Mom Speaks After Montco Baby's Death: 'I Really Have No Words'

LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA — The community is rallying around the mother of the baby girl who died after police said she was raped and assaulted by her father in Lower Providence Township over the weekend.

More than $22,000 was raised in a matter of hours through a GoFundMe for the family of 10-month-old Zara Lynn Scruggs. Her mother, Erica Scruggs, took to social media to thank her supporters.

"I’m not okay," she wrote in a public Facebook post that received hundreds of comments and well-wishes from the community. "I really have no words."

>>Infant Dead After Father Raped, Assaulted Her In Montco: DA

Despite her all too short life, Zara had a significant impact on the people she touched, friends and family said.

"She was smart. She was silly. She was sassy. She was perfect. She was a beautiful baby and brought so much beauty into hundreds of lives. She brought us together, and we will fight for her forever," wrote Brionna Cassaundra Wise, who launched the GoFundMe.

Wise said that the donations, which have already come in from more than 250 people, will be used for the memorial service and to start a foundation in memory of Zara.

"We have to fight for my baby," Erica Scruggs wrote.

Zara's father, Austin Stevens, 29, has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault, rape of a child, and related counts in her death.

Stevens had a joint custody agreement with Zara's mother, according to authorities. He had just moved into a home on the 3400 block of Germantown Pike in Lower Providence on Oct. 1, and served as an assistant coach for the Lower Providence Warriors youth football team, the District Attorney's Office said.

The incident occurred in the evening hours of Saturday, Oct. 3.

After the assault, from around 9:27 p.m. to 10:22 p.m., Stevens performed numerous Google searches on his phone, including “If baby stop breathing,” “What if you don’t hear baby heart or beat,” “My baby isn’t breathing,” and “How do you know if a bsby is dead," according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

While he was browsing the Internet, he also chatted over text and Instagram with two different women, and the conversations were not related to the baby or any emergency issues, according to a criminal complaint.

Finally, after an hour of Internet searches and chatting, he called 911, police said.

Zara was rushed to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery where she was declared dead.

Stevens is in Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $1 million bail.

To learn more about the GoFundMe and to donate, see here.