Dad sends text threatening to kill toddler, then she’s found beaten, UT officials say

A 3-year-old’s parents have been charged with three felonies after being accused of child abuse, Utah officials said.

On June 28, Sandy officers responded to a home and were led downstairs by the girl’s 29-year-old mom, later identified as Amber Lee Leary, according to a news release by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

The child was breathing but not moving or speaking and had no eye movement, prosecutors said.

She had gone to the bathroom in the corner earlier that morning, and her mom and dad, later identified as Tyrel Scott Belone, 28, woke up to clean it, officials said.

Leary was leaving for work around 5:30 a.m., when Belone picked up his daughter and “threw her on the mattress, where she ricocheted, and hit her head and face on the wall,” officials said.

Although Belone said he checked on her and said she was “fine,” she was not “really responding,” prosecutors said.

Leary left for work but got threatening texts from Belone, saying she needed to come home, according to a criminal complaint.

Texts between the two revealed Belone told Leary, “I’m going to murder her” and that he was “going to break her nose” and “crack her skull,” court documents said.

When Leary got home, she saw her daughter with her “eyes bruised and swollen shut,” officials said.

Leary eventually FaceTimed Belone’s mom, a nurse practitioner, who advised that the toddler be taken to the hospital, officials said.

Leary later told officers that Belone didn’t allow her to call 911, saying, “If you call, I’ll go to jail, you don’t have any money, you don’t have any friends,” to which she asked him, “What if she dies?”

Belone replied, “She’ll be fine,” officials said.

Leary told Belone that she was going outside to “have a smoke” and called 911, officials said.

An investigation revealed, Belone had spanked the girl four or five times with an open hand, hit her, and punched her in the temple, officials said.

Leary and Belone were charged with attempted aggravated murder, aggravated child abuse and child torture, prosecutors said.

Sandy is about a 20-mile drive south from Salt Lake City.

This story was originally published July 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Dad sends text threatening to kill toddler, then she’s found beaten, UT officials say."