MINNEAPOLIS - An in-home day care provider has been charged with attempted murder for hanging a child in the basement of her Minneapolis home.
Nataliia Karia, 42, of Minneapolis was also charged with third-degree assault on the 16-month-old boy and two counts of criminal vehicular operation for hitting a pedestrian and a bicyclist as she fled in her minivan.
According to the criminal complaint, around 9:30 a.m. Friday, a father was dropping off his three-year-old son at the day care Karia owned when she told him she "couldn’t take it anymore" and asked him to come see what she had done. She led him down the basement where he saw the toddler hanging from a noose. He released the child and ran out of the home, child in-hand. The complaint states the man then called his wife, who then called police and drove to Karia’s home to take care of the other children until police arrived.
Meantime, Karia drove off in her minivan. The complaint states she rear-ended a car on West 28th Street at Grand Avenue, hit and dragged the driver of the car as she left the scene of the crash, then hit a bicyclist at West 28th Street and Park Avenue.
Witnesses say Karia made her way to the Park Avenue Bridge over I-94 where she got out of the van and tried to jump off the bridge. Motorists in the area helped Karia down and held her until paramedics and police arrived.
The driver of the car remains in the hospital with serious injuries. The bicyclist also remains hospitalized. The toddler was treated at HCMC's pediatric intensive care unit for severe ligature marks around his neck and on his face.
Investigators found two pairs of child-sized tights hanging from a ceiling pipe in the basement of Karia's home. They add the tights were tied together to form a noose and directly below the noose was a child-sized chair.
Karia is in police custody at HCMC. Prosecutors are seeking $2 million in bail.