Parents accept plea deal in torturous death of 5 year old

Thursday, January 23rd, two parents accepted a plea deal and changed their previous pleas of not guilty to guilty in a Washoe County court room.

Averyauna Enoch and Tyler Anderson, both 25, have pleaded guilty to charges against them for the death of 5 year old Cali Anderson whose emaciated body was discovered inside of a duffel bag that had been stored in a California storage unit.

Enoch, who had been going by the last name Anderson until legally changing her name after a divorce from Tyler was finalized in August 2019, “did willfully and unlawfully kill” Cali Anderson “by means of torture,” according to court documents.  They go on to state that Enoch intentionally withheld food and water from the girl “for the specific purpose of inflicting pain by means of starvation for revenge or for the sadistic purpose of hatred of CA due to the fact CA was not her biological child."

According to court documents, Enoch was the biological mother of two other children, fathered by Anderson, living at the Reno apartment at the time of Cali's abuse and death.

According to investigators, the couple initially told authorities that Cali had been found immobile and unresponsive with shallow breathing and a weak pulse on May 4, 2018.  They stated that they attempted to preform CPR on her for about three hours but never sought emergency services.

When they eventually determined that the girl had died, they are said to have placed her body in a duffel bag which they kept in their Reno apartment for upwards of a week before driving it to a California storage unit owned by a friend.

The friend, which had allegedly given permission to them to use the storage unit, eventually became suspicious and investigated.  Upon discovering Cali's remains, law enforcement was immediately contacted and it wasn't long before Anderson and Enoch were arrested.

When she was found, it was estimated that Cali had been dead for at least two weeks.

When investigating their apartment in Reno, authorities noted the presence of a wire animal cage with handcuffs attached, but no signs of pets.  Next to the cage was a backpack with a hat inside that had Cali's name on it.

After their arrests, both were initially charged with murder and child abuse causing substantial bodily harm.

As a part of the plea deal, both have pleaded guilty to a charge of destruction of evidence for which they will serve a one year term.

Enoch will then serve at least 20 years of an anticipated life sentence for first degree murder and Anderson will serve at least 10 years of an anticipated life sentence for second degree murder.  As a part of the plea deal, the charge for child abuse causing substantial bodily harm was dropped.

They are scheduled to be sentenced on April 21, 2020 by judge Kathleen Drakulich.