US: 21-month-old battles cancer, only to be beaten to death by jealous father

Police said that the accused first killed the toddler and then burnt her body in a fire pit.

New York

: A New York man has been arrested on charges of beating his 21-month-old daughter to death with a wooden baseball bat, before burning her body and dumping the remains in a waterway.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the accused identified as Ryan Lawrence, pleaded guilty to first degree murder at the Onondaga County court. The toddler's burnt body was found by police divers 36 hours after the crime.

Police said that Lawrence first killed the toddler and then burnt her body in a fire pit. The accused then used a heavy concrete block to tie the toddler's remains with it and dumped it in the Onondaga creek in Syracuse.

The toddler's mother said that her husband was supposed to pick her up from her job, but instead he left the car keys at the parking lot. When she returned home from work, she came across a note that indicated that her husband might harm their daughter.

Following the incident, she called police. After Lawrence failed to return home with the toddler, an alert was issued by the cops. 36 hours later, police divers came across the remains of the little one.

The victim's mother said that her daughter had recently battled eye cancer, only to be beaten to death by her father.

Lawrence was arrested after he was spotted at a shop, 10 miles away from Syracuse. He confessed to the crime soon after and was produced before the Onondaga County court.

While the case was under trial in the court, prosecutors said that Lawrence's statements point towards a sense of jealousy as his daughter received more attention than him, especially after she battled cancer.

Lawrence will be sentenced to 25 years in prison during the next hearing of the case.