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Police find toddler, with DC ties, dead in Virginia Beach hotel room

DC Police say the two-year-old girl was found in the same room as her mother. Virginia Beach police are investigating the incident.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Police say a two-year-old girl, with D.C. connections, was found dead in a Virginia Beach Oceanfront hotel room Monday morning. 

The Virginia Beach Police Department said it discovered a young girl’s body in a hotel room in the 3600 block of Atlantic Avenue, in the Oceanfront area of the city, around 3:30 am. Police said they also found a woman, Leandra Andrade, of D.C., in that same room suffering from a medical emergency. 

The Metropolitan Police Department revealed Tuesday that the deceased girl was Andrade’s daughter. Virginia Beach police have still not commented on a familial connection. The girl’s name and cause of death have not been revealed by either police department. 

Virginia Beach authorities did say they are investigating the incident as a “suspicious death”. 

Court documents filed in D.C. Superior Court Friday show a judge had just awarded Andrade’s partner temporary legal custody of their daughter following a court hearing earlier that week.

However, Leandra Andrade, who was listed as the defendant in the case, still received joint physical custody of the child with her partner. 

“The court reiterates that this temporary custody order, issued following the pendente lite evidentiary hearing, is temporary and will be revisited as the case progresses,” the court document reads. 

Divorce attorney Reza Golesorkhi represented Leandra Andrade during those custody proceedings. He said he has not had any contact with Andrade or her family since the court hearing last week. 

However, Golesorkhi added that he and others were aware Andrade was to have physical custody of the couple’s daughter last weekend. 

MPD confirmed the Virginia Beach case and the DC court proceedings are linked. An MPD spokesperson added that Andrade had not been since Friday. 

MPD also said no Amber Alert was issued for Andrade’s child because there was no known, immediate threat posed to the girl at the time she left with her mother. The department said the girl was also not reported missing. 

D.C. authorities did become involved in the case, however, after a friend of Andrade’s contacted the department about concerning posts Andrade had made on social media. 

Shortly after, MPD determined Andrade had traveled south to Virginia Beach. MPD said it then alerted police officers in Virginia Beach to Andrade’s whereabouts. 

The Virginia Department of Health’s medical examiner told WUSA9’s sister media outlet, WVEC 13 News Now, that their office is conducting an autopsy of Andrade’s daughter and will provide a report to investigators once it is done. 

MPD said the Virginia Beach Police Department will handle the criminal side of the investigation as to what happened in the Oceanfront hotel room. 

Neither the Virginia Beach Police Department nor the divorce attorney representing Andrade’s husband have responded to WUSA9’s request for comment. 

No charges have been filed in the case. 

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