Mother charged with murdering 1-year-old daughter in South Shore

A young mother is accused of killing her 1-year-old daughter in the South Shore neighborhood after returning upset from a night of attempting to prostitute herself, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday.

Kahoy Garcia-Velazquez, 21, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of 16-month-old Mila Anderson-Garcia at their home in the 7800 block of South Muskegon Avenue, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The morning of July 13, Garcia-Velazquez allegedly ran to her mother’s apartment while holding Mila, screaming that she would not wake up and was not breathing, prosecutors said.

Paramedics showed up and attempted to resuscitate Mila, but were hindered because her jaw was stiff with rigor mortis, prosecutors said. Mila was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital and pronounced dead.

An autopsy found Mila died of multiple injuries due to child abuse, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. The injuries included a lacerated liver, bruising and trauma to the intestines and abdomen, and bruising to the head and scalp, prosecutors said. The injuries happened within a couple hours of her death.

Mila also had abrasions to her face, body and extremities, and fractures to her forearms, and bite mark to her buttocks, prosecutors said. Garcia-Velazquez told investigators the bite mark was made by a little boy, and that the other injuries were from Mila falling off a bike, prosecutors said. Those explanations were determined not to be medically possible, prosecutors said.

Garcia-Velazquez left Mila with her boyfriend before she went out that night to attempt to meet with a prostitution client, prosecutors said.

She told investigators she spent the night traveling to find pills, and returned home about 6 a.m. the next day and was upset about not earning money, prosecutors said. Garcia-Velazquez entered a bedroom with Mila, closed the door behind her and cried, prosecutor said.

The boyfriend left for work about 7 a.m., and briefly saw that Mila appeared to be healthy, prosecutors said. By 9:40 a.m., Garcia-Velazquez was running with Mila to her mother’s apartment to announce her daughter was not breathing, prosecutors said.

Garcia-Velazquez was arrested Monday afternoon at a funeral home while arranging services for her daughter, Assistant Public Defender Steven Stach said Wednesday. The funeral is scheduled for Friday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Family Services did not respond to a request for comment.

Judge Mary Marubio on Wednesday ordered Garcia-Velazquez held without bail. She is scheduled to appear in court again Aug. 9.

Contributing: Andy Grimm