Tyshael Elise Martin (Lake County Sheriff’s Office).
Florida authorities arrested a 34-year-old woman following the death of her boyfriend’s 9-year-old daughter and video evidence that showed her ordering a 100-pound dog to attack her and then beat the girl with her hands and feet, cops say.
Tyshael Elise Martin is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Jamaria Sessions, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies responded the morning of June 17 to a home in the 16000 block of Harbar Oaks Drive in Montverde. Paramedics found Jamaria naked with “a significant number of abrasions, small punctures, burns, possible bite marks, and bruising covering her body, all in various stages of healing,” a probable cause arrest affidavit.
Martin said the family was supposed to take a flight that morning to California for vacation. She told cops she tried to wake up Jamaria, but she was unresponsive and cold to the touch. Detectives obtained nearly 3,000 videos from inside and outside the home.
Deputies honed on six videos that occurred shortly before midnight on June 15. They allegedly show Jamaria being “viciously attacked by the family pet, a 103lb male rottweiler.” Martin is seen holding the dog’s leash, “encouraging the dog to bite” Jamaria as she’s lying on the floor, just out of the camera’s view, the affidavit said.
“The next clips show Jamaria Sessions staggering, nude and disheveled,” the affidavit says. “Jamaria’s hair, previously in a partial bun, was now messy, and her extensions were falling out of her hair. It appeared that the dog had bitten the child’s head, pulling at her hair, at the command of Tyshael Martin.”
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Martin then allegedly forces the girl to stand in place with her arms held up in the air. Jamaria appeared to be disoriented and exhibited an orbital sway, which caused Martin to kick her, deputies wrote. The girl fell to the ground.
“The child lay motionless, moaning in pain, as Tyshael Martin continued to kick her hip and eventually her stomach area at full force,” deputies wrote. “When the child did not get up, Tyshael Martin then grabbed the child by her hair, pulling her across the floor, with minimal resistance by Jamaria Sessions, who appeared to be disorientated and motionless.”
According to deputies, Martin continued to beat Jamaria and said something that sounded like “I’m fixin’ to kill her.”
Detectives also learned that Martin used exercises as a form of punishment, including prolonged wall sits, running in place with her hands up and running on a treadmill, the affidavit said. Martin also allegedly would kick, punch and pinch the girl.
On Tuesday, an autopsy determined the girl died of blunt force injuries to the head, torso and extremities and thermal injury to the right foot. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Deputies arrested Martin on Wednesday and took her to the Lake County Jail, where she’s being held without bond. She made her first appearance on Thursday.
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