00:00Because we have received so many media inquiries this morning, I will deliver the following
00:05information to the best of our ability and knowledge at this hour on the case that has
00:11to do with the two-year-old baby girl who was left in a hot car in Marana last July
00:18and lost her life. Due to the extensive and detailed investigation by detectives at the
00:25Marana Police Department, for which I am extremely grateful, it was discovered that this baby
00:31girl had been left in a hot car on a day that reached approximately 109 degrees for over
00:40three hours while in the care of her father. Thereafter, due to the extremely hard and diligent
00:49work by veteran homicide prosecutors Haley Weigold and Brad Terrace, a Pima County grand
00:56jury returned an indictment against that father for first-degree murder based on the child
01:03abuse that they found had occurred. We expected to be in court this morning because the father
01:09had accepted a plea agreement to second-degree murder, which could have carried as much as
01:1630 years in prison. But instead of coming in to take account for what has occurred here,
01:25we have been informed and we have confirmed that the father took his own life last night.
01:33This is obviously extraordinarily complicated, and we extend our deepest sympathies and sorrow
01:41to all the loved ones who have suffered the loss of this beautiful baby girl and now another loss
01:49to his family. This little girl's voice was nearly silenced because justice was not served appropriately
01:58this morning. But it has not and will not be silenced due to the hard work of the people who work here
02:04at the Pima County Attorney's Office. Just this hour, our prosecutors, our senior victim advocate drove
02:13out to Marana to personally deliver the news to our next of kin victim representative, the little girl's
02:19grandmother, who again we extend our deepest sympathy to. And now I want to end by speaking directly
02:27for a moment to our little girl's older sisters who I have not had the chance to meet.
02:34May you be surrounded by love. May you receive all of the support you deserve and need and then some.
02:47May you know and believe that you can survive and thrive. I have proof. There are prosecutors
02:59and victim advocates and all kinds of people who work in this building who have been working on cases
03:05like this for nearly decades. And they've watched people like you survive and thrive and are now living
03:17here in our community as successful and happy adults. This is what we wish for you and know you can
03:26achieve. And when you look back on this time as the years follow, may you not feel tied down by what
03:35happened here, but rather lifted up by your baby sister's wings from up above. On a very sad and difficult day
03:46like today, may God bless you and may God bless all of the old Pueblo where we all live.
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