Police searched Leslie's phone and found several videos he recorded in which he yells at the girl, who is shown having serious injuries, authorities said.

The girlfriend also said that Leslie abused her — including while she was holding the child — investigators said.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner on Wednesday ruled the girl's death a homicide and said the cause to be several traumatic injuries due to assault, the criminal complaint states.

The examiner also noted injuries on the girl's body that are consistent with sexual assault, authorities said.