Indiana man gets 35 years in the death of his ex's daughter

BLUFFTON, Ind. (AP) - A northeastern Indiana man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty in the death of his former girlfriend's 18-month-old daughter.

Brent C. Scheiber, 27, had been charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and aggravated battery in the January 2019 death of Kamryn Price. But he pleaded guilty in December to the aggravated battery charge as part of an agreement under which prosecutors dismissed the other charges.

A Wells County judge sentenced the Ossian man on Thursday. Scheiber was the live-in boyfriend of the girl's mother and often took care of the child, who was found unresponsive in her mother's Ossian home.

He told investigators that after he put the girl in her crib, he heard a noise coming from her room and found her face-down on the floor, according to court documents. Scheiber said she was limp and her eyes rolled back in her head when he picked her up. She died five days later.

Relatives, doctors and police said it was unlikely that Kamryn would have tried to climb from the crib, and Scheiber admitted as part of the plea agreement that he knowingly inflicted an injury that caused her death.

He has not said what he did to cause the child's injuries, including bleeding on the brain.