ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis woman serving prison time for severely abusing her daughter in 2014 now faces a murder charge after the child died from her earlier injuries.
Natasha Steward Wysinger, 31, of the 1400 block of Hickory Street, was charged July 8 with second-degree murder in the March 10 death of her 9-year-old daughter Janiyah Bailey.
Natasha Steward Wysinger was charged July 8, 2021, with abusing her daughter and causing her death.
Charges say that Wysinger severely abused Janiyah in 2014 and that Janiyah died of brain injuries in March of this year stemming from “intentional blunt force trauma” to her head.
Wysinger pleaded guilty in 2016 to abusing her daughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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In court documents for that case, prosecutors said Wysinger, whose last name was then Steward, brought 3-year-old Janiyah to a hospital in Litchfield, Illinois, on Nov. 22, 2014, for treatment of multiple injuries.
Wysinger told hospital staff she had been separated from her daughter for two months after being kidnapped by a man and raped over that time, but later admitted lying about that, prosecutors said in court documents. Wysinger acknowledged forcing her daughter to stand in a corner for hours until she would fall and hit her head. She also admitted yanking the girl’s hair and beating her with a belt.
Wysinger also said she fed Janiyah with a syringe over a four-day period when the child was unconscious, urinating on herself and suffering seizures, court records say. Wysinger said she went to the Litchfield hospital “to try to be slick and get away” from St. Louis authorities.