The Worst Cooks in America winner Ariel Robinson and her husband Jerry have been arrested and charged after their adopted daughter tragically died on January 14.
The 29-year-old mother was accused of beating 3-year-old Victoria Rose Smith after a coroner determined that the toddler died from blunt force trauma.
Police also claimed that the couple committed “child abuse by inflicting a series of injuries, which resulted in the death of the victim.”
But Robinson claims that her adoptive daughter drowned from drinking too much water and that the bruises discovered on her body were caused by a failed Heimlich maneuver she tried to perform to save her.
Victoria had purple bruising on her abdomen, legs, and back, and abrasions on her face at the time of her death.
Robinson appeared via video link for a Friday hearing where she was denied a $40,000 bond.
The judge said: “Based on the seriousness of the charges and the egregious nature of the allegations in this case, I do find the defendant in this case is a flight risk or does pose a substantial danger to the community, most particularly to the children who are in her custody, and potentially even to herself.”
Prosecutors claimed that Robinson had told first responders that the girl had drowned after drinking too much liquid. She also said that she performed the Hemlich maneuver on her as she thought she was choking.
Her husband then called 911 and started pressing down on the girl’s chest.
When asked about other bruises found all over Victoria’s body, Robinson reportedly blamed her son who she claimed had ‘anger issues.’
But Jerry now says that his wife “spanked and beat Victoria with different things, including a belt, paddle, flip flop or whatever,” WYFF4 reported.
On the day the 3-year-old girl died, Robinson allegedly used a belt to strike the girl.
Robinson and her husband Jerry have two biological sons before they adopted Victoria and her two brothers in 2020.
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Replaced!