Sacramento Man Faces Charges In Death Of Girlfriend's Toddler

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento man is facing charges in the death of his girlfriend's little girl.

Sheriff's investigators accuse 29-year-old Frederic McDonald of abusing his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter.

McDonald made a brief appearance in court, facing charges ranging from child endangerment to neglect.

Back at the apartment where paramedics found the girl, neighbors are still grappling with her loss.

"It breaks my heart. Cuz I have my own kids," one neighbor said.

Neighbors say they rarely saw the 2-year-old girl playing outside.
But there's now a little pink wagon sitting in front of the dumpster.

"It's pretty sad. It's pretty sad for me to be around something like that," said another neighbor.

It's been two weeks since paramedics were called out to a Fair Oaks apartment complex to reports of an unresponsive 2-year-old girl. Medics took her to the hospital, but she was soon pronounced dead.
Now investigators suspect foul play.

"I can't go into the circumstances over the manner of the child's death. I can say there was a considerable amount of neglect that led us in this direction," said Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Shaun Hampton.

He says investigators searched the apartment, and that evidence led to the arrest of Frederic McDonald.

McDonald appeared before a judge Tuesday. But his public defender didn't take questions.

Back at the toddler's apartment, investigators say her mother is not a suspect, and their focus now is finding out exactly how her little girl died.

"We do the best we can to investigate these cases as thorough as possible to get justice for the victims," said Hampton.

And as those victims wait on the coroner to release the official cause of death, we're told family and friends are making funeral plans- expected to take place at a local church Friday.

Meanwhile, McDonald is being held without bail at the Sacramento County Jail.

His next court hearing is in January.