Pittsburgh Woman Beat 3-Year-Old Granddaughter To Death: Police

PITTSBURGH, PA — A Pittsburgh woman beat her 3-year-old granddaughter to death and failed to alert authorities about the toddler's demise for several days, police said.

Denise Johnson, 56, has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and abuse of a corpse. She is being housed in the Allegheny County Jail.

Just after 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, police were called by a family member to an apartment on the 300 block of East Ohio Street on the North Side. They found the body of the child, Ayla Miller. Her body was cold to the touch and had obvious signs of trauma and there was blood on the mattress she was lying on, according to police.

The child also had a cigarette burn on her ankle and an infected wound.

Police said that Johnson admitted to police she hit the child, causing her to fall and hit her head. When the child failed to awaken, Johnson said she was too scared to tell anyone for two days.