Steve Jefferson/Eyewitness News
Dec. 16 - Donald Collins is heartbroken over the death of his little girl, A'anaih. "A'aniah was a very sweet one-year-old. She was very outgoing for her age. She loved to get into things. She loved to be with her daddy."
The last time A'aniah was with Collins she appeared healthy. But the grieving father says his little girl did suffer numerous unexplained injuries.
Earlier this year she suddenly had a broken thumb. And A'niah's grandmother took snapshots of her leg cast to document treatment for a broken leg.
Collins says it all happened in the care of A'aniah's mother, Brandy Strader.
And the girl's father says that's not all. "She had scratches and bruises all over her face and body."
Paramedics announced A'aniah dead on the scene and detectives questioned her death right away. They ordered an autopsy.
Her father has questions too, and even more to deal with. He planned a huge Christmas for A'aniah this year. But now he's only left memories and wrapped gifts intended to make his daughter happy.
"To me this would have been her first Christmas because she didn't really know what was going on."
A'aniah's mother and her boyfriend, Lester Smith, discovered the little girl's lifeless body. And just like her father and detectives, want to know how and why a young life ended so soon.
