A Mississippi man beat his 3-year-old daughter to death when she repeatedly missed questions during a lesson about "numbers," according to court testimony.
Joshua Salovich, a 25-year-old man in training to be a boxer, told detectives in Meridian, Mississippi, "I killed my child," according to the Meridian Star.
Investigators said in court this week that Salovich was teaching Bailey Salovich "her numbers" on Friday and would "pop her with his hands on her butt and legs when she got a wrong answer." When she made a mistake, Salovich would also backhand Bailey in the stomach.
Eventually, Salovich used a bamboo rod to hit the girl, until it broke, at which point he switched to using a cellphone cord, according to Time magazine.
When asked, on a one-to-10 scale, how hard he was hitting the girl, Salovich reportedly told investigators, they were all "10s."
Bailey was taken to a hospital for injuries suffered during the punishment, where she died on Saturday. The girl suffered bleeding to her brain, blood in her lungs and a possible retinal detachment, according to Time.
During Monday's court hearing, Bailey's mother was in the courtroom crying through most of it, according to the Meridian Star.
Salovich faces a murder charge with no bond.
Clint Davis is a reporter for the Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @MrClintDavis. Keep up to date with the latest news by following @ScrippsNational on Twitter.
