Dalton mom Catarina Castro-Moran denied dead daughter medical help

Dalton police say they have charged a 21-year-old mother in connection with the death of her young daughter after responding officers found the child dead. Investigators said the child died because her mother didn't get her help when she was sick.

Catarina Castro-Moran is charged with second degree murder, cruelty to children, making false statements to police and identity fraud.

On New Year's Eve moing, police answered a call at an apartment on Whitener Drive. The caller told police a child was unresponsive. When police arrived around 6 a.m. they found Castro-Moran's 17-month-old daughter in her bed. Police and EMT's tried to resuscitate the child but she was already dead.

Castro-Moran told police her daughter became ill just one day earlier on Wednesday but police said that was a false statement. "We were able to determine the child's been sick going back to last week and her fever's been pretty high for several days," said Dalton spokesperson Bruce Frazier.

Police also found out that Castro-Moran took her child to Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton on Monday, three days before the child was found dead. Doctors told the mother her daughter needed treatment, but police said Castro-Moran left the hospital before her daughter was helped.

Police said because Moran neglected her child by not getting her treatment they have charged her with second degree murder.

"We don't have any reason to believe that this is a situation where there was any intent behind this," Frazier said. "We have every reason to believe this mother wanted this child to get better, but obviously that didn't happen."

Police said Castro-Moran was charged with identity fraud because she possessed false identifications.