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California Man, Girlfriend Charged In Death Of His 4-Year-Old Daughter
Isaiah Rumph and his girlfriend, Charity Staffieri, are charged with murder, assault on a child causing death and torture in the death of his 4-year-old daughter, Jazmine.
A California couple has been jailed in the alleged child abuse-related death of the man's 4-year-old daughter, who was found with “numerous injuries” at a trailer park last month.
Isaiah Rumph, 24, was taken into custody after authorities said his young daughter, Jazmine — who officials say was badly abused — died in his care. His girlfriend, Charity Staffieri, 22, was also arrested in connection to the toddler’s death.
The couple was both charged with murder, assault on a child causing death and torture.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said deputies respondedon Oct. 25 to the Apple Valley Mobile Home Lodge on Highway 18 after reports that a 4-year-old female child wasn’t breathing. The child was rushed to a nearby hospital where she later died.
A coroner later reported that the toddler had “numerous injuries indicative of child abuse.” The exact cause of the 4-year-old’s death hasn’t been revealed by law enforcement.
"Our homicide detectives interviewed the child's father and the girlfriend, and they were both subsequently arrested for causing the child's death," the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department said in a prepared statement.
Rumph and Staffieri were jailed at a county jail in Rancho Cucamonga on Oct. 26. They're being held on a $2 million bond each, according to online jail records obtained by Oxygen.com. It’s unclear if they’ve retained legal counsel to comment on their behalf.
Meanwhile, neighbors of the family were shocked to learn the couple’s child had died.
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"She seemed happy,” neighbor Michelle Turner told Los Angeles television station KABC-TV about Rumph’s daughter. “I would see her in the summertime at the pool, and she was playing and having a good time. It seemed like the whole family was."
Jazmine’s mother, Hannah Lucas, has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise money to cover funeral expenses. The campaign has since raised nearly $4,000.
“We still have no cause of death yet, and we’re still waiting for the detective to call us to give us any information on what might’ve happened,” her post on the fundraising site stated.
According to her family, Jazmine would have turned five years old next month.
“[She] was such an amazing young lady,” Lucas added. “She was so full of life, and could easily brighten up the room she walked in. We’re all shattered at this tragedy.”
No other information was released by authorities. A spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the active case when contacted by Oxygen.com on Wednesday morning.
Rumph and Staffieri are set to appear in Victorville Superior Court on Nov. 4.
Anyone with additional information related to the case is urged to contact San Bernardino County Sheriff homicide investigators by calling 909-890-4908. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-782-7463.
