Minnesota Daycare Owner Admits to Attempted Murder of Toddler

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis daycare owner has pleaded guilty to trying to kill a toddler in her home.

Forty-three-year-old Nataliia Karia entered the plea to attempted murder and third-degree assault. She also pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular operation of a vehicle for hitting a pedestrian, a bicyclist, and another driver as she fled from her home in a minivan.

The criminal complaint says a father was dropping off his son at the home in November 2016 when Karia led him toward the basement, where he saw the toddler hanging from a noose. He released the child and fled with him. The 16-month-old boy survived.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Karia told a judge Thursday she had been struggling with mental health issues in the weeks before the incident.