CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – The case involving a convicted sex offender accused of killing a two-year-old girl is going to the grand jury.

35-year-old Harvion Simpkins went before a judge Tuesday. It was for a preliminary hearing, where the commonwealth had to prove probable cause. It’s a lower burden than beyond a reasonable doubt.

The commonwealth presented evidence in court, including body camera footage and testimony from the little girl’s mother.

Under oath, the toddler’s mother, Tiesha Burton, said she dropped her daughters off with Simpkins and his mom so she could go to work. It was part of her regular routine.

Burton said her daughter was acting like her “normal self.”

Ms. Simpkins agreed. She said the little girl was “smiling, happy … she was always happy.”

Burton recalls getting a FaceTime call from Simpkins around 7 p.m. He showed her the two girls. She remembers seeing the 2-year-old playing with her sister.

She said two hours later, they got into an argument. Burton said before she left work, she had gotten threatening text messages from Simpkins.

“I felt threatened,” she said in court.

Ms. Simpkins told the judge she got a call around 8 p.m. from Burton asking her to pick the kids up. She told the toddler’s mother she was heading to work and couldn’t grab the kids. Ms. Simpkins advised her to ask her boss to leave work early.

Ms. Simpkins described Burton as “very agitated” and mad at Simpkins. She told the judge the pair always had arguments about everything.

Burton decided to call police and asked for help getting her kids and her belongings from a their shared hotel room in Greenbrier.

Officers arrived and activated their body cameras.

In the video, you can hear the little girl crying. You could also hear fighting and yelling from the adults. At one point, you can hear Simpkins’ frustration about Burton calling the police.

She told him, “I’m not coming up here by myself.”

Burton describes how the two-year-old was upset.

“I was dressing her and she was like crying,” Burton said.

She recalls her daughter being upset, saying, “Mommy, mommy, mommy.”

Burton told the court every time she touched the little girl, she was in pain.

She got all her stuff and left the hotel room. Burton said she didn’t find any visible marking on her daughter, but decided to go to the hospital around 1 a.m.

Sadly, the little girl passed away hours later.

A Chesapeake homicide detective took the stand. He said he responded to room 239 of the Chesapeake hotel around 1 p.m. on March 29.

He said he was collecting evidence and had a search warrant.

The detective said he found “several indicators of red staining.” He said it was consistent with blood. It was on a pack-and-play, a large white t-shirt and tissues in the trash.

The detective said he interviewed Simpkins. Simpkins explained to the detective that he picked the two kids up from his mother’s house. He said she was acting normal but had an injury on her face and trouble standing. Simpkins told the detective he saw a wound and pressed on it. That’s when the little girl screamed.

Simpkins’ defense asked the detective about the tissues found. The detective agreed that Simpkins told him the little girl fell and busted her lip. It was bleeding and he said he used tissues to wipe the blood.

Simpkins denied harming the two-year-old.

A judge ultimately decided there was probable cause that a felony occurred. The case will be sent to the grand jury, where the panel will determine whether or not to indict Simpkins.

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