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Quartz Hill resident Stacey Barker, 26, has been convicted in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Emma Leigh Barker, reports the Daily News. The girl's body was found in March of 2009 near a highway in Sylmar. Barker originally told police that she had been knocked out and while she was unconscious, her daughter was kidnapped. The story prompted a 12-hour manhunt in the area for the kidnapper and the child.
After phone records revealed her story to be made up, though, Barker changed her tune, reporting that Emma died accidentally and, in a panic, Barker dumped the body. A coroner's report ultimately found that the girl had died of suffocation caused by a hand placed over her nose and mouth.
According to KTLA, the girl's funeral was attended by many friends and loved ones: "Emma's funeral drew hundreds of family and friends to Palmdale's Desert Lawn Memorial Park, where the toddler was eulogized as 'a princess and a little girl who always had a smile on her face.'"
Barker will be sentenced on June 17, and faces 25 years to life in prison.