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Police capture fugitive couple accused of torturing, killing 4-year-old

Posted at 7:38 PM, Jan 09, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-09 19:38:03-05

SUMPTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. – U.S. Marshals have arrested a fugitive Michigan couple accused of brutally murdering a 4-year-old girl, police announced Tuesday.

Working with the Lowndes County Sheriff Department, marshals arrested 24-year-old Candice Renea Diaz and 28-year-old Brad Edward Fields as they drove near Lake Park, Georgia. Police from Sumpter, the couple’s home town, confirmed the arrest just before 4 p.m. EST but didn’t have further details.

Authorities put out a call to the public for help tracking down Diaz and Fields after Diaz’s 4-year-old girl was found severely burned, according to WNEM. Police received a 911 call about 10:43 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 1 at a home on Greenmeadow Drive, inside the Rawsonville Woods Mobile Home Community, for reports of a 4-year-old girl who was unresponsive.

When officers arrived, they found family members performing CPR on the child. Police said the girl was suffering from severe burns on her body.

She was taken to Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor by ambulance. The girl was pronounced dead shortly after arriving, officials said.

A medical examiner ruled her death a homicide on Jan. 3. An autopsy found the girl had “multiple traumatic injuries” and “signs of Battered Child Syndrome (multiple injuries, multiple sites, multiple ages),” police said.

The Sumpter Township Police Department said an arrest warrant has been approved by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office charging both Diaz and Fields with felony murder, murder in the second degree, child abuse and torture.

Fields was also charged as a habitual offender, police said.

CNN contributed to this report.

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Manhunt underway for mom, boyfriend in death of 4-year-old Michigan girl