Bond set for teen accused in death of West Carrollton infant

WEST CARROLLTON — A West Carrollton teen arrested and charged in the death of a 5-week-old girl in August made his first appearance in a Montgomery County courtroom Friday.

>>THURSDAY REPORT: Babysitter arrested after infant killed in West Carrollton

Charles Pulley III, 18, made an appearance after his arrest Thursday on charges of murder, felonious assault, endangering children, involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide.

Bond was set at $250,000 with his next court appearance scheduled for Feb. 8.

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Pulley is accused in the death of Averi Grabans who died at Dayton Children’s Hospital Aug. 23 from blunt force trauma to her head. Grabans’ death was ruled a homicide, according to Montgomery County Coroner Kent Harshbarger.

Pulley was located and arrested by West Carrollton police and the U.S. Marshal Service’s SOFAST Task Force Thursday, shortly after the charges were approved.

According to family members, Pulley was babysitting Grabans when she was hurt.

Grabans’ family released the following statement:

We recently heard of the arrest of the man the murdered our beautiful Averi Lynn Grabans. It’s been a long five months and we are so grateful justice can begin to be served. We would like to thank the West Carrolton police officers and Montgomery county prosecutors for working on getting justice for Averi. As you can assume, this is an emotional time for our family and we pray for God to control and comfort the situation our family and his during this hard process. We ask that you pray for justice for our beautiful Averi Lynn. Thank you for all your prayers, love and support during our hard times.

—  Averi Grabans Family

News Center 7′s Katy Andersen was in the courtroom during the hearing and is talking to family members today. We’ll update this story with new details as they become available.

Cox Media Group