Murder Charge Filed Against Lakewood Woman In Child's Death

LAKEWOOD, WA - Prosecutors have filed a second-degree murder charge against a 30-year-old woman in relation to the death of a 2-year-old in her care.

According to court records, Atalani Tili assaulted the 2-year-old twice in the beginning of February at a home in Lakewood. The boy was brought to the hospital on Feb. 14 with head injuries. He was staying with Tili while his mother was beginning a new job, according to the records. He died on Feb. 24.

On Feb. 13, Tili was tending to a cut on the boy's eye when he bit her, according to court records. The boy wouldn't let go of her finger, she told Lakewood police, and so she threw him. The boy hit his head on a dresser and began whimpering. Tili told police that the boy acted strangely after that and went to bed early. She hoped he would get better with sleep, she told police.

A week prior to that incident, Tili told police that she had shaken the boy after he threw a tantrum, according to court records, and that he may have hit his head on a dishwasher.

Tili took the boy to the hospital on Feb. 14, and he was treated for brain swelling and subdural hematoma, and for a stroke he had suffered. His family decided to take him off life support on Feb. 21.

Prosecutors had initially charged Tili with first-degree assault of a child. Tili is being held in jail pending a bail hearing set for March 9.

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