Dead child had been brutalized, police say
A 4-year-old Widefield girl who died last week from suspected child abuse had a bite mark on her shoulder, eight broken ribs and "a liver that was almost ripped in half," according to an arrest affidavit obtained Monday.
Her mother's boyfriend, 23-year-old Tristan Price, appeared before a judge Monday and was told he's facing a first-degree murder charge in Tamyrill Randall's death.
Price also has been charged with misdemeanors in connection with an unrelated domestic violence incident with Tamyrill's mother, Tenesa Randall, 27.
An El Paso County Sheriff's dispatcher received a 911 call Friday morning from 111 Cielo Vista Street in Widefield, where the couple lived with several other family members, reporting the child was not breathing. She was later pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital.
Price told detectives Tenesa Randall left for work about 6 a.m. Friday and he tried to wake the girl up later that morning. When she didn't respond, he "shook her to revive her" and then put her in the shower, according to the arrest affidavit. Neither woke the child.
A forensic pathologist at the El Paso County Coroner's office discovered during the autopsy the broken ribs and the liver injury, the affidavit states. Three of the ribs had been broken previously and had started healing when they broke again in the same place, "which indicated that the child had been subjected to similar trauma or abuse in the past," according to the affidavit.
Dr. Sunil Prasher told detectives the child would have died within minutes of suffering the liver injury and that it could have been caused by "something like stomping on the child with a bare foot," according to the affidavit.
The El Paso County Department of Human services had investigated Price before after two bite marks were found on the girl, "one on each of the child's breast," according to the affidavit. No charges were filed.
Tenesa Randall showed detectives a large bite mark on her arm and said "Mr. Tristan Price had bitten her too out of anger," the affidavit states.
Price is being held without bond at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center and is due back in court Oct. 7, when prosecutors could file charges.
