An 8-month-old girl died yesterday after life-support was turned off. She had remained in critical condition at the Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham since being assaulted shortly before midnight on Tuesday, February 9.
The decision to turn off the life support was made after two tests had come back indicating that she was brain dead.
Her father, 22-year-old Cameron Almen Elliott was initially arrested on charges of 2nd degree assault, unlawful possession of marijuana, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He was booked into the Morgan County Correctional Facility on a bond of $260,000.
Since her death, his charges have been upgraded to capitol murder and sexual torture without bond.
Just before midnight on Tuesday officers were dispatched on a medical call. Upon arrival they found the girl "gasping for air and unresponsive" with bruises, abrasions and welts on her legs, shoulder, face, and neck, "and a bite mark on her arm," according to an affidavit by Detective Timothy Pace.
She was initially transported to the the Parkway campus of Decatur Morgan Hospital where "Medical staff there advised all of her injuries appeared to be recent and her nonresponsive condition was due tot he amount of trauma her body had received," the affidavit stated.
She was then transferred to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham.
When speaking with investigators, the mother had stated that the girl had been fine and did not have any injuries before Elliott had taken her for a car ride. She told Pace, "Elliott took [the child] on a car ride and when he returned approximately 10 minutes later [she] was gasping for air and in her current state."
Elliott, who has been charged preciously with domestic violence on three occasions, made a call to a friend while in custody, asking him to retrieve his backpack from a residence.
Officers made contact with the owner of the residence and obtained permission to search the residence for Elliott's backpack. Officers obtained the requisite search warrant and located the backpack. Inside, they found three digital scales, Adderall pills, and marijuana packaged for resale.