THE DARKNESS WITHIN _ THE CASE OF ANGELA DIAZ

"She was supposed to be a protector. Instead, she became a monster." In 2017, 2-year-old Brooklyn March was placed in the care of Angela Diaz while the toddler's parents were in Georgia [citation:10]. Four months later, police responded to Diaz's Lancaster County, Pennsylvania home and found Brooklyn unresponsive. She never woke up [citation:10].An examination revealed horrors no child should endure. The toddler had suffered not only from severe malnutrition but from catastrophic brain trauma caused by a "severe impact" while in Diaz's custody [citation:10]. The evidence was damning: on the day of her death, after Brooklyn vomited an egg and olive sandwich, Diaz responded by kicking and body-slamming her tiny victim against a firm surface. The impact was so forceful it separated the child's retinas and caused fatal bleeding in her brain [citation:10].Diaz originally claimed the child had fallen off a bed and hit her head. But a postmortem examination uncovered injuries to Brooklyn's cheeks, ears, neck, abdomen, back, and buttocks—evidence of "repeated physical abuse" and "nutritional neglect" [citation:7]. Facing the prospect of first-degree murder charges and the death penalty, Diaz pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in September 2020 [citation:7][citation:10]. She was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison [citation:10].This is the darkness within: the story of a woman entrusted with a child's life—and the tiny victim who never had a chance to tell her own story. Listener discretion absolutely required.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/red-tree-crime--6847553/support.