10-month-old girl dies after alleged sex assault

JACKSON COUNTY, WV (KTRK) -- In a horrific turn of events, a 10-month-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by her mom's boyfriend has died.

Now little Emmaleigh's family is left to make funeral arrangements for a child they will remember as the "most pleasant baby in the world."

The Adkins family calls alleged murderer Benjamin Taylor a monster. He has been charged in the child's death after police say he sexually assaulted her inside their family home.

On Monday, Emmaleigh's mother discovered her daughter's bloody and swollen body on the basement floor and called 911, WSAZ-TV reports.

The innocent baby fought for her life. On Wednesday, the child took her final breath in the arms of her distraught mother.

The Jackson County Sheriff's office says it is still investigating, but so far it does not appear that the victim's siblings were harmed by Taylor.

Sheriff Tony Boggs also says their mother is not accused of any wrongdoing.

It's hard to explain why this has happened, says Danielle Adkins, cousin of the victim's mother.

"Now that she is gone, you can't help but just be angry," Adkins says.

She says Benjamin Taylor swept her cousin off her feet, and says he did a lot with her cousin's children.

Now, the family is left to pick up the pieces as they search for answers and meaning in this terrible tragedy.

"She will never go home with her brothers and sisters again," Adkins says. "She's never going to be at a family event. We are never going to know what her kids are going to look like or see her graduate high school or any of those normal life things because of this monster."