Woman investigated in 3-year-old's death

Mother claimed girl was victim of hit-and-run

ORLANDO, Fla. – The mother of a 3-year-old girl who died Saturday morning is now the center of a homicide investigation.

Officials said a court hearing revealed that Maryanne Schwartz's story about a hit-and-run killing her daughter doesn't add up with the medical examiner's findings.

The autopsy report only concluded that Yeliani Schwartz-Ojeda died of blunt force trauma, but was inconclusive in determining whether the child had been struck by a car.

In addition, the medical examiner said there were concerns that the deceased child was malnourished, and the temperature of the girl's body did not correlate with the timing of the alleged hit-and-run.

The medical examiner also determined bruising on the child to be from prior abuse and reported that to Department of Children and Families.

A representative with DCF said their investigators interviewed the older kids who live in the home -- children of Schwartz's partner.

Officials said the oldest child told the investigator they are hit as punishment, sometimes with sandals, but he claimed, Schwartz's 3-year-old daughter got it the worst.

"The deceased child was always not listening and she was spanked and her hair had been pulled and different accusations of discipline due to her not listening," said investigator Chandra Jones.

All the children have been removed from the home.

Investigators told Local 6 the case started after the child's mother called emergency dispatchers around 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Schwartz told police her daughter had been hit by a car in the parking lot of the Grandview Pointe Apartments on Americana Boulevard.

The mother told dispatchers she was in the process of driving her daughter to the hospital.

Dispatchers asked the woman to pull over at John Young Parkway and Americana Boulevard.

Emergency workers then took the girl to Arnold Palmer Hospital, where she died.