A South Side woman has been charged with murder in the brutal beating death of her 5-year-old stepdaughter, prosecutors said.
Lisamarie Villasana, 27, is charged with first-degree murder after her stepdaughter Verna Tobicoe was found unresponsive in a bathtub with multiple blunt force injuries that authorities determined to be the cause of the girl’s death.
Verna’s death was ruled homicide after a Friday autopsy. She died of internal injuries suffered from multiple blunt force impacts, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Tobicoe’s injuries included a lacerated liver, a subdural hematoma on the back of her head, lacerated intestines, and multiple skull fractures, “including one continuous fracture from one side of the back of the skull to the other side … ,” Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Justin Goldfarb said Saturday.
Tobicoe also had “fresh and older bruising” on her body and the skin of the tip of her right index finger “was ripped off consistent with a bite.”
“The allegations in this matter are so severe … you are considered a threat,” Judge Adam Donald Bourgeois Jr. told Villasana in court. “You will be held on no bail.”
Villasana appeared distraught as she was led away.
On Thursday, police and paramedics were called to the apartment Villasana shares with the girl’s father in the 8300 block of South Brandon Avenue at about 12:15 p.m., and after attempts to resuscitate the girl, transported Verna to South Shore Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, authorities said.
Villasana was placed in custody after police officers determined she was “the only person present when the deceased suffered injuries which resulted in her death,” according to court documents.
Villasana told police that Verna slipped in some Gatorade and hit the back of her head, then soiled herself, according to the police report. The stepmother said she put the girl in the bathtub and got on the phone with a relative, though she kept checking on the girl, police said.
The stepmother told police she heard a “thump” and checked on the girl “a short time later” and found Verna face up under the water, her eyes open, according to the report.
Villasana said she took the girl into the living room, where she and the girl’s grandfather called 911 and tried CPR, according to the report.
The events laid out by prosecutors in court Saturday had some similarities to the version told to police by Villasana: She had been home with her 18-month-old child and Verna at 11 a.m. Thursday, when Verna’s grandfather arrived to help care for the children, Goldfarb said. The grandfather noticed the floor had been recently mopped.
Villasana told the grandfather that Verna was taking a bath, the prosecutor said. And the two adults talked for about 30 minutes before the grandfather noticed the bathroom door was closed. Villasana opened the door and told Verna to keep it open, Goldfarb said, but the girl did not reply.
Then Villasana and Verna’s grandfather talked for another 45 minutes before Villasana went back into the bathroom and yelled for the grandfather, Goldfarb said.
“The (grandfather) then observed that the victim was in a partially filled bathtub, with her face up, and not submerged in water,” the prosecutor said.
Authorities have said that, in addition to bruises, the girl also had cigarette burns on her body.
The girl’s stepmother and father are being investigated on allegations of abuse and neglect, according to Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokeswoman Veronica Resa on Friday.
Child welfare officials have had prior contact with Verna’s family, including the girl’s mother, father and stepmother. Villasana was indicated for neglect in 2014, which is one of the reasons the girl was in her father’s custody, according to DCFS.
According to court documents, Villasana told police that she had tried to commit suicide in the past year by taking pills and drinking bleach.
Villasana’s due back in court on Monday.
gtrotter@tribpub.com
Twitter: @NorthShoreTrib
