ST. GEORGE, Utah — A stepfather was arrested after a two-year-old girl from St. George died in the hospital from injuries caused by child abuse.
Randy Lessing, 29, was arrested Tuesday on one count of Child Abuse Homicide, a first-degree felony.
A probable cause statement identified the child who died as 2-year-old girl and reports that she was taken to the hospital due to significant brain and head trauma in July.
Lessing was the stepfather to the child, officials report, and told police he was at a home by himself with the girl in St. George when she fell and became unconscious, court documents state.
He said she, "must have flung herself backward off of her toddler bed (throwing a tantrum) hitting her head on the ground," documents report.
Due to the child's injuries, she was flown to a hospital in Nevada, where doctors reported that her injuries were "obviously consistent with child abuse."
A few days later, the girl was declared dead.
Later, Lessing confessed to police that he had lied about how the child received her injuries.
Officials looked at the criminal history of Lessing and found he was a convicted felon on probation. Due to retaliation concerns voiced by the child's family, he is being held without bail.
