Former NFL player charged with murdering girlfriend’s five-year-old daughter

A former NFL player and his girlfriend have been charged with the murder of the woman’s five-year-old daughter.

Cierre Wood, 28, and Amy Taylor, 25, faced a US court yesterday over the horrific death of La'Rayah Davis on April 9.

The Las Vegas judge, Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, expressed shock at the severity of La’Rayah’s injuries.

"Once you've seen them, you can't ever unsee them," she said of images of the girl, which have not been made public.

The judge said La’Rayah appeared to suffer "injuries consistent with extreme abuse" including a lacerated liver, broken ribs and "severe injuries from the child's forehead to the child's about mid-thighs."

Prosecutor Michelle Jobe said La'Rayah died with internal injuries to her lungs and diaphragm.

Ms Jobe also cited in court Taylor's statement to police that she sat on the girl while disciplining her about a week before her death.

Paramedics reported finding the girl unresponsive at Wood's apartment, where Taylor, a certified nurse's aide, and the girl moved in after Taylor and Wood began dating late last year.

La'Rayah was pronounced dead at Summerlin Hospital Medical Centre.

The Clark County coroner ruled she died of multiple injuries and ruled her death a homicide.

Taylor told detectives that she and Wood were the only two people who could have killed the child, "so it had to be one of us," according to a police report.

Wood told investigators he spanked the girl once when she misbehaved, but Taylor disapproved so he adopted exercise as discipline. He called it "learning through fun".

He told detectives he had La'Rayah do sit-ups and other exercises including running sprints in their apartment, and that the day she died La'Rayah fell backward while doing sit-ups and hit her head on the carpeted floor.

Wood played football for Notre Dame before stints with Houston, New England and Buffalo in the NFL and Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League.

Taylor told police she was at a grocery store at the time.

Taylor’s court-appointed public defender said her client was “innocent until proven otherwise”, while Wood’s lawyer said the former NFL player maintained his innocence.

Dozens of people gathered at a memorial service in California over the weekend to honour La'Rayah.

“Anytime you take her anywhere, she’d just bring joy. Joy to the party, just make people smile,” family friend Michael Cambin told KSNV in the US.

Family members said La'Rayah split her time between Nevada, where her mum lives, and California, where her dad Danaun Davis lives.

“She had so many people that she touched, and she's only five. Her not to be alive and how much life she had. That's the tragic thing about it,” Mr Davis said about his daughter.

“She can't be there no more. I can't call her no more. Never thought I'd bury my child at five years old.”