A four-year-old girl who was beaten so severely by her stepfather that she was left with permanent brain damage has died. Kilah Davenport passed away on Thursday three weeks before her 5th birthday from complications relating to the May 2012 attack by her stepfather, who fractured her skull by ramming her head through a wall after the toddler soiled herself. Joshua Houser, from Indian Trail, North Carolina, was sentenced last month to between seven and ten years for the brutal attack on Kilah. He was convicted of felony child abuse and inflicting serious bodily harm on Kilah.

A nine-year-old girl who was allegedly kidnapped and held captive for seven months has been rescued from deep in the Amazon rain forest. The child, from Catalonia, Spain, went missing last August after her parents allowed their 35-year-old Bolivian neighbor, Grover Morales, to take her on holiday. Police were alerted when the pair could not be contacted several days after they had been expected to land in Bolivia.

An arrest warrant was issued for Neil Stammer on May 15, 2000, in New Mexico, for failure to appear for arraignment on multiple charges including criminal sexual penetration and kidnapping. On June 9, 2000, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Neil Stammer by the United States District Court, District of New Mexico, for the charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. If you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

A Fairfield man who allegedly bit off part of the nose of his infant son because the child was crying has been arrested, police said today. Police were called to an apartment on the 1000 block of Alaska Avenue shortly after 8 a.m. after a “hysterical female” called reporting that her baby was bleeding from the nose, according to Sgt. Troy Oviatt. Officers arriving at the apartment found a 1-month-old infant bleeding from the face.

FREEHOLD, N.J. — A murder trial is scheduled to start Wednesday morning for a New Jersey man charged with tossing his 2-year-old daughter into a creek while still strapped into her car seat in 2011. Arthur Morgan III of Eatontown is accused of weighing down the seat with a tire-changing jack so that it would sink. He is charged with killing his daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover.

A Louisiana mother who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her infant son allegedly told police that she killed the baby, who had Down syndrome, as an act of mercy. Erika Wigstrom, 20, told police that sheinjected Germ-X hand sanitizer into her baby’s feeding tube because she didn’t want him to suffer anymore, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. She was arrested Tuesday after allegedly confessing to police. Her 17-month-old son, Lucas Ruiz, who was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect, died from alcohol poisoning Jan. 24. The active ingredient in the hand sanitizer is ethyl alcohol.

CHARLOTTE, MI — The 27-year-old Eaton County man charged this week with attempted murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct is accused of raping and trying to strangle a 10-year-old girl, court documents show. Higinio Rivera III, an Iraq War veteran, was arraigned Monday in Eaton County District Court on the charges. A judge set bond at $1 million.

MICHIGAN – A student at Michigan State University, who will remain anonymous, went on a spring break trip like many college kids do. But she encountered a horrifying experience — one she is now sharing with others to warn about the dangers of thinking you’re invincible. She was with her friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at a club. They decided to go back to the hotel for the night, but she says she couldn’t find her friends so she was going to get a cab by herself.

A mum let her neighbor rape her daughter from the age of five, a court heard yesterday. The man led the little girl around on a dog lead before abusing her, Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court heard. She was also subjected to shocking abuse from her mother for four years before the offences came to light when she was taken into care. The 47-year-old woman had pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing to a total 12 charges, including sexual assault, willful neglect or ill treatment, as well as using her daughter for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Acts of cruelty to animals are not mere indications of a minor personality flaw in the abuser; they are symptomatic of a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don’t stop there—many of them move on to their fellow humans. “Murderers … very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids,” says Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

A lack of so-called hard evidence has been known to unravel even a strong sexual assault case, but that shouldn’t be a problem for a 14-year-old French girl who thought to secretly film one of her allegedly abusive father’s attacks with a bedroom webcam. Even after the victim had initially come forward, spilling details of the relationship with her father to a counselor at her school in Florensac, a small town in the southern Hérault region, police could not arrest him until she delivered video proof of her allegations. Now she’s in a women’s shelter, and he’s awaiting trial in Béziers prison. Investigators are still trying to gauge the mother’s complicity, though she appears to have been a victim as well.

Operating the central 24-hour national human trafficking hotline for the United States and connecting professionals, victims, and community members to information and services. Call 1-888-373-7888 or text BeFree (233733). The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls and texts from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.

A man wanted out of New England for almost two decades was captured in Euharlee early Monday morning. Just before 6:30 a.m. agents with the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force, U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Fugitive Operations Unit arrested Phillip Andrew Lewis at 19 Campfire Trail in Euharlee.

WOODLAND, Washington — Woodland Police are investigating a child abuse accusation against Woodland Primary School Principal Mark Houk. Sources tell KATU News the child is a student at the school and the district alerted police last week. Police are still investigating and have not made an arrest. “I’m shocked,” said parent Tiffany Hall. “When you’re a mom, your first instinct is definitely to protect your children.” Another parent wasn’t as convinced there was something to be concerned about.