Mother: Toddler killed over soiled diaper

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.


I dont understand why this man was aloud around any child after already Killed one poor baby. This just makes me so sick . I cant understand how anyone can hurt a poor inoscent child.

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That is soo sad and horrible

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I just found this ...
LYTTLE AND CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR. / The Charlotte Observer



A 45-year-old man who served time in a Connecticut prison for suffocating his daughter more than two decades ago is in a Charlotte jail, charged with murder in the death Friday of his girlfriend's 19-month-old daughter.

Marshall Vann Crenshaw Jr. is being held without bond, charged with killing Na'ziyah Lavon Miller.

Police say Crenshaw was not Na'ziyah's biological father, but lived with the child and her mother in their east Charlotte apartment.

Police have not released the name of the victim's mother, nor any details of the toddler's death.

Crenshaw, known to friends and family as Vann, was found guilty of murder 20 years ago in the April 1985 death of his 10-month-old daughter, Dale-Lyn, in Manchester, Conn. Court records show he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

It was not clear Saturday when Crenshaw was released. Reporters at the Hartford (Conn.) Courant, which covered Crenshaw's 1985 trial, said Connecticut officials indicated he was released in 2001. But a friend of the family said she thought it was about a year ago.

A story in the Hartford newspaper from the trial reported that several police officers who interviewed Crenshaw said he confessed to the killing and told them he wanted his life to be the way it was before his daughter was born.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they received a call about 6:40 p.m. Friday about "an unresponsive baby" at Karen Court Apartments, off Monroe Road. Na'ziyah was pronounced dead at the scene, police say.

The child, her mother and Crenshaw lived in a bottom-floor apartment in the rear of a two-story building. Potted flowers decorated the porch of the apartment, which appeared to be unoccupied Saturday.

Neighbors say they rarely saw Na'ziyah or her mother, but they occasionally saw Crenshaw on the porch.

"Sometimes when I walked my dog, I would see him (Crenshaw) sitting there," said a neighbor who identified herself only as Tina. "He was friendly enough, but he also seemed a bit odd. It was the way he looked at people -- it was a bit strange."

She said she sometimes saw the child. "She would be near the apartment, playing with toys," Tina said. "She seemed happy."

Another neighbor, who also declined to give her name, said she occasionally saw parties at the apartment.

"He seemed like a nice guy," the woman said of Crenshaw. "I didn't see much of the little girl or her mother. This is simply unbelievable."

Crenshaw's family members in Charlotte contacted by the Observer on Saturday would not talk about the case.

One woman who said she was close to the suspect's family said Crenshaw had an anger problem.

"He was a frightening person," the woman said. "When he was growing up, people tried to convince his family to get help for him. He was capable of violence."

The woman then broke into tears. "When I heard the news this morning, it made me sick to my stomach," she said.

The woman said Crenshaw spent many of his teen years living with his mother in Cabarrus County but moved to Charlotte when he was about 17 to live with his father. She is not sure when he moved to Connecticut.

A 1993 Courant account of Dale-Lyn's death reported that Crenshaw's daughter suffered a broken arm when she was 7 weeks old. Crenshaw said the injury happened when he tripped over the family cat while holding the baby. In the same article, the baby's mother, Susan Lard, said she was confused because X-rays appeared to show the arm was twisted.

A short time later, Connecticut child-welfare workers moved the girl to a foster home for two months, then decided it was safe to return her to her parents. The baby died about five months later.

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Because people make stupid decisions. To move in with someone you barely know? Even if it was platonic? When you have two little kids? She did it, I'm sure, out of necessity, but it was stupid.

And him -- he sounds like a predator of sorts. Deliberately zooming in on a woman with little kids. Convincing her to move in so that he has access to the kids. Who the #### knows what he was doing while she was gone.

This chick needs to keep her legs closed and concentrate on building a life for herself and her son. And him… the state of NC better not make the mistake again of releasing him early -- or ever.

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Thats why you have to be careful of who watches you kids. The article said the mom only knew they guy as being a regular at a restaurant and after 3 months of knowing him moved into his apt! I would never danger my son to that. Turns out she moved in with a murderer. So sad.

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What is wrong with people? These poor babies just need love and few simple basics.

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This is why my children stay with me at all times . i have a hard time leaving them with my own mother much less a stranger. My nerves was shot tyler first day of school ... I know i will be the same all over again this year... This is soo sad My eyes are all watery now . ppl say i baby my children and i need to let go , well id rather baby them than to let something like this happen so i will suck up their insults andsmile cause i know my babies will be safe

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very sad... you hear more and more of this crap. he was a stranger and she moved her kids in with him what in the world are people thinking these days...

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This is exactly how I am. I cannot leave my daughter with anyone besides my mother, and I have to tell her a zillion times directions - and "just in cases". I have only left my daughter with my Brother once, out of nessicity, but I won't do that anymore because she cries whenever he looks at her now. My friends think I am way overprotective, but you cannot be too careful. You just can't with kids. That isn't to say that you mothers who do leave your children with an alternate care provider are not protective, it just hasn't been my choice to do it this way. When I read these type of articles - I'm glad I do.

I can't judge this lady, but I know that I can't imagine putting my children in the same home with someone I barely knew.

I will never understand how people can invite strangers into their lives when they have children. I have read so many stories like this. It just makes me ill. I know it must be very hard to be a single mother and trying to meet someone, but some common sense should be used. She only knew this guy for 3 months before she moved him in and left him alone with her children. It's infuriating and so sad.

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