A Florida woman is facing the death penalty after she allegedly ordered a Rottweiler to attack her 9-year-old stepdaughter before beating her to death.
34-year-old Tyshael Elise Martin was arrested in Montverde, Florida, on August 28 and is being charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect, as per a Daily Mail report.
Reports also indicate that prosecutors filed a notice earlier this month indicating they will seek the death penalty if Martin is convicted.
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Security footage from the family’s home showed Martin allegedly instructing the 103-pound Rottweiler to attack the little girl on June 15, according to detectives.
After the dog was finished, Martin then reportedly kicked the girl while she lay motionless on the floor, and investigators say the footage then shows Martin dragging Jamaria’s unconscious body across the ground and hitting and shaking her while possibly saying, “I’m fixin’ to kill her.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office began investigating on June 17 after receiving a 911 call about Jamaria being unresponsive at the family’s home on Harbar Oaks Drive.
Paramedics arrived at the scene to find the child with burns, abrasions, bruises, and suspected bite marks.
Detectives later reviewed security footage from the home that allegedly captured the June 15 attack, and the dog was seen viciously mauling Jamaria while the Florida stepmom holds its leash and directs the assault on the nine-year-old.
Further investigation revealed Jamaria had been subjected to other forms of abuse before her death. Texts messages and interviews indicated that she endured punishments that included being forced to sit against a wall for hours, running in place with her arms raised, and being hit, kicked, and punched.
An autopsy after her passing then determined that Jamaria died from complications due to multiple blunt-force injuries to her head, torso, and extremities, as well as a heat-related injury to her right foot.
For now, the Florida stepmom is being held without bond at the Lake County Jail.
In a fundraiser to cover funeral costs of Jamaria’s passing, her maternal family described the little girl as a “bright and beautiful nine-year-old girl” who left behind a five-year-old sister.
The sisters were initially living with their father, Lojuan Sessions, since October 2023, after their mother died of leukemia at age 24.
The family also stated that the girls had previously lived with their grandmother and that their efforts to remain involved in the children’s lives had faced “insurmountable barriers.”
Lojuan Sessions, who was released from prison in August 2023 after serving a five-year sentence for child neglect, drug trafficking, and fleeing police, was also arrested in August. He faces charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child.
