MIDDLETOWN — A 27-year-old man was charged Wednesday with aggravated murder in the death of a 3-year-old girl. Kevin Charles Miles, identified as the mother's boyfriend, and the girl's mother also were charged with felony child endangering.

Miles

        Butler County authorities said the mother, Tiana Centers, 20, had been participating in an intensive program to help with parenting and life skills and had been visited repeatedly by caseworkers. There had been no signs that the child, Courtney Centers, who died Tuesday evening from internal bleeding, was in imminent danger, a county agency spokesman said.

        “We weren't seeing any unusual problems,” Bob Walker, spokesman for the Butler County Children Services Board, said Wednesday. “As far as what happened, we don't know.”

        Mr. Miles lived in Woodlawn but spent a lot of time in the child's home in the 4700 block of Freedom Court, authorities said.

        Paramedics found the girl unresponsive there Tuesday evening; she was pronounced dead on arrival at Middletown Regional Hospital.

        Ms. Centers was expected to appear in court today.

        Her other child, Emily, 20 months, was placed with a relative, said Middletown Police Maj. Mike Bruck.

        Police filed the charges Wednesday after Butler County Coroner Dr. Richard P. Burkhardt ruled Courtney's death a homicide. He said she died from internal bleeding caused by a traumatic injury: a 2-inch laceration in her liver.

        Mr. Miles is being held in the Middletown City Jail on a $1 million bond awaiting a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Municipal Court.

        Children Services said Ms. Centers, who couldn't be reached for comment, had previously placed her daughters in relatives' care because she was having difficulty handling them. But she took them back around June. Caseworkers visited and everything seemed fine, said Mr. Walker, the agency's spokesman.

        Ms. Centers had “signed up and was cooperating” with the Children Services Board's family preservation program, Mr. Walker said.

        The program provides intense counseling, parenting advice, housekeeping help and stress management for parents who feel overwhelmed. Mr. Walker said caseworkers visited the family nine times between Nov. 6 and Nov. 20, and had last visited Dec. 13.

        “There was no indication of any serious abuse or imminent danger,” he said. “But you can never predict human behavior.”

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