Nine-year-old US girl forced to run for three hours, dies

Feb 23, 2012 |

Alabama

Tags:

crime
US

The grandmother and stepmother of a 9-year-old Alabama girl who died after witnesses said she was forced to run for three hours as punishment for lying have been charged with murder and are being held in jail.

Witnesses told deputies that Savannah Hardin was told to run and not allowed to stop for three hours on Friday Feb. 17, an Etowah County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said. The girl's stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, called police at 6:45 p.m., telling authorities that Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive.

Authorities are still trying to determine whether Savannah was forced to run by physical coercion or by verbal commands only.

Savannah Hardin died on Monday at a hospital in Birmingham, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

Authorities said Jessica Mae Hardin and Savannah's grandmother - 46-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard - were both arrested and charged with murder after the death was ruled a homicide by a state pathologist.

The sheriff's release says the autopsy report showed the girl was extremely dehydrated and had a very low sodium level.

The sheriff's office received calls from concerned citizens who had witnessed the incident. No other details were released, and spokesperson Natalie Barton said the investigation is ongoing.

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