LAFAYETTE, Ind. --
A Lafayette woman told police she left her
stepdaughter gagged and bound at the wrists in a bedroom
the night before the 4-year-old girl was found dead,
according to a court document filed Thursday.
Video:
Girl's Father, Stepmother Face
Neglect Charges
A
sheriff's officer found Aiyana Gauvin's body in her
family's Lafayette home Wednesday morning after someone
called 911 to say that she had been choking, the
Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department said.
The stepmother,
Michelle Gauvin, 33, and Aiyana's father, Christian
Gauvin, 33, were arrested Wednesday on preliminary
charges of neglect of a dependent causing death.
Information on the cause
of death wasn't released Thursday.
According to a probable
cause affidavit, the girl's body had bruises, scrapes
and cuts. Michelle Gauvin allegedly told police that she
put tape over the child's mouth Tuesday night, and that
the girl's wrists were bound.
The woman told police that
she left the child bound and gagged in the girl's
bedroom that night, according to the affidavit.
Michelle Gauvin said
that on Wednesday morning, she saw the girl lying on her
stomach, still bound and gagged, according to the
affidavit.
Police said Michelle
Gauvin told them that Aiyana and two other children,
aged 12 and 9, were left at the home Wednesday morning
while she took Christian Gauvin to work.
When she returned, she
realized something was wrong with Aiyana and called 911,
the affidavit said.
According to the
affidavit, Michelle Gauvin said that she occasionally
hit the child with a broken cutting board.
Christian Gauvin told
police that he knew that his wife had on occasion hit
the girl, bound her and placed a gag over her mouth,
according to the affidavit.
The man said he didn't
seek medical treatment for the injuries Aiyana would
receive because he feared he would be arrested on abuse
accusations, the document said.
