Mother, boyfriend plead not guilty to charges in death of Alpine toddler
EL CAJON (KUSI) — An Alpine man and his girlfriend — both accused in connection with the death of the woman’s 18-month-old daughter — pled not guilty to charges Thursday.
Wiliey Foster, 26, is charged with murder and child abuse causing death and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. He was arrested Friday in connection with the death 18-month-old Leah Brown-Meza. The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the infant died from blunt force trauma.
The girl’s 21-year-old mother, Lillie Golden Brown, was taken into custody three days later on suspicion of three counts of willful cruelty to a child with great bodily injury and/or death.
Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics responding to a report that a child had stopped breathing in a motor home parked on a residential property in the 300 block of Hunter Lane found the girl’s body shortly after noon on Dec. 6.
Homicide and child-abuse detectives were then called in to investigate the child’s death "based on the circumstances and the presence of additional injuries to the victim," sheriff’s Lt. Kenneth Nelson said.
