Idaho woman pleads guilty in death of 2-year-old daughter, whose body was burned in barrel

Published January 13, 2015

An Idaho woman has pleaded guilty to allegations that she had other children help her burn her 2-year-old daughter's body in a barrel after the toddler died of an injury.

Court records say Veronica Herrera of Homedale told investigators her daughter Nakita jumped off a potty chair, hit her head on a heater and later died. The 29-year-old Herrera says she burned the girl's body out of fear of losing custody of her other children.

Herrera initially was charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on April 11. She also pleaded guilty to failure to report a death, destroying evidence and three counts of injury to a child.

Owyhee County Prosecutor Doug Emery says two of the injury charges relate to Herrera having other children help her burn the body.

Sentencing is set for July.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/idaho-woman-pleads-guilty-in-death-of-2-year-old-daughter-whose-body-was-burned-in-barrel