The mother of a 5-year-old girl who died over the weekend in Kemmerer, Wyoming, put her daughter’s alleged killer on blast in a series of Facebook posts, saying she and the child’s father are “beyond broken.”
Kayla Kartchner, 27, repeatedly slammed Cheri Lynn Marler—who was arrested Sunday on first-degree murder charges—as she vented about the loss of her daughter, whom she called the “most precious, most sweetest” baby. Marler was identified by family members as the little girl’s babysitter.
“I hope you get what you deserve in prison,” Kartchner posted. “I hope they make you their bitch and you suffer as mine and my boyfriend’s sweet little princess did.”
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Cops announced Marler’s arrest in a news release Sunday, but have released few details about the circumstances of the child’s death.
Police said they responded to a residence in the tiny town of Kemmerer—near Utah’s border with Wyoming—after receiving a report of an unresponsive child. Once there, officers found the girl on a couch in the living room with injuries that weren’t consistent with a story provided by her caretaker, police said.
The release said cops attempted life-saving measures on the girl until she was rushed to a children’s hospital in Utah, where she died Saturday morning.
Marler, 51, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge. Reached by The Daily Beast on Monday, an employee at the police department said the chief was out of office and would not release the girl’s name or her relationship to Marler.
Cheri Lynn Marler, 51, was arrest Sunday, police say. She faces a first-degree murder charge.
Lincoln County Sheriff's OfficePosts by Kartchner and other family members, however, have identified the slain child as Anabelle, and Marler as the girl’s babysitter.
While police declined to specify how Anabelle was killed, Kartchner alleged on Monday that Marler lied to cops by saying her daughter fell down the stairs.
“You fuckin lied saying she fell down the stairs bitch i otta (sic) push your old decrepit ass down the stairs, shake the fuck out of you and just commence to just punching you in your face,” Kartchner posted. “...Do everything you did to mine and my boyfriend’s daughter and see if you end up surviving.”
A GoFundMe for the child had raised $3,500 by Monday afternoon. The fundraiser said that Anabelle was killed by her babysitter while her mother was at work.
“Annabelle lost her life at only 5 years old to the hands of abuse from her babysitter,” Kendra Terry wrote on the fundraiser. “Her mama was at work when she got this devastating call.”
Terry, Kartchner, and other family members of the child did not respond to Facebook messages and phone calls from The Daily Beast.
Kartchner said her daughter was a “sweet little girl” with whom everyone fell in love. Annabelle had a younger sister and a “smile that would just melt your heart,” Kartchner posted, as well as a “laugh so contagious you couldn’t help but laugh with her.”
The grieving mother posted that Saturday was the worst day of her life. She later said that she plans to share a date for her daughter’s funeral by Wednesday morning.
“My boyfriend and I are so beyond broken right now this is the worst day of our lives,” Kartchner said.
Kartchner also posted a series of selfies with her daughter smiling on Sunday, asking for donations to help cover her cremation.
“Our baby girl didn’t deserve any of this done to her,” she wrote.
