Latest – Sunday, Feb. 27

1:52 p.m.

On Sunday, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office identified the woman who is suspected of fatally assaulting a 4-year-old girl.

The sheriff’s communications center received a call on Feb. 13 from the Sacramento fire officials requesting help providing medical aid to a 4-year-old girl, who family identified as Kierra Wesley.

Wesley was found unresponsive at an apartment complex on 42nd Avenue near Martin Luther King Boulevard.

She was taken to a local hospital where she was declared dead.

Deputies and child abuse detectives said they spoke to 28-year-old La Kreesha Frederick, who was initially identified by Wesley’s family as the child’s stepmother.

Deputies said Frederick did not have legal custody of Wesley but was watching the child at the request of the child’s biological mother since October of last year.

During their investigation, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Frederick on Feb. 24.

Frederick was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on multiple charges, including one count of murder.

The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office is currently investigating the cause of Wesley’s death.

Deputies said Frederick will appear in court on Monday.

Original story below.

SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. (KTXL) — A Sacramento County family is trying to find the strength to understand why their 4-year-old daughter died.  

“She was happy, happy going, intelligent,” Kierra Wesley’s father, Keon Wesley, told FOX40.

“She was very, very intelligent. She had a happy-go-lucky personality. She would light up the room,” added Kierra Wesley’s mother, Sierra Quarles.

Photos and memories are all that are left for the family as they try to understand why their time with their daughter was cut short.

“She was basically like my baby,” Keon Wesley’s cousin, Tamara Dogens, told FOX40.

Her family said Kierra Wesley was staying with her stepmother and half-brother when she was found dead on Feb. 13.

“She was watching Kierra for me while I was moving places and I wasn’t able to see her,” Sierra Quarles said.

Family said while Kierra Wesley stayed at an apartment complex on 42nd Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, she was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. 

“She went in the bathroom and she seen Kierra slumped over and he told Kierra to get up, she had to go to the bathroom. Kierra didn’t wake up, so she tapped Kierra, and said, ‘Kierra get up, I have to go to the bathroom,'” Dogens said, referencing Kierra Wesley’s stepmother. “And Kierra wasn’t moving fast enough, so she pushed her and she hit her head. And she was on the ground. And she used the restroom, washed her hands while Kierra was still on the ground.”

Family said moments later, Kierra Wesley died.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office told FOX40 they will release more information on this case soon. 

Jail records show a woman by the same name the family gave as Kierra Wesley’s stepmother was arrested Thursday night by the sheriff’s office, 11 days after Kierra Wesley died.

That woman is currently facing two felony counts of murder and assault resulting in the death of a child under 8 years of age. However, investigators have not specifically said the woman is responsible for Kierra Wesley’s death.

For those who would like to donate to Kierra Wesley’s family, tap or click here.