State seeks life for alleged child killers

INDIANAPOLIS – A prosecutor said Wednesday he would seek life sentences without parole for the mother of a 3-year-old girl and the woman’s live-in boyfriend, who are charged with murder and neglect in the girl’s death.\nCharity Bailey and Lawrence Green, both 20, were arrested Tuesday, hours after Tajanay Bailey was found dead in her mother’s apartment. Both were being held without bond in the Marion County Jail and had initial court hearings set for Friday.\nAn autopsy found Tajanay died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck and abdomen. Police said she had suffered abuse that included being left hanging on a hook by her T-shirt, beaten with a belt and knocked in the chest for wetting her pants.\n“She was systematically tortured over the week of Thanksgiving by her mother’s fiance and by the mother,” Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said. “We believe both of the defendants actively participated in the abuse.”\nThe Indiana Department of Child Services had returned Tajanay to her mother last month after she had lived much of her life with a foster mother.\nHer former foster mother, Janice Springfield, said in an interview that she saw evidence of physical abuse and repeatedly warned a child welfare case worker.\n“I told child services that mom was no good, and that boyfriend was no good,” she said. “The system failed Tajanay.”\nDepartment of Child Services spokeswoman Susan Tielking said the agency was investigating the case.