A Reno father is accused of beating his 5-year-old daughter, who was found dead with bruising on her face, pelvis, hips, arms and genitals.
Nicholas Loving, 35, has been charged with child abuse resulting in substantial bodily harm, a felony.
On April 4, first responders found the unresponsive girl on a crib-sized mattress on the floor of a five-bedroom home in Cold Springs, according to court documents.
The responders found the girl had "oral trauma and apparent bruises, cuts, scabs and scraps to arms, legs, torso and face including one black eye and a gash over her other eye," according to a report by Washoe County Sheriff's Detective Joe Aceves.
The girl "had over 10 separate injuries, easily seen on her face alone," the report said.
Aceves wrote that Loving told investigators he never hit his daughter and she was prone to falling. Loving said his daughter had fallen out of his truck twice as he explained some of the injuries.
The detective noted Loving's story changed when he was asked to repeat it.
Loving also said the girl had been sick for nine to 10 days and had been coughing up blood and mucus, according to court records. The family told the detective they were waiting until day 12 to take her to a doctor.
Loving told police he sometimes kept the girl locked in a 5-by-5-foot cubby.
His wife, Andrea Loving, told police the girl was sometimes locked in there as punishment for things such as stealing candy from her parents' room.
The couple said they waited hours to call for help after the girl was found dead because they had recently been part of a Child Protective Services investigation, court documents said.
According to the detective's report, Andrea Loving acknowledged seeing her husband kick the girl's genitals and carrying her by the hood or collar of her sweatshirt. She said that five days before the girl's death, she heard her husband yelling and then a loud thud against the wall as if he had thrown the child, court documents said.
"I should go to jail for not helping her and Nick should go to jail for killing her," Andrea Loving said, according to court documents.
Izabella has four siblings who witnessed their sister being abused and tortured.
