South Fairmount grandmother who kept girl's body in garbage bags pleads to manslaughter
A woman who prosecutors said killed her 2-year-old granddaughter, then put the girl's body in several garbage bags, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges including involuntary manslaughter.
LaTonya Austin, 45, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
"I'm just so sorry," Austin said during a hearing Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
She appeared to want to say more but struggled to find the words.
Police went to Austin's home in South Fairmount in May 2021 after receiving an anonymous call that there was a dead child in the home, according to court documents.
Police found Zaila Lee's body in a cooler in the back yard, prosecutors said. She had been dead for about a month.
Zaila died from blunt-force trauma to her head, prosecutors said. But after she died, she suffered a large laceration to her side, as well as a broken right arm.
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Austin's two children and another grandchild lived in the home at the time, the documents say.
One of her attorneys, Alex Deardorff, said Austin had a difficult upbringing and was raised by a mother who was largely absent. She had her first child when she was 15 with an abusive, older man, Deardorff said, who started dating her when she was 13.
Austin pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. Judge Alan Triggs imposed the sentence.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio grandmother who kept girl's body in trash bags pleads guilty
