Indiana couple convicted of beating 8-year-old with jumper cables, choking her to death
06/14/2022 2:34 pm PDT
MARION COUNTY, Ind. (TCD) -- A mom and her boyfriend were found guilty of abusing and killing her 8-year-old daughter in 2020.
According to WXIN-TV, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office announced Derrick Dale was found guilty of aggravated battery resulting in death, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person less than 14 years old. The trial reportedly lasted three days.
Dale’s girlfriend and the victim’s mother, Kimberly Grosklos, pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in death. WXIN reports she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office first charged Grosklos and Dale in April 2020. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Grosklos originally faced charges of murder, aggravated battery, neglect of a dependent, resulting in death, and battery resulting in serious bodily injury.
On April 6, 2020, first responders went to Grosklos and Dale’s residence on the 11500 block of Kirkwood Drive for a report of an unresponsive juvenile and called in the Cumberland Police for backup.
Grosklos and Dale allegedly said they found the little girl in the bathtub and carried her to another room to perform CPR. Neither one called 911 after finding her in the tub, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
The girl, who remains unidentified, was transported to a hospital, where she died.
Investigators looking into the girl’s death were made aware that she had injuries on her body consistent with abuse. During her autopsy, the medical examiner found "severe trauma" to parts of her body, some of which could have been caused by jumper cables. She had hemorrhaging and "extensive bruising," which were likely a result of being whipped. Detectives reportedly discovered jumper cables in the master bedroom closet.
Her cause of death was listed as non-accidental trauma and suffocation.
Dale will be sentenced in July.
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