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Dad, stepmom charged with killing girl, 5

HAMPTON ROADS, Va., June 14 (UPI) -- The grandfather of a 5-year-old girl whose father and stepmother are charged in Virginia with killing her says he cared for her until her father got custody.

"They had a court order for me to return her," Robert Kimery of Louisiana told The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot. "We took her back and he stated that we would never see her again."

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Joshua Sawyer, 24, and his wife, Brandy, 23, were arrested Friday night, the day after Carly Sawyer's death. Both are charged with felony child neglect, while Brandy Sawyer faces a first-degree murder charge and her husband second-degree murder.

Paramedics found Carly unresponsive Wednesday at the family's home in Hampton Roads. A medical examiner found she died from blunt force trauma, but he also found signs of starvation and medical neglect.

Kimery said a judge in Jacksonville, N.C., gave Sawyer custody of Carly about 2 ½ years ago. He said his former son-in-law did not even tell him he had moved from North Carolina to Virginia.

The Sawyers were being held without bail.

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