Three-year-old Tatiana Emerson died Aug. 27 from blunt force trauma. Her mother's boyfriend, Rhasean Lowry, 34, has been charged with criminal homicide and is accused of beating her to death.
Rhasean LowryThree-year-old Tatiana Emerson was sexually assaulted and severely beaten before she died on Aug. 27, Hamilton County Medical Examiner James Metcalfe concluded in an autopsy report.
The toddler was covered in bruises, scratches and old scars that showed she had been injured over a long period of time, according to the report. She died from blunt-force trauma to her head and body.
"This was brutal, chronic child abuse that Tatiana was subjected to," said Adem Shaker, a medical examiner who runs a forensic consulting company in Huntsville, Ala.
Shaker is not involved in the case but reviewed the autopsy at the request of the Times Free Press.
"It was an ongoing process for that poor child," he said.
One of Tatiana's ribs was still healing from a recent fracture, the report found. She had a belt-buckle-shaped bruise on her backside, scratches on her arms, numerous bruises and a cut lip. She also suffered bleeding and swelling in her brain.
Tatiana died a day after her mother's boyfriend, Rhasean Lowry, 34, brought her to a Chattanooga hospital and told police the girl had fallen down some stairs at the motel where the family had been staying. He said he noticed blood coming from her mouth and immediately took her to the hospital.
But evidence contradicted his story, police said. Motel security cameras pictured Lowry placing Tatiana's unconscious body into his car and then stopping to pay for another night at the motel before heading to the hospital.
Lowry was arrested and charged with criminal homicide and two counts of child abuse on Aug. 28, a day after Tatiana died. He is being held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $600,000 bond, and his case has been handed to a grand jury, which will decide whether to move it into Criminal Court by issuing indictments.
Tatiana and her 5-year-old brother had been living with Lowry and their mom, Melanie Emerson, for only a few weeks before Tatiana died, family members said. The children would live on and off with extended family, sometimes staying with their grandparents in Madisonville, Tenn., for a few months at a time.
Jody Hawkins, Tatiana's grandmother, was devastated by the toddler's death. She couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, but said in an interview a few weeks after Tatiana died that she had never felt right about Lowry.
"He's never looked me in my eyes," Hawkins said at the time.
But Hawkins also said she had never noticed any signs of abuse with either of her grandchildren -- although she did know that Tatiana's brother was scared of Lowry and didn't like to be alone with him.
Shaker said sometimes it's harder to spot injuries on children with darker skin.
"Because of the dark skin, sometimes it can pass unnoticed," he said. "An autopsy is one of the important tools that can prove that [abuse happened]."
Hawkins said Tatiana was like a daughter to her.
"She was a person," Hawkins said. "She was not just another baby. She was our baby."
Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.