MIAMI – A report by the Department of Children and Families found an allegation of child abuse against a South Florida father to be unfounded.
The report was obtained by Local 10 News several weeks after the mother of the children was charged with murdering her 4-year-old daughter.
Court records show that Leon Paige and his daughter's mother, Tina Farrington, 31, were embroiled in a legal dispute after Farrington accused the officer of abusing their 2-year-old son in June.
Farrington filed a restraining order against Paige after the alleged incident, claiming that he beat their son with a belt and sent him to day care with knots on his head.
She also claimed that Tania Paige had scratches on her face that were from her father.
The Florida Department of Children and Families opened an investigation, but found no signs of abuse.
"The child was very timid at the beginning of the interview, but after a minute or two she began to converse... The child did not mention that the father has done anything to her in order for her to be afraid of the father," the report states.
Paige was not arrested. Police said Farrington admitted to suffocating the Paige with a pillow because she talked back to her. According to investigators, she placed the body in the trunk of car and later moved to it a dumpster at the apartment complex where she lived.
The girl's brother is now in the custody of relatives.