Melissa Alexander
/ FOX21: file photo
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A judge sentenced a woman who accepted a guilty plea for child abuse to 36 years in prison Monday in the death of her then-boyfriend's 1-year-old daughter.
Melissa Alexander, who was caring for 22-year-old Matthew Strickland's kid while he was deployed to Louisiana in November for a month for U.S. Army training, plead guilty to child abuse - knowing/recklessly causing death after originally being charged with first degree murder.
The 27-year-old woman admitted to grabbing, pushing and dropping the baby for not cooperating at various times in late 2011 and even said she threw a cup at the toddler at one point.
Her 2-year-old son also hit the baby with a plastic bucket.
When the girl fell off a love seat onto the floor, she finally took her to a neighbor's and called 911.
The baby died in the hospital about a month later.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM