BLOUNTSTOWN — An Altha man has been charged in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, according to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.
Stephen Aaron Young, 27, was charged Wednesday with aggravated manslaughter of a child following the April death of Anya Dziura. Young was a live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, 26-year-old Jessica Leigh Dziura, of Altha. Both faced charges of child neglect following the incident, but Young’s charges have been upgraded, CCSO officials reported.
Young could face up to 30 years in prison, CCSO said, and officers reported other charges could be forthcoming. Dziura still faces a charge of child neglect.
After conducting an autopsy of the child, the 14th Circuit Medical Examiner’s Office determined Anya Dziura’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, investigators said. CCSO reported Anya Dziura had been in Young’s care April 2 after her mother, Jessica Dziura, left for work earlier that morning.
How the child sustained the head injuries is still under investigation, Calhoun County Sheriff Glen Kimbrel said.
CCSO reported earlier that Jessica Dziura was rushing her daughter to the hospital at about 11 a.m. on April 2 but stopped just south of Altha at a gas station on State 71 to ask for help. EMS crews responded to a 911 call that the child was unresponsive and not breathing. Paramedics administered CPR on the girl as the ambulance was en route to the local hospital before being airlifted to Tallahassee, officials reported.
Anya had extensive injuries, including fractures to the skull, officials reported. The child was taken off life support and pronounced dead the next day after her father and 5-year-old brother said goodbye, officials said.