Compton man charged in death of 5-year-old niece

Prosecutors charged a 25-year-old Compton man Tuesday with murder in the slaying of his 5-year-old niece, whose body was discovered wrapped in a trash bag inside a bedroom closet in the family's apartment.

Julian Carter faces one count of murder with the special allegation of personal use of a deadly weapon, a knife, in the blunt-force trauma of Mireya Nila McCall, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. 

Carter, who was being held on bail of $1.08 million, faces up to 26 years in state prison if convicted on all counts.

Mireya's mother called about 7:20 a.m. Sunday to report Mireya missing, said Lt. Liam Gallagher of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies quickly found her body in the closet, although Carter was not home when the discovery was made, authorities said. Carter was arrested after family members found him.

Sheriff's investigators have not detailed how the girl was killed, but Gallagher said investigators have recovered evidence tying Carter to the killing. According to a coroner's report, Mireya was killed by "sharp-force trauma to the neck."

Neighbors said Carter's behavior had recently become increasingly bizarre and menacing. They also said he appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

Last August, he slapped a neighbor, a 3-year-old girl, in the face. Sheriff's deputies took Carter away, said the girl's mother, Wendy Walker, 29. His behavior just got stranger and stranger, she said.

Walker said that in January, she caught him snarling profanities at her daughter through her window.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[FJ]

I blame the parents 100%. The signs were there long ago (slapping a 3 year old nighbor, menacing the little girl, etc.). I have a 2 year old daughter. If anyone around me does anything like that, then that filth would be permanently expelled from my home. No second chance. It's sad these little kids in the ghetto are dying on a daily basis. But when you examine the facts, it's usually the parents who are to blame.

[JG]

I totally agree. The parents need to be arrested also. These new parents don't keep a watchful eye on their children

[JG]

The parents need to be arrested as well. These new parents do not keep an eye on their children

[Auntie]

Yet again people who know nothing about the situation. STOP taking everything you read or hear on the news to be true. Unfortunately you have people that wants to be in the spotlight and will say whatever it takes to get there even reporting things that are not true. That was MY NIECE, SISTER, AND BROTHER. Until you know the real don't respond.

[Auntie]

This little girl meant the world to all of us!!!! To add I too have children a boy and a girl so I do know what it mean to be a parent and an auntie. Just cause some people got their 1 minute of fame on television, newspaper quote does not make it correct information. I HAVE too judged people from what I heard on the news and in the paper until it was MY FAMILY in the spotlight and it gave me a whole new outlook on things. Just because you read it or saw it on the news does not make it true!!!!