By Jack Tomczuk<\/p>\n
A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder for the \u201cbrutal beating\u201d of his girlfriend\u2019s 2-year-old daughter, who died after being found unresponsive last week inside a South Philadelphia<\/a> home, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday.<\/p>\n Cases have been opened against two other people who were inside the house at the time, for allegedly lying to the police officers who arrived at the scene, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n Law enforcement were called just after 8:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, to a property near Beechwood and Jackson streets, where they found a badly bruised toddler, Key\u2019Monnie Bean, on the floor of the basement, authorities said. Bean was declared dead a short time later at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The sequence of events leading up to the killing remained unclear Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cBy all indications, she was being a two-year-old,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski told reporters. \u201cWhat could a two-year-old do to possibly deserve this? The answer is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n Authorities said Key\u2019Monnie died from injuries sustained during an assault and that her death has been classified as a homicide, though prosecutors are still awaiting a final report from the Medical Examiner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n Toczylowski said preliminary findings indicate that the girl\u2019s airway was compromised, meaning she could have been suffocated.<\/p>\n While investigators believe Key\u2019Monnie was killed Dec. 8, they are looking into the possibility that she was subjected to prior abuse, according to the DA\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n All four individuals who were inside the Beechwood Street home when she was found were brought into the PPD\u2019s homicide unit for questioning. Three of them \u2013 Sean Hernandez, Anthony Lowrie and Alycia McNeill \u2013 were arrested.<\/p>\n Hernandez, 21, also known as Raafi Gorham, was charged with murder, child endangerment and other offenses. Prosecutors said he was in a relationship with Key\u2019Monnie\u2019s mother \u2014 the only person in the home who has yet to be implicated criminally. Hernandez is not the child’s father.\u00a0<\/p>\n Court records show that Hernandez has a lengthy criminal history, and he was on probation at the time of the homicide for 2023 car theft case in Bucks County.<\/p>\n Hernandez is being held without bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 5. The Defender Association, which is representing him, did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Lowrie, 21, and McNeill, 20, were each charged with obstruction of justice and related offenses for their statements to officers at the scene.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the homicide unit took over and went through all this, it became apparent that the stories that were given initially were completely fabricated,\u201d Toczylowski said.<\/p>\n She added that Lowrie provided police with a bogus name. Though it was not mentioned at the DA\u2019s news conference Thursday, Lowrie, upon his arrest this week, was also charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, robbery and attempted murder, according to legal documents.<\/p>\n