IRVINGTON — Nevaeh Turner’s young life was already unraveling by the time she was 6 months old and someone broke into her mother’s house, found the little girl alone and contacted child-welfare authorities. The episode threw Nevaeh into the foster care system, where she was bounced among three foster families in two years until her father, an Irvington resident,...
After living with her mother and then three foster families in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it seemed as if Nevaeh Turner, not yet 3-years-old, would finally get a chance to settle into a home. Nevaeh moved into her father's Irvington home in July 2009. It would be the last one she ever knew. Nevaeh, whose name is heaven spelled backwards, was beaten to death four months later.
IRVINGTON — Nevaeh Turner’s young life was already unraveling by the time she was 6 months old and someone broke into her mother’s house, found the little girl alone and contacted child-welfare authorities.
The episode threw Nevaeh into the foster care system, where she was bounced among three foster families in two years until her father, an Irvington resident, agreed to take custody last July.
Finally, it seemed, the little girl with big brown eyes, whose name is heaven spelled backward, had found a stable home.But within four months, Nevaeh was dead.
"There was no explanation, except that the day before the baby was playing a game and ran into a door," said Peter Guarino, an Essex County assistant prosecutor. "All we had was a baby with a horrendous brain injury."
After months of investigating, an Essex County grand jury charged Nevaeh’s father, Tamir Little, 31, and his former fiancée, Samirah Lightford, 23, in the child’s death. They were arrested May 25 and charged with murder in a two-count indictment that paints a grim portrait of a child who escaped neglect and instability only to be brutally beaten, authorities say, by her own father.
Navaeh’s mother, Kamilia Turner, met Little 12 years ago when they sang together in a church choir in Newark. Friendship turned to romance and Turner, a mother of three, became pregnant with Nevaeh. She moved to Lewisburg, Pa., for a fresh start.
Little soon followed. But the relationship soured and he returned to New Jersey before Nevaeh was born in November 2006.
"It was very annoying to have him around," Turner, 27, said. "That was pretty much the end of us, actually."
Six months after Nevaeh was born, Turner was to appear in court on shoplifting charges in Pennsylvania. She left Nevaeh home alone with her 16-month-old brother, Khamel.
While Turner was gone, someone broke in and found the children alone, according to both Turner and her family members. The would-be thieves called Pennsylvania’s Office of Children, Youth and Families, and authorities determined Turner was unfit to care for the children.
Khamel went to live with his dad and Nevaeh headed to the first of her three foster homes. Two years passed.
Last year, as Nevaeh was about to be put up for adoption, Turner tried to regain custody, but failed. She said Little’s fiancée, Lightford, with whom he had a 2-year old, convinced him "to get back in the picture" after he had not seen his daughter in 18 months.
Little was granted custody and in July, he and Lightford brought Nevaeh back to Irvington where the family shared a first-floor apartment on Campfield Street.
Neither Little or Lightford could be reached for comment before their arrest.
Turner said she saw her daughter just twice in that time. "He didn’t trust me around my own daughter," she said.
But, she said, the couple seemed like good parents.
"She came across as a very caring mom," Turner said of Lightford.
Authorities paint a different picture. They said Little and Lightford began abusing Nevaeh right around the time they gained custody. The beatings culminated on Nov. 21, according to authorities, when Nevaeh was rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark. Multiple bruises indicated she was likely bleeding from the brain. Surgeons operated, but could do little more than stabilize her.
Nevaeh was pronounced dead Nov. 25. A Thanksgiving Day autopsy concluded she died from blunt force trauma to the head.
The child also had marks suggesting she was being hit with a cord or belt, according to the indictment. Guarino, the assistant prosecutor, said Little admitted to using those items to discipline Naveah. The couple’s younger child, who was also living with them, did not appear to have been subjected to any harsh treatment, Guarino said.
Little and Lightford, who are no longer engaged, are scheduled to be arraigned June 22. They face 30 years to life in prison if convicted of the murder charge, and five to 10 years on a child endangerment count. Neither have prior criminal records, Guarino said. Both are being held in lieu of $300,000 bail.