A 31 year old Texas man, Anthony Michael Sanders was charged on Friday with capital murder for biting and smothering his two-year-old daughter in a 'fit of rage' after she interrupted his video-game playing on December 12, 2015.
Sanders killed his daughter, Ellie Sanders while her mom was out of the house at an art show.
According to an arrest warrant, Sanders had been caring for his two children all day beginning about 10 a.m. while his wife was out.
When the wife returned, about 8:30 p.m., Sanders was in the living room with their 5 year old son and he told his wife that their daughter was sleeping.
30 minutes after the mum arrived, their son tried to wake the toddler up but she wouldn't wake up so he ran to tell his parents that his sister wouldn't wake up, Sgt. Jason Babcock, a police spokesman. told the Star-Telegram.
At about 10pm, thinking that her daughter was just sleeping, the mother told him to let her rest - but the father still went to check on her to make sure their daughter was fine. That was went he found out she was breathing and started shouting for his wife to call 911. Emergency services arrived almost immediately and rushed her to the hospital
Ellie was pronounced dead at the hospital at 10:10pm, but doctors suspected foul play when they found bruising on her body, around the eyes, blood behind one ear and bite marks that could have come from an adult human.
In an interview with police, Sanders provided no explanation for the injuries, Babcock said.
"He has no idea what happened," Babcock said Sanders told police. "He just went back there and she wasn't breathing."
Sanders told police several times that he had checked on Ellie and even changed her diaper about 30 minutes before his wife arrived home. He told police the girl "appeared fine and was up watching television in the bedroom laughing," the affidavit states.
Police charged Sanders with capital murder after the Tarrant County medical examiner's office ruled that the girl's death was a homicide caused by asphyxiation. He was jailed on Friday with bail set at $1 million.
"Anthony, by his own admission, was the only adult that was in the residence during the time the injuries were inflicted upon his daughter which caused her death," Detective B. McComis wrote in the affidavit.
She was ultimately killed, police say, when Sanders put his hand over her mouth and asphyxiated her.
'Just a fit of rage-type deal, anger,' Babcock told the Star-Telegram.
'He's very involved in computer gaming,' he continued. 'That's something he did constantly. She may have interrupted him somehow. His day may have been interrupted.'
Court records show Sanders was charged in July 2011 with choking the girl's mother, whom he later married. The case, however, was no-billed in August 2011, records show.
After Ellie's death, Child Protective Services took custody of her brother, now 6. He has been placed in the care of a relative, CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said Friday
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