An Annapolis teenager was charged as an adult Monday with first-degree murder in the weekend slaying of a 2-year-old-girl.
Timothy Darnell Height, 17, was picked up about 6 p.m. Saturday at a friend's home and questioned about the death of 2-year-old Amoir Faith Turner, Annapolis Police Chief Michael A. Pristoop said at a Monday afternoon news conference. The toddler was found dead in bed in the Bywater neighborhood shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, and early autopsy results show that she suffered several injuries, including a fractured skull, a broken leg and possible sexual assault, Pristoop said.
Height has had previous contacts with authorities, police said. A District Court commissioner ordered him held Monday without bail on five charges stemming from the child's death pending a bail hearing likely to take place Tuesday.
Height, of the 700 block of Newtowne Drive, was acquainted with the toddler's mother, Kiera D. Smith, 22. Police considered Height a person of interest within two hours of meeting a distraught Smith at the door of her residence in the 1900 block of Copeland St., the chief said.
Pristoop said detectives "have reason to believe he was or certainly could have been" alone with Amoir. Two boys in the Bywater home, ages 4 and 6, were moved to the home of a relative, Pristoop said.
Amoir was the second child found dead in two weeks in the area. On May 22, Anne Arundel County police called to an apartment in Laurel's Russett community found 6-week-old Joel Otude unresponsive. Autopsy results are pending in that case, police said Monday.