3-year-old Natalie Pickle was beaten to death

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Natalie Pickle's death was due to brain swelling and bruising that resulted from a severe beating, an attorney representing the girl's mother said.

The 3 1/2-year-old girl suffered the injuries that led to her death. She was airlifted to a Wichita hospital for treatment and died the next day.

Natalie's mother, Amanda Perry, was at work Nov. 19 and had left her children in the care of her boyfriend at the time.

Perry received a call at work saying that something was wrong with Natalie, and she needed to go to the hospital.

The boyfriend told Perry at the hospital that he had heard a thump, went into another room and found Natalie semiconscious on the floor. The boyfriend gave police the same account of events.

The boyfriend had told authorities that he had called 911 fairly quickly to report what had happened.

But the physician who treated Natalie contradicted the boyfriend's version of events during a court hearing earlier this week. The physician testified that Natalie's injuries could not have come from an accidental fall — unless the fall was from a five-story building. The physician testified that the injuries were the result of a severe beating.

Perry and the boyfriend are no longer together. The boyfriend has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

Dodge City Police Lt. Craig Mellecker said that police are still investigating the case but declined to comment beyond that.

http://www.dodgeglobe.com/news/x1069...d-childs-death

[Silvahalo]

The boyfriend has not been arrested or charged with a crime...

I hope that this poor sweet girl's death is vindicated....

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Four years after a girl's death, there's an arrest in case. Three year-old Natalie Pickle died in November 2008 in Dodge City. At the time she was in the care of her mother's boyfriend, Brock Cunningham.

Dodge City police say they wrapped up their case years ago, and haven't recently uncovered any new information. However, Eyewitness News learned a new Ford County Attorney Natalie Randall took over on Monday.

Thursday afternoon, an arrest warrant was issued for Cunningham. He was arrested and booked into the Ford County jail on suspicion of first degree murder and child abuse. A sergeant at the jail tells Eyewitness News that Cunningham bonded out. His bond was set at $75,000. He will make his first appearance in court January 24th.
[...]

When Natalie died, Cunningham told investigators Natalie fell off the bed. She died the following day.

An autopsy showed Natalie died of “blunt trauma to the head” with “scalp bruises…not explained by a simple fall.” The report says some of the bruises are “consistent with impact from an object rather than fall to the floor.”

http://articles.kwch.com/2013-01-18/...ickle_36400501

[TheMeaningOfItAll]

Four years?! That's an outrage. May sweet Natalie get the justice she deserves.

[Tundratot]

The police wrapped up their case years ago, and nothing happened until a new DA was hired? WTF! Were the police unwilling to make an arrest or was the former DA unwilling to prosecute? Why wasn't Amanda Perry enacting a nuclear bomb going off?