A 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of beating to death his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter, Saratov regional investigators said Monday.
The unidentified suspect has admitted to beating the girl in Engels, a Volga port located across the river from Saratov, but has not provided a motive, investigators said.
"On the evening of Oct. 27, the mother's 25-year-old live-in boyfriend, who had a previous conviction, was in the same room as the girl and inflicted injuries on her," the local branch of the Investigative Committee said in a statement. "On the same day, due to a worsening of her health, the child was taken to the hospital in Engels, where she subsequently died."
A spokeswoman for the investigators, Anna Marusova, said the girl's mother was in the bathroom at the time of the beating and did not hear anything, Interfax reported.
According to a preliminary investigation, the girl died of head and brain injuries caused by a beating, the report said.
"The man confessed to the crime but has not said why beat the child to death," Marusova said.
The suspect will be kept in custody and faces charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm that resulted in the death of the victim. A conviction carries a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.
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