A Delaware couple was arrested on Thursday in connection after their 5-month-old daughter's body was found buried on their property.
Angel Toran, 22, and her fiancé, Ny'Jier Murphy, 24, of Magnolia, are charged with first-degree murder by abuse or neglect and first-degree conspiracy, police said. Murphy is facing an additional charge of carrying a concealed weapon.
Baby's Birth or Death Wasn't Reported to the State
Delaware State Police responded to the couple's home in the 400 block of Lambert Dr on October 10, 2021, with the Division of Family Services (DFS) to perform a welfare check on the infant after receiving a tip about the child's possible death.
When police made contact with the couple, they noticed Murphy was carrying a concealed weapon in a holster on his hip. A computer check determined Murphy does not possess a permit for carrying a concealed deadly weapon in Delaware.
Investigators determined that Toran have given birth to a baby girl at their home in April 2021 but never reported it to the state. Further evidence revealed that the baby had died in mid-September at the age of five months old. Police said the baby's death was never reported, and she was found buried in the couple's backyard, Delaware State Police said in a press release.
Baby Died of Malnourishment
"The infant's body was exhumed from the property on Oct. 11, 2021, and turned over to the Division of Forensic Science for an autopsy to be performed," Pepper said.
The investigation found the infant had been severely malnourished and died of medical issues associated with malnourishment, police said.
Toran was arraigned in the Justice of the Peace Court #2 and committed to Department of Correction custody on a $260,000 bail. Murphy was arraigned by the Justice of the Peace Court #2 and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on a $270,000 cash bail.
The couple's neighbors were left shaken by the news of the baby's death and her parents' arrest. "I was shocked when I read the report," Krupa Patel told The Delaware News Journal, describing the accused couple as "very nice kids." "I said 'no, they wouldn't do that.' Something's not right. I don't think they would let their baby starve."
