TARYN BUCKMAN - 4 yo/ Accused: Mother-Ashley Buckman - Phoenix AZ

The woman who lived next door to a Phoenix couple accused of an
egregious case of child abuse claims she heard slamming on the walls of
the apartment on a nightly basis.

“I heard slamming on the walls, high up, almost like they were throwing that girl,” Jo Portillo said.

Although Portillo said she never saw any signs of child abuse on
4-year-old Taryn Buckman, she broke down in tears thinking that maybe
she had heard the child being abused.

The little girl died at Phoenix Children's Hospital after being brutally beaten over a six-day period.

According to police documents, the child had cuts, bruises, burns, fractured ribs and pieces of flesh missing from her body.

She arrived at the hospital unconscious and was reported brain dead before eventually succumbing to her injuries.

Taryn's mother, Ashley Buckman, and her boyfriend, James Edwards, are
now the focus of a homicide investigation, according to Phoenix police.

The couple appeared in court early Friday morning on initial charges of child abuse and failure to protect a child.

Buckman proclaimed her innocence.

“If I show my attorney proof of evidence that I was not the cause of
that, will that help me out?” she asked the judge. “I have threats on my
phone from the person who did it.”

Buckman and Edwards have a 5-month old daughter together. That child is currently in CPS custody.

Buckman and Edwards remain in the Lower Buckeye Jail.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Neighbor-of-abused-child-claims-she-heard-slamming-on-walls-156474965.html

Phoenix police say a girl who was found with bruises and whip marks on her body has died.

Police
said Friday 4-year-old Toryn Buckman died at a hospital from injuries
suffered when her mother, 22-year-old Ashley Buckman, allegedly hit her.

Phoenix
Fire Department personnel responded to an apartment for a medical call
about 8 p.m. Wednesday of a child not breathing. They say the girl, who
also had scald marks on her lower body, was a victim of abuse.

Detectives arrested Buckman and her live-in boyfriend, 22-year-old James Edwards, on child abuse charges.

http://www.trivalleycentral.com/articles/2012/06/02/front/doc4fca53dc963b0205565932.txt