The mother of a 4-year-old girl and the mother’s boyfriend have been charged with murder after the coroner concluded the child was killed by a blow to the head.
Mark Alton Friend, 25, and Chrystie Marie Hardy, 23, are now being held for investigation of murder in the death of Madyson Bogard, according to a Colorado Springs Police Department news release.
The two were arrested Tuesday after the girl was found not breathing at 2 a.m. at an apartment in the 3700 block of Rebecca Lane.
The child was in critical and unstable condition at Memorial Hospital with bruises across her body, including on her forehead, arms and knees, said police spokesman Skip Arms.
The El Paso County coroner’s office determined that a strike to her head was the cause of death, ruling it a homicide, the news release says.
Police were originally told that the girl injured herself Monday after falling on ice, he said.
Doctors discovered the girl had a subdural hematoma caused by an injury inflicted up to 72 hours earlier but likely only two hours earlier, Arms said.
Witnesses told police that from October on, the girl’s mother and boyfriend have repeatedly struck the child.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
