If the allegations against her are true, a Florida mother picked a particularly depraved way to kill the 9-year-old daughter of her boyfriend.
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Tyshael Martin, 34, had a 100-pound Rottweiler on a leash, and she was goading it into attacking and mauling the girl to death. Police arrested Martin near where she lived in Monteverde and charged her with aggravated child abuse, child neglect, and first-degree murder.
Emergency responders were sent to Martin’s home on June 17 after a 911 caller said the girl, Jamaria Sessions, was unconscious. It is not clear who placed the call. When paramedics got there, they saw a horrible scene. The little girl had bruises, abrasions, and burn marks, and what the team suspected were bite marks. That’s when they called sheriff’s deputies.
The girl’s body was taken to the medical examiner for an autopsy, and the pathologist confirmed that the girl’s injuries were caused by physical abuse.
What police found on the family’s home security videos was shocking. Nine-year-old Jamaria could be seen being attacked by the huge snarling dog, and Tyshael Martin was holding the leash and encouraging the dog to attack the girl, according to investigators. They say the same footage showed Martin violently kicking the girl as she lay on the floor unconscious.
Detectives say Martin could also be seen dragging the girl across the floor while continually hitting and shaking her. Though they are not certain, they believe they heard Martin say, “I’m fixin’ to kill her.”
The investigative team has also disclosed what they found through various interviews, text messages, and more video. They say the dead girl was punished by being forced to sit for long periods up against a wall, forced to run in place with her hands over her head, and that she was punched, slapped, and kicked repeatedly.
The autopsy report on the girl was released on August 27, and it said her cause of death was multiple blows to the head, to her limbs, and to her torso. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide.
Martin is being held in jail without bond.
The girl’s father, LoJuan Sessions, has also been arrested and charged with manslaughter.
