Girl, four, weighing 15lbs and kept tied to her cot...

Girl, four, weighing just 15lbs and kept tied to her cot found dead in 'filthy' New York apartment

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:07 AM on 3rd September 2010



Investigation: Marchella's mother, Carlotta Pierce, is being questioned over her daughter's death



A four-year-old girl weighing less than a six-month-old baby has been found dead after apparently being tied up.

Police found the severely-malnourished child - weighing just 15lbs - after being called to the 'filthy' New York apartment by her mother earlier today.

The girl, named as Marchella Pierce, was found in her mother's bed - but there was a child's cot nearby with rails on it and twine tied to them at the top and bottom, according to the New York Post.

Marchella had marks on her ankles that were consistent with being tied up, officers said.

Detectives are now questioning the child's mother, 30-year-old Carlotta Pierce - who calls herself a 'proud parent' on her MySpace page - and the child's grandmother. However, neither have been charged with a crime.

Sources told the newspaper that Marchella appeared to have been 'underdeveloped, with undeveloped lungs'.

'Her legs are like sticks. You can see her ribs. It looks she starved to death.'

Marchella's mother said she had checked on her daughter at 4am and she had been okay.

She found her 'unresponsive and with cold hands' at 6.30am and tried to revive her, calling 911 after 45 minutes.

Marchella's father, Tyrone Pierce, said he found out about his daughter's death at around 9am.

He added that she had been born prematurely, weighing just 1lb, 4.6oz and had been in four hospitals since her birth.

He said: 'My sister told me that my daughter had passed and I rushed over there. I tried to go into the building to see what was going on.

'The officers grabbed me and told me I had to come with them.'

A neighbour in the Brooklyn block, Tiffany Finnet, 27, said Miss Pierce, who has two other sons, aged nine months and five, loved her daughter.

'She couldn't wait to get her back' after her hospital stay, Miss Finney said. 'She was excited for her to come home.

Authorities are awaiting results of an autopsy


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1308515/Girl-weighing-just-15-pounds-dead-filthy-New-York-apartment.html#ixzz0yS6fYqdU

OMG this story brings tears to my eyes. Poor, poor child !