The mother of a three year-old little girl who was brutally murdered by her boyfriend was sentenced to prison on Monday.  Kayla Leann Medckie, 26 of Rome, was sentenced to 10 years, with 4 to serve, after pleading guilty to second degree cruelty to children.

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Kayla Medckie, the mother of 3 year-old Ella Camp, pleaded guilty to second degree cruelty to children in Floyd County Superior Court Thursday morning.

Little Ella was beaten to death by Medckie’s boyfriend David Zachary Gresham back in 2013.

Medckie made an open plea, meaning that it comes without a negotiated deal with the D.A.’s office.  However, the plea, called an Alford plea, comes with her not admitting guilt to the crime.

Sentencing has been tentatively set for July 5.

According to reports, the tragic events in Ella’s life began in 2013 when the child told her grandmother that Gresham had touched her inappropriately.  The following day the couple stopped at a gas station on Shorter Avenue. It was there, while Medckie was paying for gas, Gresham started beating Ella as she was restrained in a car seat.

The child was later taken to Floyd Medical Center and then flown to Scottish Rite Hospital where she died two days later.

Gresham pleaded guilty in 2016 to murder, cruelty to children and assault. He was sentenced to life without parole.

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According to reports, the mother of a 3 year-old little girl that was killed by her boyfriend has been indicted by a Floyd County grand jury.  Reports said that Kayla Leann Medckie was indicted Friday for cruelty to children for the role she played in her daughter Ella’s death back in 2013.

Police said that Medckie placed her daughter in the care of David Zachary Gresham, who had been previously accused of inappropriately touching her.

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David Zachary Gresham, 23 of Rome, was sentenced to life without parole Monday after pleading guilty to murdering 3 year-old Ella Camp.  Gresham pleaded guilty to malice murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and cruelty to children.

David Zachary Gresham

Reports said that on September 17, 2013 Gresham took the child, who was unresponsive and with massive head trauma, to Floyd Medical Center several hours after being placed in his care by his mother, Kayla Medckie.

Gresham was arrested a day later and the child succumbed to injuries on September 19, 2013.

Medckie was also arrested and charged with second-degree child cruelty.

Reports stated that Medckie was criminally negligent when she put Ella under her then boyfriend’s supervision after she had confronted him about allegedly abusing the child. She was charged with cruelty to children in the second degree.

Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson said that a mental evaluation on Gresham was not completed until this past March, and was not able to talk with him until that was finished.

“We are happy to bring the first part of the case to a close for the family,” Patterson said.

“We attempted to get Gresham to testify against the mother, once it became clear that he would not, the family wanted to go ahead and seek life without parole.”

Patterson added, “We had a witness that lived near the Gresham and Medckie family that told city detectives that she saw the gas station that the couple stopped at on the day the child was injured.  A review of security footage revealed Gresham punching the child so hard in her car seat the car was shaking.”

Patterson went on to say that the mother had gone inside the store as Gresham was beating the child.