(CBS) CHICAGO Bond was set at $800,000 Tuesday for a 16-year-old boy charged with beating a 3-year-old girl to death out of anger that she had soiled her underwear.
As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, Eric Grey has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the beating death of Azuil Warren in the 4200 block of West Division Street in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Family members said Azuil, who was nicknamed "Sugar," never regained consciousness. She died of her injuries at 2:30 p.m. Monday at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
"It's hard. I held her until she took her last breath," said Louise Owens, Azuil's grandmother. "She was in my arms until the end."
The beating took place in an apartment building Sunday evening after Grey was left to babysit his 11-year-old brother and his mother's boyfriend's two children – Azuil and her 6-year-old brother. Grey's mother was being driven to work by her boyfriend at the time.
Police say Grey got angry when 3-year-old Azuil Warren soiled her underwear and began beating her with a leather belt and then an aluminum broomstick, but police say that was not enough.
"When that beating stopped, the victim began throwing up all over the house," said Harrison Area Sgt. Steven Konow. The offender then became further enraged and threw her on the floor and began to beat her with his fists until she fell into unconsciousness."
Grey is being held at the Cook County Jail, and has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder.
Konow said Grey called 911 after the beating. He says he later confessed to the beating in the presence of his mother, at one point saying he was sorry.
"He wasn't in custody until he basically confessed to detectives that he didn't mean to hurt her that bad," Konow said. "It was all stemming from the soiling of the underwear."
The toddler's 6-year-old brother was not harmed.
On Tuesday, family members were coping with the tragedy and trying to make sense of their terrible loss.
"What I want people to take from this is you have to watch your children and watch who's caring for your children," said Azuil's uncle, Brian Owens. "Quite possibly, she shouldn't have been left there anyway."
Azuil's family was making funeral arrangements Tuesday morning.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Kendall Marlowe said the agency is investigating Azuil's death, but have not had any prior contact with the family. He declined comment on whether the agency had taken any action regarding the other children in the home.
Grey's bond hearing began at noon in Violence Court (Br. 66) at the Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California. The outcome was not immediately available at 12:15 p.m.
