BERWICK, Pa. — Angelica Nicole Rivera, 22-years-old of Berwick, was arraigned at the District Court in Berwick after police allege she killed her baby girl.
Baby Amara died on June 26 inside an apartment along East 2nd Street in Berwick.
According to police, the 1-year-old baby girl lived with her mother, her mother's boyfriend, and a second child.
Court paperwork shows that Rivera, the baby's biological mother, put the child down to sleep at 10 a.m. that morning.
She then went outside to hang out with her boyfriend and next-door neighbor, leaving Amara and the other child alone in the apartment.
When she returned a few hours later, she noticed that Amara had blue lips and wasn't breathing.
"She should get life for it. No kid asked to be here; they don't ask to be brought into the world. You have to love them more than you love yourself," said John Derby of Berwick.
Curtis Vaughn of Berwick has been following the case since the baby's death.
"It makes me feel bad for being a parent and a grandparent, and I don't think no child should be left alone or with another kid or with anybody that's going to hurt a kid or something," Vaughn said.
Investigators who were called to the scene noted that the child was extremely cool to the touch and that it was apparent that the child had been deceased for some time.
Autopsy results show the child died from blunt force trauma.
Rivera is charged with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of children, and tampering with evidence.
Bail has been denied, and she is locked up in the Columbia County Prison, awaiting her preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for January 3.
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