The Latest: Attorney raises uncertainty about baby’s killing

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Latest on the death of a 1-year-old girl on Montana’s Fort Peck Indian Reservation (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

The lawyer for a woman accused of beating to death a baby under her care on a Montana American Indian reservation says it’s unclear if her client intentionally killed the 13-month-old girl.

Attorney Mary Zemyan represents 42-year-old Janelle Red Dog, who appeared in court Friday in connection with Kenzley Olson’s Tuesday death on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

No charges have yet been filed.

Zemyan says Red Dog admitted to law enforcement that she struck Kenzley, but only an autopsy would determine if that’s what caused her death.

She says her client became scared after Kenzley died, and she disposed of the body in a dumpster before reporting to authorities that the girl was missing.

Zemyan says Red Dog had been caring for Kenzley for two weeks at the request of the girl’s mother.

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2:50 p.m.

The leader of two American Indian tribes says the alleged beating death of a 1-year-old girl and the recent kidnapping of a second child reflect a rising drug epidemic that his Montana reservation has failed to address.

Fort Peck Tribal Chairman Floyd Azure says the community at large must be held accountable for this week’s death of Kenzley Olson.

Forty-two-year-old Janelle Red Dog was ordered held without bond Friday in connection with Kenzley’s death. An investigator testified that Red Dog confessed to the killing.

Limited details have been released on Kenzley’s death and the February kidnapping and sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl. Investigators haven’t publicly linked them to drugs, but Azure told The Associated Press the use of methamphetamine was at the root of both crimes.

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10:30 a.m.

A federal investigator says a woman beat to death a 1-year-old girl on a Montana Indian reservation and threw the baby’s body into a dumpster.

Forty-two-year-old Janelle Red Dog appeared in Fort Peck Tribal Court on Friday in the death of Kenzley Olson. Court officials say she didn’t enter a plea and was returned to custody.

KTMF-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1VH42wl ) Bureau of Indian Affairs investigator Ken Trottier says Red Dog confessed to punching Kenzley several times on Tuesday, killing her. She then put the girl’s body into a duffel bag and threw it in a dumpster.

Trottier says Red Dog reported Kenzley missing, prompting authorities in Montana and North Dakota to issue an alert for a kidnapped child. The relation between Red Dog and the girl is uncertain.

Red Dog’s attorney, Mary Zemyan, didn’t immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

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2 a.m.

A suspect is scheduled to appear in tribal court Friday in the death of a 1-year-old girl on Montana’s Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

But much remains unknown in the case. Citing the ongoing investigation, authorities have declined to identify the 42-year-old female suspect or say what charges she faces. They also wouldn’t say how Kenzley Olson died or whether the woman and baby were related.

Authorities initially said Kenzley was abducted from her home this week in the small town of Poplar. The girl was found dead Wednesday.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Yi Barker couldn’t confirm whether authorities still believe she was kidnapped.

It was the second major event in recent weeks to rattle residents of the sparsely populated reservation near the U.S.-Canada border. Authorities say in February, a 4-year-old was abducted from a Wolf Point park by a man who sexually assaulted and tried to kill her.