Chicago Woman Charged With Murder In 8-Year-Old Girl's Death: Police

CHICAGO — A 38-year-old Chicago woman has been charged with murder and denied bond after the death of her 8-year-old daughter, who was found dead inside an Uptown apartment on Wednesday morning, Chicago Police announced Friday.

Andreal Hagler has been charged with first-degree murder and appeared in court on Friday, where a judge denied her bond. The arrest and Hagler's court appearance comes two days after Hagler’s daughter, Amaria Osby, died by asphyxiation, the Cook County Medical Examiner ruled on Thursday.

The 8-year-old girl was found unresponsive inside an apartment in the 4600 block of North Winthrop Avenue at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. She was pronounced dead 23 minutes later. Hagler was also found inside the apartment and was taken to a local hospital.

Prosecutors said that the girl begged her mother to stop after she placed a plastic bag over the girl's head.

Assistant State's Attorney James Murphy said at Hagler's bond hearing Friday that the girl was found by her uncle, who sometimes stayed with the girl and her mother at the Uptown apartment. He found Hagler and the girl in a bed and Hagler was facedown with a clear plastic bag over her head, prosecutors said on Friday.

Murphy said that Hagler did not appear to be injured, but was later to have PCP in her system. He said that Hagler drank bleach and took PCP because she believed that her daughter did not love her anymore and that she loved her father more.

The prosecutor also said that Amara screamed "Mommy stop" when Hagler placed a clear bag over her head and told the girl that it "was their time to go" because they were both born on the 24th.

Police and medical examiner officials said that the girl was found to have bruises on her leg and had been asphyxiated. The cause of the girl's death was determined to be multiple injuries due to assault, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said on Friday.

On Friday, the Illinois Department of Family and Children's Services said that someone from its office had visited the home on Tuesday. An investigator reported that there were no signs of abuse, neglect or danger, department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement issued on Friday.

This family previously participated in intact family services from a substance abuse related incident in 2017, McCaffrey said. The recent visit was the result of an allegation of domestic violence and was the first contact with the family since closing the prior case in 2018.

In this instance, McCaffrey said, the Domestic Violence allegation involved abuse of one parent by the other, not abuse of the child. There had been no allegations of abuse or neglect against the 8-year-old girl, he said.

Hagler is due back in court on June 15.