A mother has been accused of beating her three-year-old daughter to death just six months after she was arrested for abusing two of her other children. Katlyn Marin, 25, said nothing as she appeared via video link in district court in Nashua, New Hampshire for her arraignment on Monday, two days after the charges against her were announced. Marin is accused of assaulting her daughter Brielle Gage several times on November 24 and 25. After a 911 call was placed from the family's Nashua home, Brielle
was rushed to hospital on November 25 but died shortly after.An autopsy determined she died of blunt force injuries and her death was ruled a homicide.Authorities launched an investigation into the death and announced on Saturday that Marin had been charged with second-degree murder in her daughter's death.
Prosecutors said she 'recklessly caused the death of her daughter under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life'. It is not the first time Marin has been accused of mistreating her children.In May, Marin and her 30-year-old live-in boyfriend Michael Rivera were arrested for allegedly abusing two boys in their home after one of the boy's guidance counselors alerted authorities.
At the time, five children - ages eight, six, four, three and nine months - were living at the house, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin told the Boston Globe.
The Division for Children Youth and Families reported possible abuse of an eight-year-old boy, who had bruises across his body, and a six-year-old boy.
The children said that Marin and Rivera used belts to beat them, police said, while the eight-year-old boy was forced to kneel for up to an hour, causing his knees to bruise.
Investigators noted that four of the children had bruises across their bodies, including the nine-month-old baby,WMUR reported. The eight-year-old boy had bruises on both of his forearms.
Marin said that the three-year-old girl had a bruise on her face because she was 'born that way' - but later changed her story to claim that the toddler slept on her toys or would fall on them.
The couple also claimed the bruises came from the children fighting with each other, WMUR reported.
The six-year-old boy told detectives that he and his siblings were only allowed to eat once a day when they were home, and he once got beaten for eating food he had hidden, police told WMUR.
The children were placed into protective custody in April and the couple were taken into custody on May 5.
Rivera was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of simple assault, while Marin was charged with one count of second-degree assault and one count of simple assault.
She was released on $10,000 personal recognizance and Rivera was released on $500 cash bail, on the condition that the couple did not contact each other, according to the Union Leader.
The children were placed temporarily in foster care.
There is no official record of when they were handed back to the couple, although neighbors told the Union Leader that at least two of the children had returned to the home in recent months.
Accused: Her live-in boyfriend Michael Rivera, 30, pictured, was also arrested for assault in May
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Accused: Her live-in boyfriend Michael Rivera, 30, pictured, was also arrested for assault in May
In a Facebook post on Saturday, the girl's grandmother, Sharon Boucher, wrote that the little girl was returned last summer by the family court - even though the child abuse charges were still pending.
'We want to bring awareness to the issue of child abuse and how [the Department of Health and Human Services] and the court system failed my granddaughter,' she wrote.
The assault cases were going to go to trial and jury selection was scheduled to take place on December 15 - nearly three weeks after the death of Brielle.
But during a status conference on November 20, the state informed a judge that it intended to drop the charges against Marin, although Rivera's case continues to move forward.
Neighbors expressed their shock over Brielle's murder.
'They should have dug deeper,' John Horton told WMUR. 'They should have continued with their investigation instead of letting it go.'
Gage's paternal grandmother, Sharon Boucher, has created a Facebook memorial page and a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of the little girl's funeral.
She wrote on the page that she was 'relieved' about the arrest but that she now hopes to bring awareness to the issue of child abuse because 'the court system failed my granddaughter'.
'No family should ever have to suffer the pain we are feeling,' she wrote.
At Marin's minutes-long hearing on Monday, bail was not set and she will remain jailed pending a probable cause hearing on January 13.
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