Woman Charged After 5-Year-Old Girl Discovered Dead

MERCER COUNTY, NJ – A five-year-old girl was found dead in Robbinsville on Sunday evening, and a 36-year-old woman has been charged, authorities said Tuesday.

Raphaelle Register was arrested Monday and is facing four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

On Sunday evening, Robbinsville police responded to a township residence in reference to an unresponsive five-year-old girl. The child was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, where she was pronounced dead a short time later, authorities said.

According to the criminal complaint, Register had a legal duty to care for the two five-year-olds, the eight-year-old, and the 12-year-old, all of whom she left unattended.

The complaint further states that she failed to adequately feed and nourish the five-year-olds and provide access to necessary medical treatment, thereby making the children abused or neglected.

An autopsy was performed Monday afternoon by the Middlesex Regional Medical Examiner’s Office. The cause and manner of the child’s death are pending further testing and investigation, officials said.

The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain Register pending trial.

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