Woman Admitted To Losing Her Temper And Hitting A Child Until She Died. Now, She Learns Her Prison Fate.

She says she lost her temper and "kept hitting" her daughter until she died. Now, she's set to spend nearly two decades in prison.

Ciashia Lee, 31, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was sentenced June 24 to 18 years in prison for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, according to the Pioneer Press. Lee was arrested on suspicion murder in connection to the toddler's death on Jan. 10, 2021.

Lee pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony leading to the death of Melody Vang. As part of the plea deal, a charge of first-degree murder-with a pattern of child abuse was dropped, the Pioneer Press reported.

According to an incident report, police went to a home on the 1000 block of 3rd Street in St. Paul around 2:30 a.m. Jan. 10, 2021. Vang's father, John Vang, told police he though his daughter was dead on the back porch, according to KSTP.

According to the Pioneer Press, officers found Melody Vang's body on the back porch of the Dayton's Bluff home, and she was wearing only a diaper and was wrapped in bedding and a rug.

The Pioneer Press reports that the child had several large bruises on her face body and “cuts and scratches on a significant portion of her body,” according to the police report.

Lee told police that she punched her daughter "too many times because the girl wouldn't stop crying," the Pioneer Press reported. “Lee also said she put her hand over the girl’s mouth to stop her from crying, but it didn’t work so she continued to hit the girl out of anger. Lee eventually picked up the girl, hit her some more, and took her to a ‘time out’ closet," the criminal complaint states.

John Vang pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment and on March 25 was sentenced to 240 days in prison for his involvement, according to the Pioneer Press.

Lee told police that John Vang didn't witness the deadly event but said that she had seen him hit her in the past.