06:44 PM EDT on Monday, July 24, 2006

By MARK BOONE / 6NEWS
E-mail Mark: MBoone@WCNC.COM

Marshall Crenshaw

The mother of an east Charlotte toddler says her roommate has confessed to killing her 19-month-old child.

Na’ziyah Lavon Miller was unresponsive when officers arrived at the Karen Court apartment at around 6:45 p.m. Friday, police said.

The child’s mother, Shantika Miller, said she was working at the Randolph Road Bojangles restaurant when she learned her daughter had been injured.

Miller, 20, says she had left Na’ziyah with her roommate, Marshall Crenshaw. Miller says Crenshaw claimed the child had fallen from a dining room chair and hit her head.

“She had a bruise on her face the size of a quarter and I knew something was not right with my little girl,” Miller said in an interview Monday afternoon.

Miller’s nine-month-old son was also in the apartment, but was not injured.

Miller says Crenshaw later changed his explanation for the child’s injuries. As police interviewed the two roommates Friday night, Miller says Crenshaw told detectives he was changing Na’ziyah’s diaper and grew angry with the toddler when she urinated on him.

Police would not confirm the confession Monday and declined to release details on the toddler’s death. Miller says doctors told her the girl died from suffocation.

Prison records show Crenshaw, 45, was convicted of a similar crime 20 years ago. Officials in Connecticut say Crenshaw was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was convicted of killing his 10-month-old daughter in April 1985. It is not clear when Crenshaw was released from prison.

Miller says she first met Crenshaw about three months ago, and he became a regular at the restaurant where she worked. Miller says Crenshaw seemed friendly and convinced her to move into his apartment.

“He didn’t try to show no signs of hatred towards my kids, at least in front of me, now when I was gone, I don’t know, don’t know,” Miller said, adding that she did not know of Crenshaw’s previous conviction.

Crenshaw made a brief appearance in court Monday afternoon. Wearing shackles and an orange jumpsuit, Crenshaw stared down at the floor for a few minutes before being addressed by the judge. Crenshaw has asked for a public defender to represent him in court. He is in the Mecklenburg County Jail and will be held without bond until a hearing on August 7.