Aliyah Marie Branum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On April 26th Chelsea Huggett, was home with Aliyah when she started “whining”.  Chelsea reaction was to slam her daughter’s head into a wall which killed her. When police arrived at the home, they found Aliyah not breathing and unresponsive. Aliyah was taken to the hospital, but it was too late, and she was pronounced dead a short time later. Bruises covered her tiny body, including her face, head, arms, legs, back, shoulders and vaginal area.  One of Aliyah's eyes was swollen shut, blood was coming out of her nose and mouth, and a yellow fluid was coming out of both ears.  When the medical examiner preformed Aliyah’s autopsy, he further found that the Aliyah suffered a frontal skull fracture above the right eye and hemorrhaging over her entire brain.  The cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma.

 

Huggett told police that her boyfriend had killed her two year old Aliyah by spraying bug spray around the house. When police called Huggett on her ridiculous explanation, she didn’t take long to start recounting what actually happened to her daughter.  She told law enforcement that she was becoming increasingly frustrated with Aliyah’s “neediness” and always wanting to sit in her lap.  She stated that she had been shaking her daughter periodically up until the day Aliyah died.  Huggett said that on the day of Aliyah’s death, she was shaking the child because the baby would not “shut up”.  She then covered Aliyah’s mouth and nose with her hand to muffle the baby’s cries.  When this didn’t work, she slammed Aliyah’s head into a wall, and then head butted her.  Aliyah was left unconscious, and never woke up.

 

Huggett and Aliyah were actually homeless for quite a long period of time, living in tents and sheds.  Reports were made to CPS about this, and the agency said the calls did not warrant an investigation, because being homeless or living in a shed is not connected to “child safety issues”.  When more calls were placed to CPS, they found Aliyah to be “too skinny”, homeless, suffering from a severe diaper rash, and when Aliyah began to cry, her mother put a blanket over her mouth and “smacked her really hard on the legs, resulting in finger-shaped welt marks”. Huggett told people that she thought Aliyah had consumed ant and roach killer, and on the insistence of others, called a poison control hotline.  The hotline told her to take Aliyah to the hospital immediately, which she never did.  When an employee from the hotline called back to inquire as to why the little girl was not brought to the hospital, Huggett told them that Aliyah was fine now.  What was actually happening, was Aliyah having a life threatening attack, and Huggett later admitted she refused to seek medical care because she knew she’d be arrested.

 

Aliyah was born with several disabilities.  Her right eye was deformed and turning inward toward her brain, a condition which was quite serious, which Huggett knew, and yet she failed to ever get treatment for Aliyah.  Aliyah also had a genetic condition which affected her feet and required her to undergo physical therapy, and yet again Huggett ignored the baby girl’s medical needs, never seeking help for Aliyah.  Her diaper was rarely changed, leaving bleeding sores, which also were never treated.

Huggett, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was arrested and charged with first degree murder and aggravated child abuse.  She has pled not guilty to the charges.  She gave birth to another baby girl while in jail, and the child’s father, Jason Ruane, is seeking custody of the baby. Huggett accepted a deal in which she would plead guilty to second degree murder and aggravated child abuse. She was sentenced to the maximum allowed, 30 years in prison.