Police: Mom admits ‘whooping’ 4-year-old found dead on birthday
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) – A police report is revealing disturbing new details in the death of a 4-year-old girl found dead on her birthday.
Kharisma Richardson was found unresponsive in a bedroom at a home on Douglas Avenue in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 26.
Although no one has been arrested for Kharisma’s death, police have named her mother Daveeta Walker as the prime suspect.
According to a police report, Walker admitted to police during a voluntary interview that she would “whoop” her daughter approximately six times per week for having accidents with urinating herself. She also said Kharisma would get “whooped” one to two times per week for “mouthing off” and then sent to timeout.
Walker told police she used a belt during the “whoopings” and pointed out on pictures several welts and marks on her daughter’s body from the beatings.
She said Kharisma would often get “whooped” and when she needed to discipline her sons, she would punch them in the chest.
When asked about the burn marks on Kharisma’s feet and ankles, she denied causing them and said her daughter must’ve put herself into a tub of scolding hot water.
She told police her daughter was making noises like she was in pain when she went into her bedroom and wished her a “Happy Birthday” around 1 a.m. Saturday. She said she gave her some cereal and juice and went to bed.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m. that same day Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officials responded to a report of a child not breathing. Kharisma was unresponsive when police arrived.
The autopsy showed Kharisma suffered injuries from some type of blunt force trauma on her body. She also had burns with blisters on her feet. However her cause of death is still undetermined.
Walker said her cousin, who watched her daughter the night before she died, had beaten her. But her cousin denied those allegations in a police interview.
When police arrived at the home to investigate the death, they found Walker’s three other children in a bedroom watching a pornographic movie. Those children have since been removed from her custody.