Feds join manhunt for couple after girl, 4, found dead with "severe burns"

SUMPTER TWP., Mich. -- Federal authorities are joining police in southern Michigan in the search for a couple after a 4-year-old girl was found dead New Year's Day with "severe burns."

24-year-old Candice Renea Diaz, the child's mother, as well as Diaz's boyfriend, 28-year-old Brad Edward Fields, are charged in an arrest warrant approved by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office with murder, child abuse and torture, reports CBS Detroit. It's unclear whether Fields is the child's father.

According to Sumpter Township police, officers responded around 10:45 a.m. Jan. 1 to a report of an unresponsive 4-year-old girl at a residence in a Sumpter Township mobile home community.

Upon arrival, CPR was being administered by family members and officers found the child suffering from what police described as "severe burns about her extremities," the station reports.

The child was transported to an Ann Arbor hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The death was ruled a homicide two days later by the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner, according to police, with evidence of multiple traumatic injuries indicating child abuse.

Photos of the two fugitives and a suspect vehicle were released by authorities on Monday. Police say they are believed to be driving a black 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier with Michigan plates DTR1854.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the U.S. Marshal Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team's 24-hour hotline at 313-234-5656 or the Sumpter Township police at 734-461-4833 ext. 305.