Police have arrested an Osceola County father accused in the death of his 16-month-old daughter in May.
Anthony Martin, 24, was arrested Thursday on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
Kissimmee police said Martin took his daughter, Avahya Martin, to Florida Hospital Kissimmee on May 23, because she was not breathing. By the time detectives arrived at the hospital, the baby had died.
Police said the child had several suspicious bruises on her body, and an autopsy by the Medical Examiner's Office ruled Avahya's death a homicide.
According to the autopsy report, Avahya suffered from brain swelling and brusing along her face and body. The report said those injuries could have been from having her head slammed hard into some type of surface.
Investigators said Martin's statements to them were inconsistent with those of others living at his home on Tarpon Street, and detectives were able to obtain an arrest warrant for Martin on Thursday.
Police said Martin cooperated with detectives Thursday evening and gave some detail on how the child's injuries, which ultimately caused her death, occurred. Those details were not immediately released.
Avahya's mother, Takita Tillman, was devasted to hear that her child's father may have been involved in her death.
"It was too fast. It just didn't make sense," said Tillman. "I really wanted to believe it was natural causes."
Martin has been locked up in the Osceola County Jail without bond.