The 21-month-old girl who died Thursday was malnourished and had several bruises, according to court documents.
The girl's mother, Kiyana Higgins, was arrested on suspicion of abusing two of her children and was booked into the Pima County jail Thursday. The 23-year-old mother of five previously faced child-abuse charges in a 2009 case involving another daughter, records show.
On Thursday, crews from the Tucson Fire Department went to a home in the 1800 block of South Kitt Place, near South Alvernon Way and East 29th Street, around 8:45 a.m. after receiving a 911 call that a child was having "seizure-like activity," Sgt. Matt Ronstadt, a Tucson police spokesman, said in a news release.
The child was unresponsive, and paramedics said she was cold to the touch, emaciated and had a non-existent blood-sugar level, indicating she had not eaten in a while, according to search-warrant documents. The girl was taken to University of Arizona Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 9:14 a.m., the documents said.
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An autopsy was scheduled for Friday, but a doctor at UMC told police the toddler likely died from heart failure, according to the search warrant.
The girl had several bruises on her head, abrasions on her body and what appeared to be old burns on her legs, according to the warrant.
Higgins' 3-year-old son also was taken to the hospital, where he remains in serious condition, Tucson police said.
The boy had bruises on his head, genitals and other body parts, the search warrant said. The boy told investigators his mother frequently bit and beat him and the 21-month-old girl, the search warrant said.
The 3-year-old and Higgins' three other children, one boy and two girls under age 10, were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services..
A CPS spokeswoman said the agency is still gathering information.
In 2010, Higgins was found not guilty of child-abuse charges in a case involving her then-4-year-old daughter, according to court records.
On Nov. 27, 2009, Higgins was arrested on suspicion of child abuse, according to an interim complaint.
Her 4- and 5-year-old daughters told investigators Higgins choked the younger girl and and kicked her leg after she drank medicine belonging to her 1-year-old brother, according to the complaint.
The 4-year-old had three fractures on her left leg that were in various stages of healing, the document said.
The first injury happened in August 2009 and the second on Nov. 16, 2009, the complaint said. Information about the third fracture was not available.
Higgins told detectives the first injury happened when her 15-year-old sister fell on top of the toddler, and the second happened when the toddler fell on her siblings while running toward her grandmother, the interim complaint said.
Higgins was found not guilty of the three child- abuse charges in Pima County Superior Court in May 2010.
In January 2009, Higgins was arrested after she drove into oncoming traffic and crashed into a wall near North Swan and East Grant roads with a friend and her friend's 18-month-old daughter in the car, according to court records. The passengers were not injured.
Higgins was sentenced to three years' probation in that DUI case beginning on May 26, 2009, court records said.
On StarNet: If you want to know more about crime in Tucson, check out the Police Beat blog at go.azstarnet.com/policebeat
Contact reporter Veronica Cruz at vcruz@azstarnet.com or 573-4224.
