MANTI — A Sanpete County woman who initially contended that her child had drowned in a wading pool is now facing a charge of child-abuse homicide.
Prosecutors in Manti filed the first-degree felony in 6th District Court Monday against Ariel Hampton, 23, of Centerfield, who they say beat 2-year-old Kirsten Anderson to death last week.
"There was evidence of bruising and markings on the child that were not consistent with drowning," Sanpete County Attorney Ross Blackham said. The charge, he said, was based on that evidence, police interviews with Hampton, and preliminary findings of the medical examiner.
"That report is consistent with the findings and observations of the staff at the initial examination at the hospital — meaning, no drowning," Blackham said.
According to a report from Centerfield Police Chief Brett McCall, Hampton admitted to the beating.
On May 7, ambulance crews responded to a report of a non-responsive child. Hampton said she discovered Kirsten face-down in a pool and that her face had turned blue.
Upon arrival at the hospital, however, medics observed the child was not wet, and "there were suspicious bruises over the child's body," McCall's report states. Also, from chest X-rays, the doctor said he did not believe any water was in the lungs.
"The deputy medical examiner and I both agreed that after examination of the body there were some unanswered questions we had for Ariel," McCall said.
Confronted with the discrepancies, "Ariel finally broke down and explained that she had beaten her daughter. She states she beat her for a long time," McCall wrote in his report.
Hampton was booked into the Sanpete County Jail Thursday.
Despite the fact that many people live at the same residence where the incident happened, McCall said there were no witnesses to the beating. "If there were they're not coming forward," he said Monday.
"I've heard that we needed to look into some of the other family members, and we did, but there was nothing to lead us to believe anything other than what was in the (police report)."
McCall cautioned the public not to listen to rumors that have cropped up surrounding the child's death.
Hampton, he said, was living with the family of her boyfriend (not the child's father). That family, he said, tends to be seclusive, and many Centerfield residents refer to the family's property as a "compound." That, together with the fact that this is the second suspicious incident involving the family (the first was a hunting accident several years ago that killed the 10-year-old son of another family member), has contributed to those rumors.
"Don't believe it unless you hear it from us," McCall said. "It's ridiculous, it just gives people, especially with this family, opportunity to go hog wild with outlandish rumors."
As of Monday, Hampton was still being held in jail on $500,000 bail.
Kirsten's father, James Anderson, talked to KSL-TV Saturday from his sister's home in American Fork. He said Hampton had a temper.
"I can definitely tell you she had a point where she could snap," he said. Despite that, he says he's still in shock that she was arrested following the death of their daughter.
"The woman that I know would never do this to her children," he told KSL.
The couple has two other children. Anderson says they're in the custody of Hampton's parents.
E-MAIL: john@sanpetemessenger.com