A 42-year-old Maryland man has been described by officials as nothing short of a “monster” after he was arrested this week for allegedly beating a 3-year-old girl to death in his Baltimore home, then trying to blame the horrifying, deadly attack on the child’s 9-year-old brother, according to new reporting from Law & Crime, citing information from law enforcement officials. Court records reviewed and reported on by the publication show that Randolph J. Mack now faces a laundry list of felonies in connection to the heinous death of 3-year-old Maria Barlow. Mack’s charges include one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and first-degree child abuse resulting in the death of a child under age 13.
Harford County Sheriff’s Office confirms that patrol deputies from the Southern Precinct responded to a 911 call on the evening of June 3rd, related to a young child in cardiac arrest at a home located in the 1200 block of Ashmead Square. EMS was already on the scene and performing life-saving measures when law enforcement officials arrived and found the child in the living room of the home.
Hartford Country deputies provided assistance to EMS personnel as they prepared to move the child to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. Maria Barlow was pronounced dead by the hospital’s medical staff upon her arrival at approximately 11:58 p.m. The sheriff’s office confirms, “Medics and medical staff advised the deputies that the juvenile had suspicious bruising on her body that would be consistent with child abuse.”
Investigations were quickly started by both the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as well as the HCSO Criminal Investigations Division. Mack was almost instantly determined to be the prime suspect in the fatal assault. The 42-year-old was arrested and booked at the Harford County Detention Center where he remains detained without bond.
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Speaking with Baltimore ABC affiliate WMAR-TV, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler provided further details on the heinous attack, as well as Mack’s attempt to blame the murder on Maria’s 9-year-old brother.
Gahler said that things took a violent turn after Mack took the child to the bathroom to discuss her wetting her pants. Mack was able to convince Maria’s aunt to go along with his story that the girl’s brother was to blame when they spoke to authorities following the deadly assault. It was allegedly 7 hours after the attack before Maria’s aunt called 911 and suggested that the 9-year-old assault the girl. The aunt eventually cracked under questioning from authorities.
“They, the suspects, were working on trying to get an alibi and trying to get another child in the home to kind of take responsibility for the actions that [Mack] had done. And there is no doubt in this case that [Mack] is responsible for the physical injuries that this young child suffered that cost her her life,” Gahler said.
“To know an adult – again, you can’t use a word other than a ‘monster,’ who would inflict such damage on a child and then let that child sit there unattended for a period of time before summoning medical help. And then make up a story and try to put the blame elsewhere—that is not a human. To me, that is so inhumane, I call it a ‘monster.'”
Reports claim Maria was only days away from her 4th birthday.
Read the full report from Law & Crime here.
Featured image via Harfod County Sheriff’s Office
