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KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Whether a murdered 15-month-old girl gets justice now rests in the hands of one woman: Rowan County District Attorney Brandy Cook. The toddler was beaten to death in January, 122 days ago. Kannapolis Police immediately opened an investigation. “The case has been submitted to the District Attorney for review. Officially, that date was April 24,” says Sgt. Justin Smith.
Wednesday, the state made official what investigators say they’ve known all along: Malaya Heun died from being severely beaten. She had been hit so hard, her intestines ruptured. She had what the medical examiner describes as an “obvious and painful” fractured clavicle. And she had multiple rib fractures in various stages of healing, suggesting she suffered repeated abuse, also known as Battered Child Syndrome.
Smith describes the case his investigators have put together as “extremely good.” WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty said to Smith, “I’m going to ask you a question that the viewers, when they see this, will probably be screaming at the TV when they first hear Malaya Heun’s name come back up: why has this taken so long?” Smith replied in part, “With these cases, like I said, there’s a lot of moving parts.” He went on to say, “We have been in constant contact with the District Attorney since day one; the ball is essentially in their court.”
District Attorney Brandy Cook will only tell WCCB her office “is working and will continue to work with Kannpolis Police.” Tax payers want an arrest. One Rowan County woman tells WCCB, “Find out what’s going on and just bring them in.” Malaya’s great aunt wants the DA to answer this: “If you know who murdered Malaya, then why are there no arrest(s)? Why is it taking so long… we need justice for this child. And we need to be able to rest easier knowing this animal [is] behind bars.”
Malaya was not sexually assaulted, as other TV stations have reported. She was being cared for by her aunt and her aunt’s fiancee the day she was taken to the hospital back in January. Police say there are inconsistencies in their stories.
