Father Charged In Death Of 2-Year-Old Noelani Robinson: Police

MILWAUKEE, WI — Nearly a year after 2-year-old Noelani Robinson was found dead in Minnesota, authorities in Minnesota have charged her father, Dariaz Higgins, 35, of Milwaukee, with her death.

Higgins is currently being held in the Milwaukee County Jail, court records show. Higgins was charged in March 2019, after authorities said he killed Noelani's mother, Sierra Robinson.

Higgins was charged with second degree murder-without intent in Minnesota on Thursday, March 5 in connection with Noelani's death, court records show.

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According to a criminal complaint filed in 2019 related to Sierra's death, police in Milwaukee said Higgins eventually struck up a relationship Sierra and had Noelani. According to the criminal complaint, in Feb. 2019, Sierra told Higgins she no longer wanted to be with him. She moved to Las Vegas, leaving Noelani with Higgins, investigators said.

According to the criminal complaint, Higgins agreed to give Noelani back to Sierra and on March 9, 2019. Sierra flew back to Milwaukee to meet Higgins, police said. Police say Higgins, Sierra and her friend met up at the farmer's market at 22nd Street and Fund du Lac Ave on March 11 , 2019.

Police say Noelani was not present at that time, and that Higgins told them he would turn over Noelani soon. Police say the three of them got into his black SUV only to "drive around, smoke week, drink and talk about old times," the criminal complaint stated.

According to the complaint, as they were on the road, Higgins gave Sierra and her friend an ecstacy pill, which they split. They drove to an apartment building near N. 91st Street and W. Mill Road. Higgins told Sierra and her friend that Noelani was inside, police said.

Police said the shooting happened in the moments after they parked the car and got out. According to the complaint, Milwaukee police officers were dispatched to the 6300 block of N. 91st Street on a report of a shooting on March 11.

When police arrived, officers reported finding a woman — later identified as Sierra Robinson — lying on her back, the criminal complaint stated. There was a gunshot wound to the top of her chest, another on the right side of her cheek and another on her left wrist, according to police.

The criminal complaint stated that officers checked for a pulse and began CPR; however, Robinson succumbed to her wounds and was declared dead at the scene.

In the days after Sierra's death, Noelani went missing, police said.

Authoritis said Noelani was the subject of a nationwide Amber Alert after she had gone missing. After a nationwide search, 2-year-old Noelani's body was found in a ditch off of Highway 218, which is 15 miles north of Austin, Minnesota on March 15, authorities said. The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner's Office ruled Noelani's death a "homicide due to blunt force trauma to the head."

According to a criminal complaint, Higgins said he and Noelani were staying in a motel in nearby Mower County in Minnesota when she fell off a toilet and died. Investigators who questioned Higgins said he admitted to wrapping her body in blankets, and left her body in the motel room.

Investigators say Higgins admitted to later dumping his 2-year-old daughter's body in the ditch days later.