A Pennsylvania woman has been charged in the death of her 14-month-old daughter in Johnstown, authorities announced Thursday.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Johnstown Police Department, 38-year-old Veronica Lewis faces charges related to criminal homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children.
The death of Gianna Rice-Lewis was reported in the early morning hours of April 1 when first responders say they were called to a Moxham home on the 600 block of Grove Ave. for reports of the cardiac arrest of a 1-year-old girl.
According to the charging documents, police arrived on scene and saw the child being carried from the home by Johnstown Fire Department crews as they performed CPR.
The toddler was taken to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center where she was pronounced dead in the emergency room.
Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees ruled the girl’s death a homicide caused by massive blood loss due to blunt force trauma from abuse.
Police say they interviewed a man who lived at the home with Lewis and her daughter.
The man told them that Gianna had been crying all day on March 31, according to the criminal complaint.
The man said he was upstairs and heard the girl crying downstairs, according to police.
He explained Lewis then came upstairs looking for something before heading back downstairs.
The toddler was still crying, he said.
Investigators say the man explained that he heard Lewis yell, “why you keep crying, all you do is [expletive] cry.”
He said he then heard a thump and no longer heard the girl crying, according to investigators.
Lewis then came back upstairs with Gianna in her arms and the toddler’s face into her shoulder, the man told police, before placing the child in a play pen, investigators say.
Police say the man told them Gianna wasn’t crying at all.
He explained that Lewis then left the home.
According to police, the man explained that a little while later, one of Lewis’ relatives showed up to the house and told him Lewis had called her to pick up Gianna.
The two went to check on the toddler and found her unresponsive with bruising on her nose and blood coming from it, according to the complaint.
They said her lips were also white, so they called 911, the complaint says.
Police say the man and woman tried calling Lewis numerous times to come to the hospital for her daughter, but she never responded nor came.
Lewis was arraigned on the charges Thursday afternoon by Magisterial District Judge Kevin Price.
She’s being held in the Cambria County Prison. Her bail has been denied.
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