A man in prison for killing his 3-year-old daughter died Thursday night in the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla.
The Oregon medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.
David Gene Elliott, Jr., 36, had been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for the death of Aniya Zamora. Aniya’s mother, whose mother was Elliott’s girlfriend, was left alone in a bathtub in April 2013.
The medical examiner said she died of cerebral anoxia due to near drowning after blunt force abdominal trauma. Elliott admitted kicking Aniya in the stomach and assaulting the girl’s brother.
He pleaded guilty to murder by abuse and two counts of assault in the third degree.
Aniya’s mother, Mercedes Alvarado, who was home at the time Aniya was in the bathtub but was wearing noise canceling headphones, was convicted of manslaughter in June 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
