Beaumont Man Charged With Murder In 4-Year-Old Girl's Death

BEAUMONT, CA — A murder charge was filed Thursday against a Beaumont man accused of causing the death of his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter, whose remains were found in an apartment with him and the woman after they had overdosed on drugs — the woman fatally.

Tyler Lawrence Finley was arrested in December 2020 following a Beaumont Police Department investigation.

Finley was originally charged only with child cruelty and a sentence-enhancing allegation of inflicting corporal injuries on a minor resulting in death. However, during a status hearing Thursday at the Banning Justice Center, Riverside County prosecutors submitted an amended criminal complaint that added the murder count, on top of the other charges.

Superior Court Judge Mark Singerton scheduled a hearing for Dec. 29 to re-arraign the defendant on the amended complaint.

Finley is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to Beaumont police, on the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2020, officers and paramedics went to Finley's apartment in the 800 block of East Sixth Street, near Palm Avenue, after receiving reports of an occupant in medical distress.

First responders found the dead girl, whose name was not released, as well as Finley and the woman, 24-year-old Cheyenne Blackerby, who was unconscious and near death from an overdose on unspecified drugs, police said.

She and Finley were taken to nearby San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital, where she later died, and he staged a recovery, after which he was booked into jail.

No other details were provided. The case is expected to be set for a preliminary hearing next year, after which more information will become available, including the exact cause of the child's death.

Finley has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.