A 3-year-old girl died last year. Now her mother's boyfriend is charged with killing her

Charlette Dawkins, 3, of Gloucester Township. (Provided)

The boyfriend of a woman whose 3-year-old daughter died in 2017 was charged Monday in connection with the girl's death.

Travis W. Graham, 22, of Gloucester Township, was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Charlette Dawkins was found unresponsive inside the Bittersweet Drive home she lived in with her mother and Graham on March 14, 2017.

Graham initially told investigators that, while he was caring for Charlette, she fell down the stairs and that he caught her before she hit the bottom of the steps, prosecutors said Tuesday. After she didn't wake up from a nap later that day, he drove her to the hospital.

When Graham spoke to detectives last month, however, his story changed.

While she was standing at the top of the stairs, refusing to take a nap, he admitted striking the child across the forehead with the back of his hand, knocking her down the steps, prosecutors stated.

Graham told investigators that he "backhanded" Charlette after she pinched him during the argument about taking a nap.

Graham said he hit her with such force that she "was spun around and fell down the steps face first," according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Charlette was unresponsive at the bottom of the stairs and had wet herself, Graham told authorities. He said he changed her soiled clothes and drove her to the hospital within five minutes of the fall.

Charlette Dawkins (Provided photos) 

The affidavit, however, includes text messages Graham apparently sent to Charlette's mother covering a three-hour time span between when he said she fell and when he said he was taking her to the emergency room.

At 12:38 p.m., he wrote: "lol nvm char just threw a hissy fit and dropped dead weight while walking up the stairs. I caught her but she banged her head."

At 1:35 p.m., he wrote: "her head is pretty bad with bruises."

At 3:26 p.m, he wrote: "Going to emergency room"

After Graham took Charlette to a hospital in Stratford, she was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where she was diagnosed with fixed and dilated pupils, which indicated a brain injury, multiple healing rib fractures and bruises on her forehead, chest, abdomen and legs.

She suffered cardiac arrest several times and was later diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury, according to the affidavit.

A doctor's evaluation concluded "the history, physical examination, and diagnostic studies are diagnostic of child physical abuse to a medical degree of certainty."

Bill Townsend, chief of detectives in the prosecutor's office, said at the end of July that charges against Graham were imminent after "promising developments in the Charlette Dawkins death investigation."

The medical examiner ruled Charlette's death a homicide earlier this month.

Graham is currently being held on charges related to several armed robberies. Prosecutors are expected to ask that he remained detained pending trial on the murder charge.

-- NJ Advance Media staff writers Alex Napoliello and Matt Gray contributed to this report.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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