Mom Whose 3-Year-Old Died Charged With Sex Assault

DENVER -- Charges were filed Thursday against a mother arrested after the death of her daughter. However, she's not being charged with murder.

Prosecutors filed charges of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust, child abuse-knowingly causing reckless bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon against 34-year-old Susie Quartey.

It was the first public indication the child may have been sexually attacked.

When asked why no murder charges were filed, prosecutors told 7NEWS only that the evidence supports the charges.

District attorney's spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh said the investigation remains open and additional charges could be filed after police receive the results of toxicology tests from the coroner. She said she could not discuss whether homicide charges were a possibility.

Quartey had called police in an east Denver suburb early Saturday and said her daughter, Jolyn, was not breathing, authorities said.

The child died.

In the arrest affidavit, officers said they believed the child was hit more than 50 times with a coat hanger and a broken towel rack. She may also have been stabbed with a piece of a towel rack and kicked, investigators said.

The coroner has said an autopsy was inconclusive.

Police said Quartey told investigators she was carrying Jolyn in a sling when the child fell out and onto rocks in their back yard. Her attorney, Thomas Miller, said Quartey did not beat Jolyn.

Authorities said Quartey is from Ghana and was also under an immigration hold because her residency status was unclear.

The sexual assault charge carries a penalty of four to 12 years in prison and up to life on probation. An assault conviction carries two to six years in prison and the child-abuse charge carries a penalty of six to 18 months in jail.