Tiffany Briana Moore was found guilty of felony murder, second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse nearly three years after Jermany Coleman was fatally injured.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Michigan babysitter has been convicted of murder and first-degree child abuse in the death of 15-month-old Jermany Coleman, whose mother testified that the child was limp and badly swollen after returning from Tiffany Briana Moore’s care. A Kalamazoo County jury returned guilty verdicts Sept. 2 against Moore, 34, on felony murder, second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse.

The verdict moves a case that began in October 2023 toward sentencing after years of investigation and court proceedings. Moore is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 30. The felony-murder conviction carries the most serious potential consequence under Michigan law: felony murder is classified as first-degree murder, for which an adult convicted under the statute faces life imprisonment without eligibility for parole. Michigan law also allows a life sentence or a term of years for second-degree murder, while first-degree child abuse is punishable by life or any term of years. The court will determine how the convictions are addressed at sentencing.

The case began with an emergency involving Jermany at a residence in the 3300 block of Michigamme Woods in Kalamazoo. Authorities said the toddler had been in Moore’s care during the hours before she suffered the injuries that led to her death. Jermany was taken for emergency medical treatment after her mother found her unresponsive. Later medical findings established that the child had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries, and her death was classified as a homicide. Public reporting from the period indicates that Jermany remained hospitalized after the initial emergency before her death.

Testimony from Jermany’s mother, Dae’Janique McClenton-Howard, gave jurors and earlier court hearings a view of the moments when she realized her daughter was in grave condition. McClenton-Howard testified during a 2024 preliminary hearing that Moore and Jermany were not at the apartment when she first returned. They arrived a short time later, and Moore handed the toddler to her mother wrapped in a blanket. Once McClenton-Howard could see her daughter more clearly, she noticed that Jermany’s eyes were severely swollen and that her body was limp. Moore attributed the child’s condition to an allergic reaction, according to the mother’s testimony.

That explanation stood in stark contrast to what doctors later described. Sarah Brown, a child abuse pediatrician at Bronson Children’s Hospital, testified at a 2024 hearing that Jermany had extensive swelling around her eyes and severe swelling of the brain. Brown said the brain injury was serious enough that doctors were concerned about the possibility of brain death. The medical testimony did not describe the condition as consistent with an ordinary household mishap or minor reaction. The severity and nature of the injuries became central evidence in a case prosecutors treated as intentional child abuse resulting in death.

The medical findings also supplied a critical distinction in a case initially presented to the child’s mother as an apparent medical problem. An allergic reaction can produce visible swelling, but investigators and doctors were dealing with traumatic injuries that an autopsy attributed to blunt force. Authorities ultimately classified Jermany’s death as a homicide. For prosecutors, those findings helped establish not merely that the toddler became critically ill while she was being watched, but that she suffered serious physical harm caused by trauma while in Moore’s care. Under Michigan law, first-degree child abuse applies when a person knowingly or intentionally causes serious physical or mental harm to a child.

The investigation did not end with the initial emergency response. Moore was reported missing after Jermany was found in critical condition, according to local reporting, and Kalamazoo public safety officers located her the next day. Authorities continued investigating the circumstances of the toddler’s injuries before the criminal case moved forward. The prosecution eventually brought felony murder, second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse charges. The felony-murder count was tied to Michigan’s law treating a killing committed during first-degree child abuse as first-degree murder, placing the alleged abuse itself at the center of the homicide case rather than treating the death and the abuse as unrelated events.

That legal framework made the jury’s findings broader than a determination that Moore had failed to protect a child. A conviction for first-degree child abuse required jurors to accept that the serious harm was knowingly or intentionally caused. By also finding Moore guilty of felony murder, jurors concluded that the prosecution had proved the elements required to connect that child abuse to Jermany’s death. The second-degree murder verdict provided an additional homicide conviction. The guilty findings came nearly three years after the incident, following earlier hearings in which the mother’s account and medical evidence had become part of the public record.

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Capt. Danielle Guilds said after the verdict that the outcome followed years of work by investigators and prosecutors. She credited jurors with reviewing the evidence and also emphasized the continuing loss experienced by Jermany’s relatives. Guilds said no verdict could erase what happened to the child, while expressing hope that the decision would bring the family a measure of accountability and closure. The statement reflected the two tracks that had defined the case since 2023: a criminal investigation focused on proving what caused Jermany’s fatal injuries and a family left to live with the consequences.

The verdict also resolved the principal factual question placed before the jury. Moore’s status is no longer that of a defendant merely accused of killing Jermany; she has been convicted after trial. The remaining court process concerns sentencing and any later legal proceedings that may arise from the convictions. No sentence had been imposed as of Oct. 19. Because the felony-murder conviction falls under Michigan’s first-degree murder statute, Moore faces the possibility of spending the rest of her life in prison without parole, subject to the court’s formal judgment and treatment of the multiple counts.

Currently, Moore is scheduled to return to court for sentencing Oct. 30. Until that hearing, the precise sentencing judgment has not been entered. What has been settled by the jury is that Moore was criminally responsible for the abuse and death of the 15-month-old child who had been placed in her care, bringing the trial phase of a case that began with Jermany’s medical emergency in October 2023 to a close.

Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.