Before dumping corpse in trash, mom smothered young daughter with pillow, cops say

Before dumping the body in a trash bin, a South Miami-Dade woman used a pillow to fatally smother her 4-year-old daughter on Halloween night after “hearing the girl talk back to her,” police said Monday.

Tina Farrington, 31, was booked into a Miami-Dade jail on a first-degree murder charge early Monday for the death of daughter Tania Paige.

After killing Tania, the mother hid the corpse in the trunk of her Nissan Altima for several days, according to a police arrest report Monday. She later moved the body to a commercial trash bin at her apartment complex, where it remained for about 14 hours, police said.

A man throwing out garbage on Sunday afternoon discovered Tania’s decomposing body inside the trash bin at the Tuscany Place complex, 25470 SW 137th Ave. The bin, which was in the same complex where Tania and her mother lived, was towed away by police to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office.

“The defendant provided a detailed confession,” Miami-Dade Detective Rich Raphael wrote in his arrest report.

An autopsy is being conducted to determine Tania’s cause of death.

The police report suggests that Tania had long been the victim of abuse — bruises were discovered on the girl’s arms, legs and torso.

“Anything involving a child is always going to be difficult,” said Miami-Dade police spokesman Argemis Colome. “This hits everybody.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2017 at 8:36 AM with the headline "Before dumping corpse in trash, mom smothered young daughter with pillow, cops say."