A man has been charged with sexually assaulting and murdering an 18-month-old girl in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Jeremiah Cordell, 27, is currently locked up without bail on a variety of charges that include second and third-degree murder, aggravated and indecent assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
According to Penn Live, the little girl was found dead in the early hours of the morning of September 14, 2015 when her mother, Jessica Arnold woke up to take a shower. The police report states that the little girl was found in her crib undressed, wearing only her diaper.
Cordell was Arnold’s fiance, and according to court documents, he was left in charge of watching over the little girl while her mother was out. Cordell texted Arnold saying that the little girl had thrown up, and that he had cleaned her and put her to bed. When Arnold got back home, she said she looked in the crib to find her daughter sleeping.
The autopsy revealed that the girl died of blunt force trauma to the head due to a sudden impact and shaking. When he was interviewed by authorities on the day the little girl was found dead, Cordell stated that he had fed the girl, given her a bath and after she threw up, he put a clean diaper on her. He said the last thing he did was put her to bed where she “pretty much passed out”, according to the arrest documents.
The police said that Cordell’s story kept changing every time he was interviewed. On one occasion he said he couldn’t remember what had happened, and in another one he said he had accidentally dropped the girl on the steps when he took her for a bath.
A month later, investigators received the DNA results that confirmed that the swabs taken from the victim matched Cordell’s. He’s currently being held at the Bradford County Correctional Facility without bail, undergoing a series of hearings before he faces the trial that will sentence him for his crimes.
The decided to release the identity of the little girl, named Kendall Doss, in order to rally support and donations for the funeral costs.
