Parents to Face Murder, Abuse Charges in Death of Girl, 4

Murder and child-abuse charges are expected to be filed today against the parents of a 4-year-old Palmdale girl whose lifeless body was covered with bruises when she was found in the family’s mobile home, authorities said Wednesday.

Deedra Hunter had been dead several hours by the time her mother realized she wasn’t breathing and called sheriff’s deputies, said Deputy Michael Scott, who described the apparent child-abuse case as one of the worst he has seen.

Michelle Hunter, 24, and Richard Leach, 25, were being held Wednesday at the Antelope Valley sheriff’s station pending their arraignment. Hunter’s 2-year-old son, who was also bruised, was taken into protective custody.

Although an autopsy had not been completed Wednesday, the child’s death appeared to be the second child-abuse homicide within the past year in the Antelope Valley, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Foltz said. The desert region has one of the highest proportionate rates of documented child abuse in the county, Foltz and other officials said.

Dr. Carolyn Cunningham, director of the Children’s Center of the Antelope Valley, said the child-abuse therapy facility has treated 369 clients since it opened about a year ago. She and other experts attribute the valley’s disproportionate number of sexual- and physical-abuse cases to its isolation and the long, stress-inducing commute for many parents.

“It’s a serious problem up here. That’s why we are here,” Cunningham said.

Scott said that in Deedra Hunter’s case, it appears that adults who saw the child on a regular basis suspected what was happening but took no action. Five adults and an estimated “four to six” children lived in the double-wide mobile home where Deedra died. The trailer park is at 5200 Entrar Drive, Scott said. Neither the child nor her brother attended preschool, he said.

“We think people residing in the mobile home suspected what was taking place, but no one wanted to get in involved,” Scott said, adding that it was unclear who dialed 911.

According to Scott, Hunter checked on the girl about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the bedroom that she, her boyfriend and their two children shared. She realized the girl had stopped breathing and “everybody went into a state of panic.”

When deputies arrived, Deedra was on the kitchen floor, where adults in the household had tried to resuscitate her. She had bruises on her head, shoulders, back, chest, stomach, and legs, Scott said. He also said Deedra and Hunter’s younger child showed other signs of neglect, which he would not disclose.

“This is pretty severe,” Scott said. “One of the worst I’ve seen in terms of the injuries, the amount of bruising on a toddler.”