Charges for the father of a 5-yr-old girl beaten to death were upgraded after an autopsy.
Aaron Hawkins was arrested Thursday, April 7, 2022 after his daughter Summer Hawkins was rushed to a hospital the day before and died. He is now charged with first-degree murder.
Hospital staff noticed severe bruising and trauma on the little girl’s body that the staff did not believe was consistence with an accidental fall like the father claimed.
Officials said they found severe bruising on the child’s “buttocks, both upper legs, hips, back and both forearms. Minor swelling and bruising was also observed on the left eye and chest.“
Hawkins said his daughter had fell and hurt herself but an autopsy completed on Summer today revealed the child died from ‘multiple blunt force injuries.’
A witness told officers that Hawkins allegedly hit his daughter with a belt as a form of discipline. The witness added that in the last week, she had to intervene while Hawkins was hitting his daughter because the witness thought it was excessive.
Hawkins was originally charged with cruelty to a juvenile. The charge has now been upgraded to first-degree murder.
Leave a Reply